Winch on my trailer

Groo · May 19, 2009

you don't necisarily need a roler, just something to keep the cable from abrading. I'd think a piece of hardwood might be the easy way of saving your cable

WantedWolf · May 19, 2009

Blast Chamber and wkpoor, Both very nice projects,

The ideas and outcomes on this site are so helpfull and inspiring.

Keep them coming

wkpoor · May 19, 2009

you don't necisarily need a roler, just something to keep the cable from abrading. I'd think a piece of hardwood might be the easy way of saving your cable

Thats what I did at first. You can't imagine the down force that cable puts at first when starting a load up onto a deckover. You would need plenty of spares. Plus a few times the block got dragged back up the trailer and couldn't be dislodged without letting the load back down. Amazing amount of tension on that cable. Thats when I decided to put a roller on. Life got simpler from then on.

rcrcomputing · May 20, 2009

I went to sam's and got a winch. 10000lb for about 380.00.
It came with a reciever hitch bracket and a cable you can run under the truck and mount by the reciever hitch. I then modified the extra cable that came for the front of the truck and made a extention that would reach to the trailer where I mounted a receiver hitch.

Then, I made a roller with two bars on it and cut two holes in the car haulers trailer bed. The roller slides into the bed when needed. However, I did find out to never underestimate how low a car can go after the front wheels pass the roller on a dovetail.

Since the roller has guides on the sides that stand up a total of about 3 1/2 inches off the bed, as soon as the cable clears the roller, you need to remove it on "low to the ground" cars.

OTOH, I question whether I even need a roller. The cable sliding across the bed for a few minutes doesn't even seem to bother the paint on the trailer...

RollTideRam · May 21, 2009

Thanks for all the replies. I posted this question and then got busy and forgot to come back. I know I'll need a roller to help the hook over the angle iron self cleaning dove tail. I really like the one wkpoor has on his trailer. JC

wkpoor · May 21, 2009

If you wonder just how much cable pressure is on the roller look at my pics of the roller with the perfect cable pattern on it. That also why I need a 12K or better winch.

Diamondpilot · May 21, 2009

Just curious what you guys are pulling up these trailers? My trailer has a 3,000# winch on it and I have pulled up 6 or 7 cars ranging in size from my mechanics sons Kia, my dads Corvette 3 times, my uncles Corvette, my mechanics girlfriends Grand Am, my neighbors Dodge Ram 1500 4x4, my college buddies Grand Prix, and a Suburban 4x4. Also just screwing around I have pulled up my 5,200# tractor. All this was done single line.

It had no problem on any of these rescue jobs. The winch ratings are dead pull. Rolling loads are much easier. Of course there is the incline issue going up the trailer but it has never given out, just a little strain. I have a snatch block to double the pulling power but it was never needed. Interesting enough the Kia, Suburban, and Ram were all tranny issues. All the others were fuel pumps or blown head gaskets or loss of brakes twice on the Corvettes. Of course my tractor was just screwing around when I put the winch on to see what type of power it had.

Chris

wkpoor · May 21, 2009

Chris, If you have a drop deck trailer then you won't experience a fraction of the load I do. My guess is twice the incline is 4xs the resistance. Once I get the front tires on the deck its gravy from them on but starting out on the ramp makes that 12K really pull down hard. My FIL has a 6000lb winch and it won't even start a load up my ramps but it easily can pull a car onto a drop deck affair. One more thing is I need to cut half the cable off my winch. Its got 100' on it and I don't even need half that. Mile Marker told me I loose 400lbs of pulling force for every rap. I'm going to cut at least 50' off and make up ends on it for recoveries. One more thing is the larger winches maintain good line speed under load. I'll bet your 3000lb winch is very slow. With all that said I did pull my 9000lb tractor onto my trailer a few months ago with no snatch block (straight line pull) and it did well but larger tires with more weight on them may not roll any harder than a truck with much smaller tires.

my mechanics girlfriends Grand Am

BTW I thought you were the mechanic? Hehehe

Diamondpilot · May 21, 2009

I mean the mechanic that takes care of my airplane. I am capable of basic maintenance but never had a engine or tranny apart. I mainly work on trailers brakes, lights, and simple fixes on boats. Everything else I farm out. Never have any real problems with my stuff so I am able to maintain them but I am experiencing some tranny problems with my Saturn and a emissions code keeps coming up also. I need to get them looked at by someone with more knowledge than me.

Chris