I was thinking of adding a winch to my Ford F-350. I don't need it often, but would like to have one. I would be open to mounting on the front or a removable one that goes on the back. What do you guys have for winches? Any suggestions or recommendations? Thanks!

 

There are lots of options. Something around 16k lbs claimed capacity is best, but depending on your rig and how you thing you'll use the winch you may be able to get away with 12k lbs claimed capacity.

Really the most important questions are:

1) What's your current setup for mounting it?
2) What's your budget?

 

Badlands 12,000-Pound Winch - The Best Deal In Winching - Off-Road Magazine

 

I'm in the same boat as you. I would love one, just cant find a setup thats cost I can justify. There are winch bumpers that look GREAT! But I'm not going to spend 1500+ on just the bumper. The removable type usually use a receiver hitch. I have yet to find a front receiver hitch for our trucks that will support even the weight of our trucks.

Good luck.

 

I'm going to go with the Badlands 12,000 Winch from Harbor Freight. I already picked up the portable winch cradle from HF. It is limited to 9K pull load, but then so are my Curt front receiver hitch and my Bodiak is rated at 8K line pull. But with having two front receiver hitches I can use a block and cable back to the truck for greater loads.

I was able to install both front receiver hitches on my truck even with a Ranch Hand Grille Guard in place. I have a post over in the 6.7 thread with photos.

The Bodiak receiver was $258 delivered to my door.
The Curt receiver was around $175 via Amazon a year or so back.
HF winch cradle $39.99
12K HF winch will be $299.99
Block for winching $20

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...d-is-a-go.html

 

Thanks Jon! Great advice!

 

its confusing at best. Take the hitch that I put on the front of my truck. Its rated at 500 tonge and 9000lbs straight line pull. what does that mean. on flat ground I can push a car in neutral while barefoot...how many pounds of straght line pull is that.....is 9000lbs needed to pull a train and a couple of train cars.

if I have a 12000lb hitch and a 12000lb winch, can I drag 4 3000 blocks of cement down the street?

does pulling my 7000lb truck which have wheels require the same straight line pull as pulling my 7000lb truck if I take the wheels off?

If I put a support bar on my hitch and connect to each of my tow links, does that give me 27000lbs of straight line pull. what can I pull with that?

 

A bulldozer, I think.

 

It's the amount of force, not weight. If you're pulling a truck out of a mud hole, there may be all sorts of forces involved.

 

True that - rolling load is much different than static. Or as we say, stuctioned.

 

Guys-Thanks for the responses. So, my situation is that I am ordering a nice flatbed trailer that will have a winch on it. But, right now I don't have the trailer and need a winch this weekend to get an antique tractor (not running) on a flatbed trailer.

I don't want to mount a permanent winch on my truck, but a portable one wouldn't be bad. I was thinking of getting something that I could hook to the tow ball of the bumper pool or gooseneck hitch like these:
Winch Mounting Kits | Superwinch Towball Winch Mounting Kits

or


Do you see any problem with hooking that to a tow ball and using a small winch to help get the tractor on the trailer?

Does anyone have a better idea for a "portable" or "removable" winch that I could use to get this tractor on the trailer and for miscellaneous jobs down the road? Thanks!

 

Well, you could just get a receiver hitch mount... the ball mount scares the heck out of me.

 

The only problems with that are that #1) I would like to have the trailer hooked up while pulling the tractor on it and #2) the bumper receiver is so low that it is going to be harder to pull it up than if I use the gooseneck ball.

But, I am definitely open to options and opinions. Does anyone have a good hitch received mount they recommend?

What scares you about ball mounts? They tow heavy trailers so I wouldn't think it would be an issue but am always interested in being safe and smart!

 

Just weld a receiver to the trailer... then you can put the winch on your truck, on your trailer, wherever.

 

My trailer will have an integrated winch. For this week, I am borrowing a friend's trailer so welding it to the trailer isn't an option.

I am thinking I will just invest in a good hitch mount and a pretty strong electric winch. I do have a few questions:

1) What is the best hitch mount out there? Disregard price...as humbly as I can say so I can afford it.

2) The tractor probably weighs about 5K pounds. I fully understand the difference between dead weight and rolling weight--mine is probably in between because we may not be able to get the tires to hold air. Any rules of thumb about how strong a winch needs to be? Also, when they say 2K, 4K, 10K etc. pounds...is that referring to "dead weight?"

3) This is a true rookie question, but if I get an electric winch and a hitch receiver mount, how do I get power to the winch? Do I need the truck modfied to hook it up? I have a 2015 King Ranch with all the bells and whistles (they said I was within $700 of the most expensive truck Ford makes) so i have the auxilliary switches, gooseneck package, etc. I just don't know what I will need to do to get a hitch mount winch functional. How are they powered?

Thanks!