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WS6
09-12-2005, 05:13 PM
looking to add an electric winch to a trailer for obviously pulling cars up on to the tralier. its usually corvettes that will be pulled onto this trailer so figure a car that weighs no more than 4000 lbs. i have no idea what rating is needed. is a 2 ton good enough or does it need to be more to pull the car up an incline to get on the trailer? also are any upgardes to the altenator needed in order to operate the winch? oh any suggestions on brand? this winch will be removable from the tralier so it will not see weather unless it just happens to be raining when its being used. thanks

myclone
09-12-2005, 05:49 PM
Keep in mind that youre not actually lifting the entire weight of the car and the only weight the winch will see is the rolling weight being moved up a slight incline so a 4klb is slightly on the more than enough side IMO. However if you arent pinching pennies then by all means purchase as much winch as you can reaonably afford since its much much better to have more winch than you need rather than need more winch than you have.

I have a superwinch 3500lb unit on my trailer and it has no problem dragging non running full size 1/2 ton trucks onto my trailer as long as theyre free rolling (no flat tires, no stuck/dragging brakes, etc). The only time Ive ever had to double line it and use a snatch block was when dragging a friends dead F250 diesel onto the trailer. The truck is a long bed extended cab 4x4 that has huge tires/lift kit as well as quite a bit of off road hardware added so Im sure its not light so double lining was understandable IMO. Other than that one instance I havent had any trouble with any other car/truck that was free rolling with my 3500lb winch.

I mounted an optima red top under the trailer to power the winch and I ran a #8 gauge wire from the battery to the trailer light/brake plug (6 conductor round). From the tow vehicle male side of the plug I ran the same #8 wire up to the junction block under the hood where the alt output is tied into the rest of the electrical system from the factory. I havent upgraded the alt but you may want to depending on what youre tow vehicles charging capacity is. The truck in my sig already has a tow package as well as a HUGE alternator so I didnt bother trying to find anything larger.

FWIW, I sometimes use my beater 4x4 for towing around town and it has an el cheapo chain store low amp alt which has done fine but my guess is that since the winch is only used for short periods it doesnt beat the alt to death.

HTH

toxicz28
09-12-2005, 07:24 PM
"Trucks!" Just did this about a week ago,(probably a rerun) they mounted a box to the trailer, and mounted the winch in the box. Installed an optima yellow top battery, the mounted one of those solar battery tender/chargers on top of the box. That's an idea for you.

WS6
09-13-2005, 02:17 AM
very cool thanks for the info guys.

eldogg
09-20-2005, 08:17 AM
i bought a great winch from sam's club for around a 100 bucks and it works great. i've used it 4 or 5 times and it seems bullet proof.
eldogg

WS6
09-20-2005, 02:15 PM
well dang, we ended up getting a dayton winch from grainger supply. It is rated at 3k lbs. i should have it mounted by this weekend and will try it out in a couple weeks. it only has to move a 94 C4 right now and other corvettes in the future. I think it will be adiquit but we will find out.

thanks