How to put a winch on your trailer.

[sixdogs]

Typical 18 ft(poss 20ft), 12,000-14,000 lb equipment trailer I haul lighter things with. The problem was things that wouldn't start or items that were hard to load.

I should have had the trailer set up for a winch at the factory but I didn't so now is the time. Here are some before pics. The underneath one is hard to see.
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It's difficult to set up because the jack is in the way and give less space to weld to. We did what the factory did and cut off some of the two center boards and fit in a piece of 1/2" plate steel. We added a piece of steel to that floating first cross rail to support those boards and give a place to weld the plate to. Then also welded the plate to the front C channel in a couple of locations. Then added the receiver stub and then welded to the plate and the C channel. It's not going anywhere. Here are pics of the basic install.

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Then, the winch carrier and winch. I went with something I thought I would never do and that's buy a Harbor Freight winch. It rates high with excellent quality and I've seen plenty used and abused with no failures. It's fully complete so no need to buy anything. Rather than direct hard wiring I'm just going to carry a battery separate. That will work for me.

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Now, I can drag stuff on that won't go on. I can easily remove the winch to deter temptation as well. First use is to find a donor Super C Farmall junker so I can pirate the rear tires and wheels and add as duals to my parade Super C tractor.

I've always wanted a winch on a trailer and this year I decided it was time.

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Ignore the "attachments" below. not sure how they got there and can't remove them

 

[nisaacs]

Nice work! Nothing wrong with an economy winch for homeowners. They don't get used much, unlike commercial duty. All mine are low cost units.

 

[MossRoad]

That's very similar to what I did to my car hauler trailer. I never use a winch. A friend wanted to borrow the trailer to retrieve a car for his collection. So I welded a 2" receiver to the front and he supplied his own winch on a similar plate to yours, and a battery. Worked great.

 

[sixdogs]

That's very similar to what I did to my car hauler trailer. I never use a winch. A friend wanted to borrow the trailer to retrieve a car for his collection. So I welded a 2" receiver to the front and he supplied his own winch on a similar plate to yours, and a battery. Worked great.

I never thought I needed a winch but after waiting forever to be loaded at auction yards I find a winch is very handy. You can pull anything up. Cheap cost compared with benefits. Haul one tractor up without one and you're hooked.