Winch Mount Options

[Gary Lewis]

Okay. I need a winch mount for the front of my truck. I am going to buy a 2nd winch for the truck. Just bought one for the trailer. I went with the Harbor Freight 3500 lb winch for the trailer. Might get a 2nd one for the truck. The winch is NOT for pulling the truck, but is for pulling logs.

I need options. Fast. People are filling my calendar up with tree to collect and some of them are nice specimens. I need to take advantage of this.

Can yall help me brainstorm?

Ray,

This thread has morphed into how to wire for the winch in the receiver mount at the rear of your truck. But if you're still interested in mounting a winch at the front, how about putting a receiver at the front of the truck? Add another electrical connector off the main battery and you can plug your winch in at either end. Plus as Gary and I have learned, it's REALLY nice being able to push trailers around off the front of your truck. It's SO much easier to carefully position a trailer that way.

And going back to the wiring... When i put the receiver-mount winch on my Bronco I put quick-connects at both ends of the Bronco, but I also put one on my winch cradle. Then I made a short "jumper cable" with quick-connects at both ends. That way when I'm driving I can have the winch in the front receiver where it's pretty much out of the way but not have it wired in ("just" tossing it in the bed isn't much of an option with a Bronco like it might be in a pickup). Not saying you should do it this way, but something to keep in mind.

Here is the winch in the front receiver. You can see the red quick-connect on the back side of the winch. The jumper is not hooked up here.

And here it's in the rear receiver with the jumper plugged in

I agree - a front receiver is a MUST for placing a trailer. And it is a good solution for Ray as the winch can be there and you can have short wires to the battery. In fact, perhaps you could put the 2nd battery under the hood? Oh, I forgot, it is a Chevy. Maybe they don't have that option like a Ford does.

[Nothing Special]

I agree - a front receiver is a MUST for placing a trailer. And it is a good solution for Ray as the winch can be there and you can have short wires to the battery. In fact, perhaps you could put the 2nd battery under the hood? Oh, I forgot, it is a Chevy. Maybe they don't have that option like a Ford does.

I was thinking he wanted to be able to use the winch at the rear and wanted short wires from the battery to the rear winch so he'd want the aux battery at the rear. But if he also had the ability to use the winch at the front he probably wouldn't want to run wires from the rear aux battery to the front winch so he could just go to the main battery for the front winch. Of course this could lead to him draining the main battery, but depending on how the isolator for the rear battery worked he might be able to jump-start himself from the aux battery.

Or if there's room he could put the aux battery under the hood, have short wires to the front winch and long ones to the rear. Then he could have both winch connections go to the aux battery without needing to run big wires the length of the truck twice.

And I probably shouldn't throw this wrench in the works at this point, but are we making too big a deal about the battery drain? On my Bronco I only have one battery (at the front) and I have 2 gauge wire running to the connector at the back (pos and neg, I'm not using the Bronco frame as the ground for the winch). And I have an 8000 lb winch which likely draws more than Ray's 3500 lb winch. Most of my heavier winching is likely to be done off the front where the wires are shorter. And I haven't used the winch all that much yet. But I'm really not too concerned about running the battery down in the usage I'd envision. I've even run the winch (at a pretty low load) for about a 20' pull, or to spool in probably 50' of rope (at essentially no load) without the engine running, and had no trouble getting it restarted. Granted if Ray is loading a dozen logs onto the trailer at one stop the winch will be running for quite a while. But I'd guess that even with a stock alternator and a single battery he's unlikely to run into problems. Not that the overkill of a bigger alternator and dual, isolated batteries wouldn't provide some peace-of-mind. But I don't think it would be necessary.

[Gary Lewis]

I was thinking he wanted to be able to use the winch at the rear and wanted short wires from the battery to the rear winch so he'd want the aux battery at the rear. But if he also had the ability to use the winch at the front he probably wouldn't want to run wires from the rear aux battery to the front winch so he could just go to the main battery for the front winch. Of course this could lead to him draining the main battery, but depending on how the isolator for the rear battery worked he might be able to jump-start himself from the aux battery.

Or if there's room he could put the aux battery under the hood, have short wires to the front winch and long ones to the rear. Then he could have both winch connections go to the aux battery without needing to run big wires the length of the truck twice.

And I probably shouldn't throw this wrench in the works at this point, but are we making too big a deal about the battery drain? On my Bronco I only have one battery (at the front) and I have 2 gauge wire running to the connector at the back (pos and neg, I'm not using the Bronco frame as the ground for the winch). And I have an 8000 lb winch which likely draws more than Ray's 3500 lb winch. Most of my heavier winching is likely to be done off the front where the wires are shorter. And I haven't used the winch all that much yet. But I'm really not too concerned about running the battery down in the usage I'd envision. I've even run the winch (at a pretty low load) for about a 20' pull, or to spool in probably 50' of rope (at essentially no load) without the engine running, and had no trouble getting it restarted. Granted if Ray is loading a dozen logs onto the trailer at one stop the winch will be running for quite a while. But I'd guess that even with a stock alternator and a single battery he's unlikely to run into problems. Not that the overkill of a bigger alternator and dual, isolated batteries wouldn't provide some peace-of-mind. But I don't think it would be necessary.

Well, the 2nd battery idea was mine 'cause he was originally placing the winch on the trailer. And, even 6' cables needed to be #6's according to his destructions. So it seemed like the better thing to do was to have a 2nd battery on the trailer rather than run really heavy cable a long way - through expensive connectors.

Then the winch went to the rear of the truck. Then the battery went into the bed of the truck. Then the winch may have gone to the front of the truck. Then the 2nd battery may have gone to the front of the truck.

