Attaching Winch to Front of Tractor?

[CliffordK]

I really have doubts on that statement because it depend on size of winch, size of power to operate winch, how stuck you are or vehicle you are rescuing....

I have a Jeep that weighs in at 4500 pounds, with 10,000 (+/-) lb. pull winch in front and have to block all four wheels, and it took two attempts to get 1400 pound (more like 2,200lbs, with FEL and ballast) stuck tractor out of bog.... And Yes Jeep has 950 CC battery and 100 amp alternator and during both pulls I pulled Jeep system battery down to 9 volts (with engine running) and had to back off to recover, because at 8.5 (+/-) Jeep system voltage computer craps out.....

Sure it will depend on the use and length of pull.

I do almost all of my pulling with an independent battery and a Harbor Freight 12K winch. The BADLAND ZXR 12K locked up on me, and I'm now using the BADLAND Apex 12K. I probably don't ever hit the 12K, and probably don't want to with the Harbor Freight winches.

The battery I typically use is the Odyssey PC1700T.

I loaded a non-running Oliver AG-6 crawler onto my trailer with the ZXR. Somewhere around 7,000 lbs.
The ZXR died loading my Grumman step van. Killed the winch, not the battery.

I got my Ford 1715 stuck. Right front and rear wheels a foot or so over a bank. Enough that it wouldn't safely self-recover. So, the Apex winch connected to a tree and pulled the Ford back up onto solid ground. Not too long of a pull, but pretty awkward pulling up and to the side.

I pulled the F150 about 50 yards through mud. Not stuck, but I was having troubles with it side-slipping, so it was easier to rig it so it wouldn't side-slip, and then slowly winched it along.

I think it was my Bobcat 610 that I pulled about 100 yards uphill. I think with that one I did trickle charge the battery some. But, mostly just pulled.

Unloading a vehicle is often easier, but it may involve moving it around a bit. So, I'm not doing any cliffside recoveries, and try not to let my vehicle sink in to the axles.

I like to recharge after loading/unloading, but at times the battery remains close enough to full that it doesn't take much charging.

I generally don't like wiring into a starter battery and winching while the vehicle is off.

However, I think I did that some with my old Blazer and Warn 8K.

 

[Hay Dude]

I’m going to be adding a winch for an upcoming project.
Found this little beaut laying in the weeds on FBM.
Looks like I’m a day late.

 

[old and tired]

Send him an email, subject: "I'll give you $210 for the skidder"

He said OBO... I got so much stuff by outbidding by $5 or $10 bucks...

 

[chim]

Pretty much what others have said. Add some structure and don't figure on extended use of a 12V winch. My smaller HF 3500# and larger Warn XD9000i Multi-Mount both slide into a 2" receiver. There's a receiver tube on the loader bucket and another on a structure below the grille guard.

I ran a Warn 8274 on front of a Ramcharger, Bronco II and then in the bed of a Chevy 1500. Gave to #3 Son when he got into Jeepin'. I killed the Chevy one time while removing some (OK, a LOT) of temporary cable on a job. Sucked rthe battery to the point there wasn't enough juice to run the truck

And NO, I don't pull anything with that birdnest pictured. As a matter of fact it no longer carries steel cable since I found a good deal on synthetic a couple years ago.

 

[Hay Dude]

I hope to be adding wiches to the front of both my Ram and my IH-7500.

Found a Ramsey 15K perfect for the Ram very lightly used for $1,100. Blinked and it was gone. And the guy lived right nearby. Just so busy with work, I can’t find time to screw around with buying things. Might buy a Sherpa Stallion, but I have some hesitation on it (parts & service)

Found a big ol DP 30K winch in North Jersey for $2,000. Includes a massive bumper. Will have to be fabbed & plumbed into the 7500, but new, that’s a $15,000 winch and bumper.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I think it'd be most helpful to know what the winch would be used for, and how often.

About two years ago I installed an 18K winch on one of the Unimogs, one of maybe two dozen winches I've added to various vehicles, basically to be able to upright a tractor if needed.

That was the most complicated mount to make to date, due to very little space to work with, but being able to pull the skid steer out a couple of times made it well worth it.

 

[CliffordK]

Keep an eye open with some of the local farm auctions. Or, even tractor and dozer wrecking yards.

A small hydraulic winch might be very nice for a tractor.

 

[ning]

My current vehicle - 2018 Ram 2500 Power Wagon has two 200 amp alternators and a 12,000 pound WARN winch.

400 amps is in no way capable of keeping up with the continuous draw from the winch. The WARN winch under full pull can draw more than 750 amps.

Are you sure about that? WARN themselves say that the PW's winch is basically an M12000 with a reversed direction and low-voltage cutoff, and the M12000 maxes out at 440A draw (still way too much for a tractor, but then he's probably not talking about a 12K winch, either).

 

[ning]

This is probably somewhat of a newb question. I have a Harbor Freight winch and was originally thinking I'd have to attach it to the back with a towing receiver or some configuration like that. Then I noticed the front of my tractor has this plate on the front as shown in the image below. Can a winch mount be attached there? If so what would be the best way to mount?

View attachment 849596

I've considered similar recently.
Before you go too far on this path though, put the loader down and see how much clearance you have between the back of the lower cross tube and that lower place. Barely any room there on my tractor, though that part sticks out a ways from the front of the tractor on mine.

I suspect for my case I could replace the front plate and put a smaller winch in the space behind it, but I'm not sure if such a smaller winch in a still-useful capacity exists (my tractor is probably usually 6k# - 4k bare weight + loaded rears and loader)...

 

[chim]

There's no permanent winch on anything here. Both are made to slip in a receiver and plug into the tractor or Trailblazer when it's time to use them. I've had permanent mounts on several 4X4's since back in the 70's. The only permanently mounted winch on a tractor was the 3500# HF that I've since made into a plug-in.

The to-do list includes finishing a front receiver mount on the Trailblazer so the Warm will plug in either end.