winch mounted to receiver hitch?
 

Anyone ever done this? I am going to have a bracket made that I can bolt a winch to and then slide into the receiver. I am also hoping to be able to plug the winch right into the trailer wiring harness for power. Will this work? I don't want to have to run a power line all the way from the battery. Are there any dangers when running a setup like this? Bending the hitch, frame, etc. Any help would be great.

You need to run a 4 gauge or bigger wire for the rear receiver. Trailer wires can't and won't hold the voltage. A winch draws serious power. It can kill a battery in minutes

As far as bending stuff, stick to straight pulls. Parallel or angled pulls will bend/break stuff. But straight on and your good

Google "winch cradle" and you'll find about a gazillion versions of the bracket you're looking for. No matter how you cut it, the line pull the cradle/winch combo puts on the hitch cannot exceed the hitch's capacity, meaning you're effectively limited at 10-12.5k for the standard 2" plug, aka pulling an 8k truck up a 15% incline on pavement, or on a 0% incline in mud up to the bottom of the rim. Double or triple lining the winch, going slow, and a WAG about how conservative the engineers were when they rated the hitch might make it OK to for certain things, but you're not going to pull a frame-stuck Super Duty up a 30% incline without the winch being mounted to the frame.

Pirate4x4.Com - Extreme Four Wheel Drive

And no, you can't plug a winch into your trailer plug, you'll have to run wiring that's a substantially heavier gauge to the back of the truck, the aux power wire in the plug doesn't have the ampacity to power an electric winch. Off the top of my head something at least as thick as an automotive equivalent of #4 or #2 welding cable.

I plan to put a receiver on the front. Already have one on the back of the Bronco. Than run heavy wire to both ends. I will then be able to use the winch on either end. My understanding is the parts necessary to do this are already out there as I have seen several with this setup. I will start the research on it in the next few days. This way I hope to save the price of a winch bumper that I have researched and not found anything close to what I want. Most look like a cow guard on the front of a Train.

There are winches that operate with 30 amps, but the one you will like will take closer to 200 amps. I have winch with long cables and 400 amp plug behind the cab. Depends on the need I bolt the winch on the top of headache bar, or on the front of the trailer. With dual batteries I can pull 14,000 lb tractor from the backyard, 50 feet onto my trailer and don't have to worry about weak batteries.

Brian your right about the cradle for the winch. That's the way to go. I have been looking at front receiver hitches and there are some nice ones for a little over a 100 bucks.

Are there any other mounting options other than a full replacement bumper? that doesnt appeal to my needs or wants.

Google front mount receiver hitch, several available, some require a little plastic cutting but are easy bolt on.

Yes, I know, considering thats what this thread is about... I meant other than that.

This is our approach: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...og-lights.html

OK, thanks for all the advice. What about this idea. Can I mount the winch to my receiver then just run jumper cables from the battery to the hitch whenever I want to use it? I will be using this maybe once a year, I just want a winch option in case I ever need one. I'm not talking about $12 Kmart jumper cables, I have a pair of heavy duty all copper cables, they cost me $80.

I run a 10,000lb winch in my trailer.. on a cradle held to the trailer floor in a receiver flipped upside down and bolted to the floor.

I used Anderson quick connectors for the 4 gauge wire to the battery box. (kept charged via solar)
Battery and Cable Connectors - Wire Connectors - Grainger Industrial Supply

on my dually, I had a front mount receiver.. Used a set of jumper cables with the cable connectors added inline, and so I could unplug from the trailer,
install in the receiver, and use the jumper cable to connect to the winch.

I intended to have a set of cables long enough for the rear receiver too,
but never did.. I traded the dually a month ago, and will need the rear wiring sooner than later.. still 20 ft from battery to winch. (CCSB)

Sam

Thanks for the link Sam. I bookmarked it.

i think a SD hitch is PLENTY strong enough to pull out another SD truck. Our hitches are bolted down with eight 3/4" grade 10 bolts. If you can hook a strap to a hitch and get a 500HP diesel to literally yank the crap out of that truck to free him from axle deep mud, why would a slow moving steady pressure winch hurt that hitch or frame? Yanking is far more sever in damaging a truck...

I like this idea: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nch-mount.html