Trailer Winch Now Complete

wkpoor · Sep 10, 2008

Someone ask for pics when I got the winch on. The first attempt wasn't quite right. The winch was too high centered and it flexed the front of the trailer. So I had it moved down to the top of the bulkhead and beefed up. So far it seems to be rock solid. Also added a roller in the back to assist getting the cable and hooks to transition better. The pic doesn't show it but that is a receiver tube mounted vertical to allow quick easy removal of the winch from the trailer.

ultrarunner · Sep 10, 2008

Looks OEM... Great Job!

Highbeam · Sep 16, 2008

Speaking as a guy who has winched a dead 4500 lb tractor onto a car hauler trailer in the woods, twice, with a come-a-long, I can say that your setup looks like a great idea.

em14 · Sep 17, 2008

WKPoor - Nice job! How did you wire the battery into the truck's charging circuit so that neither the truck nor the winch battery do not charge more than the other? I am thinking of following your lead ... I like the way you did this ... I have a 07 3500 Dually that I thinking of putting an "A" frame on to lift implements with as well as to drag them on to the trailer.
Leo

wkpoor · Sep 17, 2008

How did you wire the battery into the truck's charging circuit so that neither the truck nor the winch battery do not charge more than the other?

This trailer is the same as my dump that uses the standard hydraulic pack setup. Under the hood of my van is a fuse box with the heavy duty fuses. It also came from the factory with wires ran to the back for axillary power from that fuse box. I run the power through my 7pin RV plug and its the same pin that charges the e-batt for the brakes. Basically the ship battery and the trailer battery are in parallel and charge together. I think (its been a few years) I put a 40amp fuse in on the charge line but the box will accept up to 60amp. I don't disconnect the RV plug prior to using the winch or pack and never had a problem with the trailer trying to pull current from the truck batt too. At least not enough to blow the charge line fuse. Maybe by keeping a good fully charged battery in the trailer I've avoided the issue. BTW I use an Optima and that battery seems to have more reserve power than most so called beep cycle ones. Those are fantastic batteries. I use my dump behind my tractor (no charge line there) alot and I can dump a dozen times with a heavy load and that battery just doesn't give up even then.

em14 · Sep 17, 2008

Thanks for the explanation... I agree on the Optima … they are great batteries!

firemanpat2910 · Sep 18, 2008

great looking job. I have a suggestion, if you havent already done it. make or buy a pulley with a grab hook on it. then you can hook it to tiedown points on either side of trailer. when you go to winch something up and it starts to go crooked, hook the pulley to the side of trailer that you want to steer towards. when you have corrected enough just un hook pulley and pull back from the center. the closer to the load you place the pulley the sharper the angle, and the farther from the load the less the angle. I have seen wrecker drivers hook and rehook several times when a car wont stay going straight. many of them leave the pulley hook assembly on the cable all the time.

wkpoor · Sep 18, 2008

I have a suggestion, if you havent already done it. make or buy a pulley with a grab hook on it. then you can hook it to tiedown points on either side of trailer. when you go to winch something up and it starts to go crooked, hook the pulley to the side of trailer that you want to steer towards. when you have corrected enough just un hook pulley and pull back from the center. the closer to the load you place the pulley the sharper the angle, and the farther from the load the less the angle. I have seen wrecker drivers hook and rehook several times when a car wont stay going straight. many of them leave the pulley hook assembly on the cable all the time.

Thanks for the idea. I haven't loaded anything yet that didn't steer so that I haven't been faced with the problem yet. One thing I do want to get is the wireless option. I can see some real value in that. The supplied control cable is only about 15' long. The trailer is 24'. Also I'm real glad I have the 12k winch. I loaded a heavy full size truck and even though it did it with out the snatch it groaned a bit about it. I now use the snatch for trucks and pull straight on for cars.

Diamondpilot · Sep 18, 2008

I have a wireless winch on my 18' 7K trailer and I can tell you its a nice addition. I like it because I can walk around my trailer and watch all 4 wheels of the car being loaded. It is also handy if you are by yourself and need to load a car that does not run, although I have only had to do that once.

My winch is not as nice as yours. Its a cheap HF 5K unit but it does have 50' of cable and a snatch block to double the pulling power. Anyway you have a nice trailer.

Chris.