Adding a winch to 7 ton trailer

[Happy Gilmore]

I am thinking about adding a winch to my Cam Superline 7 ton 20' full tilt deck over equipment trailer. I've got a friend suggesting a Warn M12000. It will be a general use winch depending on whatever situation may arise. Any thoughts?

 

[Carhartt Cowboy]

Well you can never go wrong with a Warn. Best quality out there however, a premium you pay for. I have a M12000 and Warn Powerplant HD at the house. Both good machines.

These days you can get cheap winches made in china for a fraction of the cost. I put a Engo 9K on the rear of my jeep. You are only using it on a trailer so life saving recovery nor cable length is an issue. You can always us a snatch block and double the rating of the pull. I'd have to go that route if I wanted a winch on my flatbed trailer.

Maybe if you can get a good deal on a used Warn the price could be justified. Many times the off-road type people buy and then sell a winch.

 

[George2615]

I agree with CC. The Warn is an excellent winch but for something that is going to sit on my trailer, in the weather, and only be used a half dozen times a year I bought a 9K winch from tractor supply for my 14K PJ full tilt trailer. I have a snatch block and several hooks and frame connectors.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I went cheap also. I got a 5000# winch on Amazon for $130 delivered. It's pulled tractors as large as a 900 Ford, a Suburban, a Silverado, and numerous mid sized cars without issue.

Chris

 

[oosik]

I've always used Warn winches. Never had a moments problem with them. All were mounted on the front of a 4WD vehicle - one Bronco & two Jeeps. Now, as far as batteries, that is a totally different story. Under extreme and near continuous use, you can go thru batteries like a kid eating candy. You will probably never be in a position like that, so a heavy duty battery will suffice.

 

[Xfaxman]

I am thinking about adding a winch to my Cam Superline 7 ton 20' full tilt deck over equipment trailer. I've got a friend suggesting a Warn M12000. It will be a general use winch depending on whatever situation may arise. Any thoughts?

Mount it on a receiver winch mount like this, so it can be used on your truck or tractor also.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

The receiver mount is a great idea. Check out viper winches. I have the 12k model and the price was very reasonable. Make sure you get a good battery and figure out a way to keep the battery topped off if you don't tow often. A solar charger or a trickle charger that plugs in would be a good idea!

 

[oosik]

Xfaxman - in the bottom pic. Were you stretching that pickup and making a crew cab - ha,ha. Looks like the Massey must have been connected to the back of the pickup. Those "receiver hitch" Warn's look to be VERY handy. Warn didn't make that type when I used their winches.

 

[kenmac]

The receiver mount is a great idea. Check out viper winches. I have the 12k model and the price was very reasonable. Make sure you get a good battery and figure out a way to keep the battery topped off if you don't tow often. A solar charger or a trickle charger that plugs in would be a good idea!

I just plug into my truck to operate my trailer mounted winch ( 8K ramsey).. No need to buy maintain an xtra battery

 

[Carhartt Cowboy]

I just plug into my truck to operate my trailer mounted winch ( 8K ramsey).. No need to buy maintain an xtra battery

Do you have large guage cables from your battery to the back of your truck. Just wondering how you power up the trailer winch while the trailer is hooked to the truck. Or, are you talking about two vehicles?

 

[farm boy00]

Do you have large guage cables from your battery to the back of your truck. Just wondering how you power up the trailer winch while the trailer is hooked to the truck. Or, are you talking about two vehicles?

If you have a 7pin or rv plug the center plug is the power supply to trailers or if you have a separate plug. I can't think of the band but there is a really nice plug for about sent assessory. It starts with a A

I think Anderson????

 

[bcp]

All the winch connectors I've seen are the 175 amp version like these.

SB175 SB Series 175 Amp Anderson Powerpole Kit

Bruce

 

[Carhartt Cowboy]

If you have a 7pin or rv plug the center plug is the power supply to trailers or if you have a separate plug. I can't think of the band but there is a really nice plug for about sent assessory. It starts with a A

I think Anderson????

