Good battery costs that much these days. I think its a no brainer to use the truck battery

 

True i did not consider that. My trailer with the winch also has hydraulics for the ramp so it came with it's own battery. I was looking at the cables to run my portable winch on the back of my truck. Currently i have jumper cables that will reach if needed but the dedicated wiring sure sounds nice. more than likely I will order something dedicated after i use the winch a few times.

edit also I try to keep a decent battery around for use as a jumper. The current one was taken from my grandpas f150 when it went to the junkyard.

 

As far as cables and connectors go, I have the same sort of lashup in my pickups going into the box, for a battery/winch/hydraulics on an equipment trailer. It's a gooseneck, though, so I have it on a 4' pigtail coming out the front corner. That trailer has its own battery, but by using that style cable I have all three batteries for the winch (and it charges the trailer battery pretty quick). You really should use some kind of a fuse/circuit breaker, that big of a cable will do some damage if it shorts out (I have a big stereo circuit breaker off EBay, was like a 500 amp?). I ended up making an extension so I could feed a battery on a bumper-pull service trailer as well. I just used bulk battery cable and put them both inside a big flex-loom, it looks a little 'neck but works good - and bulk cable is fairly affordable.

For a winch mount, I'd say put the winch on a receiver hitch plate, then get one of those little cheapy bolt-to-the-bumper receiver tubes from Harbor Freight and mount it to the floor. That way you can use it somewhere else if you want.....

 

ive been to 3-4 races so far this summer and every time I drive the car into the trailer I think back to this post

also the rules in my racing class now allow heavy duty lightweight smaller clutch assemblies. I don't have one yet, but I will. That will seal the deal on how to park my car.

Sooooo, im back into the mindset of learning about winches...

one other racer has a winch on his trailer but it pulls so slowly that he rarely uses it. Such result is 100% unacceptable to me. I want to park the car near the ramp/trailer rear door, attach the hook, start the race car engine (for power steering) and sit on the door sill while I push the remote button on the winch. And then glide in slowly like a princess in a parade.

 

My SuperWinch is pretty quick loading and unloading and I use it 100% of the time now. I bring car up to race ramps, lining car up best I can centered, hook it up and go for it. Making a few steering wheel adjustments along the way, keeping car centered in the trailer. Sure beats climbing in and out of the window, which is cramped with race seat w/wings. Came in real handy last summer at Road America, when I lost my clutch. When you get ready for a new clutch, check out Exedy, if you haven't already. Sound company, very knowledgeable, prices are reasonable.

 

The more wrappings of line you have on the winch spool, the faster it will bring the car in. However, the more wrappings of line you have on the winch spool, the lower amount of torque the winch has to pull the vehicle in. If you have a strong enough winch, this isn't really an issue.

If you have a small winch and a car that is close to the winch capacity then I would keep only enough line on the spool to reach the car, cutting off the excess line.

 

What brand winch does this other racer have? Cheapo version? My 4000 Superwinch pulls my 4000# car in the trailer in 10-15 seconds?

The cheaper/less powerful version will always be slower because of the gear ratio that it takes to pull the given weight. Many people "cheap out" on stuff like this and then wonder why it doesn't do the job well. Easier to buy BIG the first time. Few dollars more today, less headaches tomorrow. Buy a $100 winch and complain? Or buy a $300 winch and be happy for many years to come.

Just last night, buddy calls me carrying on about his Harbor Freight tools and how they failed and wondered if he could borrow my GOOD QUALITY tools to get a job done. Well, much to his disappointment I was using said tools and I told him where he could buy said tools. He just grumbled.

 

This is great info. Freightrain, what exact model of winch do you have?
My race car weighs 2,950 so I suppose it would be easy work if I get the same winch you have.

Also what about the controls? Does it have a long cord? Or wireless remote? And how is yours wired?

honestly I have $800 worth of race tires to buy in the next 3 weeks, so my winch dreams will be on hold. But I hope to continue learning from you fellas here.

 

Mines the 4500 Superwinch(not 4000). I've googled it and don't find it anymore. They show some ATV winch with fabric cable.

This is what I bought in 1996 and still works perfect to this day after thousands of pulls:



I bought the Ramsey remote control for it years ago after fighting with that cable switch they come with. I had lengthened it to reach the car at the bottom of the ramp but got tired of running it over and getting tangled up.

Ramsey Wireless Receiver and Transmitter Kits 282058
Summit $106.

I've had that for 15+ yrs and still haven't replaced the battery in the remote fob. I'll likely jinx that now.....




I have it wired to the TWO deep cycle batteries in my trailer. I used one battery for years, but with the added accy's I've put in the trailer, some three day events the winch would get weak at the end. So I put two batteries and it has no problems now. I typically get 5 yrs from them, I have a trickle charger attached to them and plug the trailer in while at home and all winter long.

 

Superwinch has a nice Winch Chart to help decide which is the right one.

 

Welp
The clutch went bad on the race car. At the most important race of the whole year… I’m just glad it was found during practice tonight instead of the feature race. After this weekend I will be back in the winch hunting game...