Stuck Again

[the6shooter]

Has Anyone thought about putting a electric winch to the nose for their tractor ??? well with all the rain falling here in Oklahoma I have become stuck in the mud, so many times, It's getting rediculus. so I have been thinking about putting one of thoughs 4,000lb. atv winches to the nose for my tractor, just cause, paying some tow truck driver $120 bucks a shot to get out of something I can do myself, would be the better thing to do.
Do any of you other tractor owners have one on there tractors ???
thanks david

 

[mboulais]

No, but it's not a bad idea. If you weld a 2" receiver to the loader bucket or a brushguard and a 2" reciever on the drawbar, you could set up the winch to move front to back.

 

[bigdad]

There you guys go!
A great idea.....and in one more post.....it gets even better.

Well done!

 

[Thomas]

Instead of winch,how about installing slip hook on the front and back than purchasing heavy duty come along....multi uses.

 

[bones1]

No, but it's not a bad idea. If you weld a 2" receiver to the loader bucket or a brushguard and a 2" reciever on the drawbar, you could set up the winch to move front to back.

Do you think a 4000lb winch attached to the bucket would hurt the loader or bucket under a heavy pull?.

 

[chadincolo]

Do you think a 4000lb winch attached to the bucket would hurt the loader or bucket under a heavy pull?.

I don't think it would hurt the loader, but I don't think 4000lb is big enough. That's 4000lb rolling load, I don't know what size tractor you have but 4000lb isn't much of a winch. I would think even a 25hp tractor would need more winch than that, but I could be wrong, if you had a remote so you could pull with the winch while you try to drive out it might do ok.

 

[hill]

I think it's a great idea.

The biggest problem I'd see is the weak alternator that tractors typically have. They aren't usually set up to power big draw accessories like a winch. But if you wouldn't have far to go and double the line through a snatchblock you might get away with it.

I'd say forget about comealongs - I hate those cumbersome useless hassling things -JMO.

 

[RonMar]

Glad someone brought it up, most compact utility tractor electrical systems won't take kindly to a winch. They are usually pretty small as they only need to feed some lights and gauges. You have a large capacity battery to deal with a large diesel starter and engine compression, but a winch under load will quiclky run the battery flat. That little alternator wasn't designed to charge a dead battery, only maintain a healthy battery at peak charge, recover from startup loads and power the accessories. It will take it a LONG time at idle RPM to recover a dead battery, with it's regulator working it at 100% output the whole time. It wasn't designed to run at 100% output for extended periods. If you don't get the battery recharged and shut down too early, Then you are stuck and the battery has no power to restart the tractor engine.

As mentioned, Big difference between pulling a rolling 4000# and trying to drag/lift 4000# out of the mud. figure out your all up weight and goto a good 4X4 shop and ask them what size winch they would reccomend to get that weight vehicle out of a good mud hole. A 4000# vehicle would probably be reccomended to have a 8-12K# winch. Then ask them what kind of an electrical system is required to feed that size winch reliably.

The only way I would want to try and pull from the FEL would be straight ahead. It is a Loader, it was designed to lift and wasn't really designed for side loads. As I am sure you are aware, it is usually difficult to find an attach point to pull from directly ahead. Also if the bucket is at any height, you have a lever arm that will be above the CG and a off angle pull could pull your tractor over on it's side. I think the FEL is better used to dig in and push with the bucket curl when you are stuck.

I think you would be better served with prepping some short lengths of chain that can pass thru the rear wheel and around the tire. To that chain you attach a longer chain or cable back to an anchor point. By putting the tractor in low low range and locking the rear differential, the wheel will act like a winch drum and the tractor tire/wheel will roll back up the chain dragging the tractor behind it. This of course only works well backward.

If you are getting stuck routinely enough to need a winch, perhaps you have the wrong tool for the job/terrain.

Ron

 

[Kendall69]

I mounted a winch on the front of my vehicle, this way I can get many more thing unstuck than just the tractor.

It’s more useful for me since the vehicle is always near the tractor anyway, but now I can get my drive around vehicle also out - and any neighbors that may get stuck.

A good winch wish will run around a grand and I didn’t want it to be on the tractor for a single use.

 

[lug nut]

I have a 12k winch mounted on the front of my off road toy, which is a '79 Bronco that weighs probably 5,000 lbs or more. I have been stuck in some pretty nasty stuff, and I have had to use the snatch block several times to get myself out. One particularly bad day, it took 5 trucks and 3 winches to pull me out when I was so deep that my doors were scraping the mud/sand when I opened them.

It is true that a tractor's electrical system is not nearly enough to operate a large winch. It takes a large alternator and/or a very good battery or two.