Yeah, the steel situation is awful. You only need about a 12x16 piece for each D ring. Try scrounging around some of the little welding shops for scraps.
You could weld it into the corners, but I would still bolt it down through the channel. I am assuming the channels under your wood floor are on 16" centers. You can just bolt through the wood and through the leg of the channel. Bolt the steel plates down with the D rings welded onto them. I think putting the D rings on the corners puts them too far out.
I will try and take a picture of my setup tomorrow and post it.
heres my setup, man I have been taking crappy pictures lately the receiver tubing is welded to the trailer. Used the winch today on a 55 f100 enough power, I still need to get a snatch block that will double the power. Still not talking up the winch, it works and I won't change it but its the bare minimum and a wireless remote would be nice.
I don't see the need for D rings in the floor for your trailer I use the stake pocket holes. I use a straps that have an axle loop on one end and and chain on the other. The chain goes down through the stake pocket and back up and the hook hangs on the stake pocket. This way if for some reason something got loose it would not come disconnected, if you just had a hook on a d-ring it could get loose and unhook.
heres my setup, man I have been taking crappy pictures lately the receiver tubing is welded to the trailer. Used the winch today on a 55 f100 enough power, I still need to get a snatch block that will double the power. Still not talking up the winch, it works and I won't change it but its the bare minimum and a wireless remote would be nice.
I don't see the need for D rings in the floor for your trailer I use the stake pocket holes. I use a straps that have an axle loop on one end and and chain on the other. The chain goes down through the stake pocket and back up and the hook hangs on the stake pocket. This way if for some reason something got loose it would not come disconnected, if you just had a hook on a d-ring it could get loose and unhook.
thanks.. cool mount..
all my straps have safety catches, but the hooks are solid brackets with no swivel in them .. so they get into awkward positions easily, and are pulling from the side or some weird angle that pinches the strap itself..
Straps for securing a vehicle on a trailer MUST have snap hooks on the ends, per DOT. You could use folding D rings. Rout or chisel a recess in the wood floor for the cup, bolt thru the floor with grade 8 bolts using a 12x12" 3/16 steel backing plate. When tying down a vehicle run the two front straps parallel and cross strap the rear. Attach the straps to the axles or wheels (unsprung), not to the chassis above the springs, the vehicle bouncing will put severe strain in the straps or allow the vehicle to move around on the trailer when the straps loosen and tighten.
Speaking of diamond plate I bought a 4' x 10' sheet of 3/16" polished aluminum diamond plate with one 2" hole drilled in it for $70.00 at my local metal recycling yard. They currently sell aluminum for $0.75 /# no matter what the form.
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Passionate about autocross racing!
2003 GSL, 2005 HSL National Champion
1956 F100 Panel support/tow vehicle
2007 Solstice GXP
2002 Celica GT 2003 GSL National Champion
1999 Miata gone but not forgotten
As a bit of a jeep nut, I have three, I do a lot of winching and there are a couple of this you might want to consider.
You will should always get as much winch as you can afford. Cheep winches blow apart at the worst times. The Harbor freight winches scare me, I have seen the come apart at the worst time. I like Warn the best but there are other name brands that are as good.
Use a snatch block to increase the pulling strength of your winch.
Also you might want to look at a multi mount winch frame. It fits into a regular trailer hitch
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1955 F100 Custom Cab w/ Fordomatic, 272 Y-Block originally Waterfall Blue
But I'd like to have some money left for the truck projects AND have a winch too, so there has to be a balancing act. the difficulty is finding the crossover point on the comparison charts
Sam,
Here are the pics of the front of my trailer. I bolted some rubber blocks down so I could tell where to stop when I drive on. If you have any questions let me know.
The stops do look nice but if you haul a bunch of diffrent vehicles they will all need to be put on at diffrent spot. If its just a short haul I just roll the vehicle up to where I feel the front of the trailer dip down. For a long haul like, camper in the back of the truck and jeep on the trailer I actually put the jack down, about an inch up from the ground unloaded and pull on untill the jack just hits the ground. You want to have some tongue weight if you have tailweight it will be very unstable. This is especially important if you are towing with an SUV, 1/2 ton or lighter vehicle.
I would never trust an HF winch on my jeep but it works fine for the comparitivly light pulls on the trailer.
If I were to do it all over again I would get this winch, a snatch block, shackle, and a nice 24 inch abrasion resistant strap with two d ring ends, to wrap around the axle. For under $100 you would be wireless, and I suspect you would with the snatch block have plenty of power to pull a complete 1 ton pickup on the trailer. I like the receiver setup like I have so I can put the winch in the box for weather and theft reasons.
The spec I looked at when choosing my winch was not only the pulling capacity, but also the speed, you can use a weak motor geared way down to pull most any weight, it will just do it v e r r r y slowly and with a lot of gear noise. My brother's trailer winch (cheapie HF unit) is like that, you could eat a sandwich while winching the car into his trailer, and you need ear muffs while you do it.
Cable diameter and length is also a good indicator, 1/4" was my minimum. Make sure you can reach beyond the ramps, and twice that if using a snatch block. Most lightweight winches have a small spool (to increase gearing) and can't handle any extra cable.
Here's a tip: drive the front of the vehicle up the ramps first, makes it easy to hook up the winch.
__________________
Passionate about autocross racing!
2003 GSL, 2005 HSL National Champion
1956 F100 Panel support/tow vehicle
2007 Solstice GXP
2002 Celica GT 2003 GSL National Champion
1999 Miata gone but not forgotten
...
Here's a tip: drive the front of the vehicle up the ramps first, makes it easy to hook up the winch.
Yeh, only one of the vehicles I've trailered has been running!.. always fun.
and I'd love 75-100ft of cable, doubled over would still give me 15-30 ft pull range (trailer is 20ft).
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