What size winch

woodlandfarms · Apr 12, 2018

So this is primarily for my Kubota X900 but I would not mind it making an appearance on my tractor, at 4000lbs and my truck (Dodge Diesel 2500 so I assume super heavy).

I want to mount it on one of the 2" receiver trays (I assume those are reasonable stout?) so that it can be moved around.

I want my wife to be able to use it if I am out of town (this is the rub).

I of course am looking at a 1200lb winch, looks great but it weighs 90lbs

There is a nice 5000lb winch that weight only 40lbs, which I know the wife would ***** a lot less about.

Anyone have any guidance?

ericm979 · Apr 12, 2018

The lightest receiver winch mount I can find is 16 lbs and has no handles. Ones with handles are 23lb and up. Roughly 60lbs total and she has to get it lined up with the receiver. My wife can lift square bales and bags of feed without a problem but that might be a little much for her. Maybe you can leave it on the appropriate vehicle for her?

Or mount a permanent UTV-sized winch on the front of the UTV and have a larger one for the tractor and truck.

LMychajluk · Apr 12, 2018

What do you want to do with the winch? For the X900, a 3500-4500 lb winch would probably be enough (My Ranger has the 4500 'HD' winch), and anything more might end up breaking something on the vehicle before the winch, but I wouldn't expect it to pull a 3/4 ton truck or a 5000# tractor out of the mud easily.

Reb954 · Apr 12, 2018

For my receiver mounted winch I went with a 9,000 lb winch and at times it would have been nice if it was a little bigger. I built my own receiver setup, haven't weighed it but it is heavy. At 64 I can still handle it but it is about all I want. I don't know what your wife's build is but I know I wouldn't let my wife attempt to handle that winch.

Keep in mind too that you will have the battery, cables and such. I built mine so I have an aluminum box for all the other stuff that pins to the top of the winch framework. That way I am moving it in two pieces.

flingwing1969 · Apr 12, 2018

The smallest winch I've ever owned is a 6000# Warn that I use on a receiver mount on the front of my truck and on my wife's truck's rear receiver. I personally like a winch in the 9000# to 12000# range. If you are pulling a vehicle up hill or out of a mud pit, the winch is pulling much more than the curb weight, and that doesn't count all the crap we always have in the darn thing. I use my winch a lot for pulling logs out of canyons too, so lots of drag and friction to overcome.

Threepoint · Apr 12, 2018

ericm979 said:
The lightest receiver winch mount I can find is 16 lbs and has no handles. Ones with handles are 23lb and up. Roughly 60lbs total and she has to get it lined up with the receiver. My wife can lift square bales and bags of feed without a problem but that might be a little much for her. Maybe you can leave it on the appropriate vehicle for her?

Or mount a permanent UTV-sized winch on the front of the UTV and have a larger one for the tractor and truck.

I'm with Ericm979 on this. The new Badland line of winches at Harbor Freight get good reviews, but even the 5000 lb model is 35 lbs. Add the handled 2" hitch receiver mount, and that's another 17 lbs (estimated, as the posted shipping weight is 19 lbs.) That's a lot to hump around, so I sure wouldn't go any larger than that if your wife will need to do it. Even their 3500 lb model is 25 lbs., although that may be a bit undersized for your X900. But the Badland winches are so inexpensive, especially with a 20 or 25% coupon, I'd just leave one on the X900 and get the 12,000 lb model for the truck. Curious why you would want one on your tractor, though. Or where you would mount it without it interfering with a loader or implements.