If you are saying use your accessory wire in your trailer plug to run a winch I'm afraid that will not work. For a working winch you are in the 100's of amps 400-500A for a 10-12K winch.

 

[kenmac]

Do you have large guage cables from your battery to the back of your truck. Just wondering how you power up the trailer winch while the trailer is hooked to the truck. Or, are you talking about two vehicles?

Yes , I have #6 or # 8 welding lead cable (I don't remember which size) from the battery of my truck all the way back.. The connectors that BCP posted are the connectors I used.. Like on XFaxmans receiver type winch

 

[Xfaxman]

Xfaxman - in the bottom pic. Were you stretching that pickup and making a crew cab - ha,ha. Looks like the Massey must have been connected to the back of the pickup. --------

Almost did.

The Massey was chained to the receiver hitch and another chain to the gate post. This was ten years ago and before I put the receiver on the Massey. It was a cottonwood stump that I was going to pull. It broke at ground level which was OK for the back of the dam. Then I hooked onto the tree and drug it out.

 

[cockeyedMFer]

I went cheap also. I got a 5000# winch on Amazon for $130 delivered. It's pulled tractors as large as a 900 Ford, a Suburban, a Silverado, and numerous mid sized cars without issue.

Chris

The "cheap" winches seem to have pushed the price point for name brand 8000-9000lb winches down to $300-400.

I've always used 9000lb winches for car recovery - Warn, Ramsey, a cheap HF from before they called them Badlands, and I'm now trying a Ramsey 10k. The weak point in every unit was the solenoids. The older ramseys and even Harbor Freight used an industrial starter solenoid that you could get at Napa, but they were pricey. I had a lot of trouble finding quality replacement solenoids that wouldn't heat up and stick in the closed position. Superwinch has a proprietary solenoid that worries me a bit. Haven't researched replacement costs yet.

Warn touted a "modern electronic relay" which was actually a 93-up Ford starter solenoid that was available everywhere for cheap.

The variables to compare when shipping are horsepower or gearing and line speed. Some of the cheaper winches make up for being underpowered by having a slow line speed. Whereas the Warn was probably the fastest puller of the bunch.

I've used and abused all of mine and never had a motor or gear failure..only electrical issues. The superwinch is fairly new so we'll see how it holds up. Everyone I talk with who has a large Badlands winch loves them, but I don't know how aggressively they're using them.

 

[4570Man]

This should do the trick. This is a 20k winch off the front of an army truck. The winch on the back is 45k. Ok maybe a bit overkill. I guess you don't have any good choice besides electric, but I am spoiled with hydraulic winches.

 

[KubotaToy]

I bought one of the harbor freight 12k winches for my trailer when it was on sale with 20% coupon, think I paid around 250 total with a mounting plate. About 3 years old, use it 2-3 times a year, the only issue is it seemed to drain one battery pretty quickly so I mounted two on my trailer.

 

[tman1020]

You guys that are mounting which on the front of trailers how are you powering them?

With a battery or two on the trailer and if so how are you keeping the battery charged?

Do you think this is the best way to go or better to go with making a heavy duty set of jumper cables to run to the truckbattery be better?

 

[cockeyedMFer]

We always have a spare battery or two around for swapping into truck or equipment. I just throw whatever is charged into a toolbox on the trailer and run the cables through a small hole in the back of the toolbox.

The quickest way I found to secure the cables to battery is to just use vise grips...this allows me to use top post, marine, sidepost or clamp to jumper cables without having to keep track of adapters and bolts. I always had trouble keeping a dedicated battery charged, and we have a multimount setup for the winch so it can be used on several trailers.

Believe it or not, this harbor freight bumper adapter is the bees knees when it comes to adding a receiver mounted winch. Flipped it over and bolted through deck to a crossmember underneath with grade 8 bolts.Its pretty tough - installed it as a temporary fix and it ended up staying on the trailer.

3500 lb. Step Bumper Receiver