So, it may well be time to rethink the whole thing. And one battery will work if the winch is up front as that keeps the wire run short, but he will have to be careful and not drain the battery.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Definitely want to do this to mine. I think found a receiver that will fit under my bumper. The new rear bumper has 3 holes in the plate where you would put a ball. I found several receiver with a flat plate that would mount to that part of the bumper as well.

Scatch, I don't think you want to use the bumper as a pull point.

It just isn't strong enough, like a receiver is.

Gary could probably tell you the tow rating and tongue weight, but it isn't too much.

[Danny G]

Scatch, I don't think you want to use the bumper as a pull point.

It just isn't strong enough, like a receiver is.

Gary could probably tell you the tow rating and tongue weight, but it isn't too much.

Duly noted, I figured the rear bumper had that big metal plate and was where the ball was already why not, didn't even cross my mind said bumper is not that thick and connected to the frame by four bolts through that no so thick steel. Definitely back to frame mounted receiver.

[Danny G]

Well, the 2nd battery idea was mine 'cause he was originally placing the winch on the trailer. And, even 6' cables needed to be #6's according to his destructions. So it seemed like the better thing to do was to have a 2nd battery on the trailer rather than run really heavy cable a long way - through expensive connectors.

Then the winch went to the rear of the truck. Then the battery went into the bed of the truck. Then the winch may have gone to the front of the truck. Then the 2nd battery may have gone to the front of the truck.

So, it may well be time to rethink the whole thing. And one battery will work if the winch is up front as that keeps the wire run short, but he will have to be careful and not drain the battery.

Don't know why but this gave me a good laugh this morning in combination with the other post about a second battery. Could be a pretty sweet deal to have a second battery, and then a nice wire run and disconnect for a front receiver mounted winch.

[Ray Cecil]

Well, the 2nd battery idea was mine 'cause he was originally placing the winch on the trailer. And, even 6' cables needed to be #6's according to his destructions. So it seemed like the better thing to do was to have a 2nd battery on the trailer rather than run really heavy cable a long way - through expensive connectors.

Then the winch went to the rear of the truck. Then the battery went into the bed of the truck. Then the winch may have gone to the front of the truck. Then the 2nd battery may have gone to the front of the truck.

So, it may well be time to rethink the whole thing. And one battery will work if the winch is up front as that keeps the wire run short, but he will have to be careful and not drain the battery.

Don't know why but this gave me a good laugh this morning in combination with the other post about a second battery. Could be a pretty sweet deal to have a second battery, and then a nice wire run and disconnect for a front receiver mounted winch.

Thanks for all the info guys. It is a lot to digest.

So, I recently bought a 4.8 LS motor from a moving van. I ran the part number on the alternator it came with, and surprise surprise, its the 145amp HD alternator. So, that will be getting swapped into the Silverado tonight.

Today at lunch I am running over to Harbor Freight to check out the receiver winch mount, and double receiver adapter. The Double receiver adapter is rated at 5,000 lbs. So its a weak point. The easy fix is to remove it and the winch after loading the trailer. Then I am safe hauling on the factory receiver and the trailer. The double receiver is just a quick convenient way to mount the winch for doing the loading.

I am currently searching for a plastic box to mount everything in. I will probably throw the box into the bed towards the back when going logging, and remove it when not logging. I will run the 1/0 charging wire from the Isolator under the hood, back near the tailgate. Then run a ground from that battery to the frame. Why have the box that far back you say? Because the cables provided in the winch kit aren't very long, and if I put everything in a hard plastic box, with some of those fancy quick disconnect plugs, I can easily clear up bed space when not logging.

I will take Gary's advice and order a smart Isolator, as that seems to give the safest options for tending the battery voltages.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks for all the info guys. It is a lot to digest.

So, I recently bought a 4.8 LS motor from a moving van. I ran the part number on the alternator it came with, and surprise surprise, its the 145amp HD alternator. So, that will be getting swapped into the Silverado tonight.

Today at lunch I am running over to Harbor Freight to check out the receiver winch mount, and double receiver adapter. The Double receiver adapter is rated at 5,000 lbs. So its a weak point. The easy fix is to remove it and the winch after loading the trailer. Then I am safe hauling on the factory receiver and the trailer. The double receiver is just a quick convenient way to mount the winch for doing the loading.

I am currently searching for a plastic box to mount everything in. I will probably throw the box into the bed towards the back when going logging, and remove it when not logging. I will run the 1/0 charging wire from the Isolator under the hood, back near the tailgate. Then run a ground from that battery to the frame. Why have the box that far back you say? Because the cables provided in the winch kit aren't very long, and if I put everything in a hard plastic box, with some of those fancy quick disconnect plugs, I can easily clear up bed space when not logging.

I will take Gary's advice and order a smart Isolator, as that seems to give the safest options for tending the battery voltages.

TheScatch - Yes, the front-mounted winch with an auxiliary battery works out very well. And I have a connector in the wire run, with a 10' extension using the same connectors, so when I put the winch on the trailer all I have to do is put the extension in and can power the winch that way.

Ray - Sounds like a good plan.

[Ray Cecil]

TheScatch - Yes, the front-mounted winch with an auxiliary battery works out very well. And I have a connector in the wire run, with a 10' extension using the same connectors, so when I put the winch on the trailer all I have to do is put the extension in and can power the winch that way.

Ray - Sounds like a good plan.

https://www.powerstream.com/battery-isolator.htm

Seems affordable and sounds like it does the job. Anyone care to comment???

[Gary Lewis]

https://www.powerstream.com/battery-isolator.htm

Seems affordable and sounds like it does the job. Anyone care to comment???

That is essentially the Cole Hersee isolator, but with slightly different spec's and a lower price. Go for it.