Thanks for the good info.I tried to rep you but the system won't let me. Somebody please hit @pirate4x4_camo with reps for me please.

 

FWIW my draw tite front hitch receiver is rated for 9,000 lbs. I thought about getting a winch but just got a shackle instead since I have fog lights where the tow eyes went. And it holds my front license plate. I got the front receiver because I'm the worlds worst trailer backer.

 

good to know, 9 is better then 5
5 was what was typical, hopefully 9 is the new standard

 

Got his reps for ya. Agree he shared some really good practical info

 

The Curt front hitch is rated at 5,000 lbs trailer weight and 500 lbs tongue weight,and 9,000 lbs for straight line pulling only.

 

There has been a lot of good information posted and I learned a lot. I knew the guys here would come through.

 

I am running a Warn 8274 8k winch. Calling it an 8k is a vast understatement. Granted it does not have a nice low profile but it is a monster of a winch and has a pretty quick no line speed rate. I picked mine up used but Warn still sells them new. One thing to note is that the 8274 is a front mount instead of a bottom mount. If you go wit it, You will need to make sure the mount will accept a front mount style winch

 

8274 is a classic, possible the best consumer winch ever made. certainly worth owning and a worthy addition to any rig. at 8k it is going to be on the light side for self recovery of a stuck f250 but for pulling everyone else out or chores they are awesome.

 

Warn M15000 (15K) in high strength low alloy steel mount rated for 18K. 7/16" wire rope with Warn galvanized roller fairlead.

It's all kind of hidden behind the stock bumper, but some of the mount and some of the winch motor can be seen through the bumper holes in the upper right hand corner of this blurry photo below:



.

 

Here's an (probably dumb) idea inspired by @Y2KW57 's picture: For those of us with too many things in front of the heat exchangers already, how about a midships mounted winch? The prime mover for my towed gun/howitzer back in the day had one and we loved it. Granted that was a 7-ton 6x6 and had a lot more frame space, but could it be done on our trucks?

 

@FordTruckNoob

if you run synthetic rope you can mount it anywhere you like, you will need to provide guides to to direct the rope around any part of the vehicle you don't want the rope chaffing on.

just so happens i am at KOH this month, i will get a few pics of winch mounts that are in odd locations on race cars for you. one in particular is a friend who has it mounted under his seat.

 

@pirate4x4_camo Thank you sir!

 

I've decided to go with a small unit just to pull the boat onto the trailer so I don't have to back my truck into the ocean. I ordered and received an installation kit with #6 wire and the red power connectors. I want to buy more power connectors and looking on Amazon I see many different brands that look identical. Are they pretty standard and will different brands still plug together OK? First pic is the connector on the kit I bought, second pic is additional connectors I ordered but haven't received yet.

 

The connectors needed will depend on the amperage draw of the winch. The wire gauge needed will depend on the amperage draw and the length of the wire. The smallest winch I know of is 2,000lb which will use about 10 amps with no load and up around 100amps at full load. Check your winch's specs and buy the wire and connectors that are appropriate. There are wire gauge charts available online that will tell you what gauge to use for different lengths and amperage. There are different charts based on the permissible voltage loss you want to be in. The more loss your winch sees the weaker it'll be and the harder and hotter the motor will run. To be clear, just because the winch comes with 6 ga. wire leads doesn't mean that 6ga. wire is appropriate to use if you're running wires from the battery to the back bumper of your truck.

If I wanted to run a 2k lb. winch at the rear with minimum size wire that *should* be adequate I'd probably add a 6ga. wire from the stock ground cable on the engine to the frame somewhere nearby, another 6ga. wire from the rear bumper or frame to the winch connector, and a 4 ga. wire from the starter motor's power lug to the winch connector at the rear. This is just a quick guess off the top of my head, do consult a wire chart and your winch specs. I'm assuming there isn't already a heavy gauge wire ground lead to the frame, I've never paid attention, but I'm guessing there isn't because it shouldn't be needed in a stock truck. If there already is one then the additional ground to the frame isn't needed, but if the stock ground is weak it could get overloaded and/or burnt up from the winch's additional load and if that happens there could be a lot of damage to other stuff.

 

Those plugs are what we call Anderson plugs in Australia. Not sure what the rest of the world cause them.
Extremely common here. Use them on trailers, caravans, 12v extension cables , winches and more.
The ones you posted a pic of look like the 50 amp versions . There are bigger 100 amp and 200 amp versions too.
In saying that these plugs are more so governed by the wire size they can take as the connector itself is pretty damn beefy. One on my 5th wheeler connecting back to the trucks 3rd battery is the 50 amp size. Probably has a bit more than that running through it at times depending on load.
We get all different brands here . Some do vary in quality of the plastic and the internal spring plate thing that holds the connector in the housing but most are about the same. They all fit into each other as long as they are the same size (rating)