Well, I just bought a winch for my truck ('85 C2500 with 6.2 diesel). It is rated at 2500 lbs., and I think it will be enough for the job.

I was wondering what the best way to mount it is... It has a mounting bracket on the bottom with three slotted holes for mounting bolts. It appears to be made so that it could be removable, which would be nice (that way I could store it inside the truck, out of the weather and away from all the road salt). I would like to mount it on the front of the truck, but I would like to keep it low profile (maybe mount it underneath?). If it has to be out in the open, so be it, but I would prefer to keep it less visible.

So how does everybody else mount their winches? Pictures would be great. Also, does everbody put them on the front, or do some people put them in the back? All the ones I've see are mounted on the front...

Is there a theft problem with these? I can imagine it would be a likely item to get stolen off the truck...

How about wiring? I notice it has pretty heavy gauge wires and a large connector. I would guess it draws quite a bit of current. Do I need to put a solenoid in as the switch, or do I just get a big switch and put it in? Also, how do you wire it so that you can reverse it to let the cable out? Would it be a good idea to upgrade the charging system so that I don't fry something running the winch, or should I just stop every now and then to let things cool down and allow the batteries to charge up? I would assume that it is preferable to run the engine when operating the winch...

Any information would be appreciated...

Thanks in advance! :)

2500lb winch? Hope you aint planning on getting stuck anytime soon.

Minimum vehicular winch I would put on your pickup is a 8000 lb champion winch from costco. 300$. Had one on my jeep and it pulled my silverado just fine when the injectors went out and I was stuck on a road in winter and needed it out of the road for safety reasons (pulled into a parking lot) plus it pulled out many other rigs.

I am getting a minimum of 12k winch for the front of the blazer and a 8k for the back when I have the money to do so.

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I don't know what brand of a winch you have, but depending on the model it will either have the solonoids built onto the winch platform itself, or you remote mount the solonoids somewhere else (usually underhood)

basically the winch operation goes like this: winch remote has a mom-on/off/mom-on switch. Up is out, down is in, middle is off. That remote cable plugs to where you have the remote plug at, usually next to the winch or in the front of the rig. That switch simply triggers the solonoid(s) to apply current either normal (in) or reverse (out). The leads supplying power to the solonoids should be jumper cable wire or 2 or 0 gauge wire preferably that goes straight to the pos and neg on your battery(s) to supply enough amperage.

Once again if that's a 2500lb winch that's better used for a quad, or mounting in the back of your bed near your cab for pulling things into the bed because it will NOT pull your truck out if you're actually mired in anything. Here's a reference to use for recovery of stuck stuff.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/US%20Army%20driving%20manual%20vehicle%20recovery% 20ch22.pdf

I'm not planning on getting stuck... I only paid $20 for it. I really just need to use it for little jobs where I will be using the winch to pull other stuff, not my truck.

You could probably make it a hitch-mounted winch if you installed a front-mount hitch and purchased the mounting plate. It sounds like just the ticket if you want it to be removable, and you also wouldn't have to worry about extra weight contribution to the front end.

Here is an example of such a plate.

http://www.etrailer.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=E&Product_Code=6495&Category_Code=FMH

Hope this helps!

I have a 2500 lb. winch on the front of my quad and it works great. Get yourself some good straps and some recovery hooks. You can double back and improve your pulling capacity.

Well, we have a 2000# winch on my dad's 4-wheeler (Grizzly 660) that we broke when it was knee deep in mud. So, don't expect much trying to get yourself out of any sticky situations.:confused:

To the other questions;
I'd make a mounting fixture so it can easily be attached to a reciever hitch. Then use long jumper cables to quickly attach it to the battery. Concidering this winch can be used on an ATV, your charging system shouldn't even be phased while in use. Powering it up with a jumper cable setup, you can use it on any vehicle with a reciever hitch. :grd:

I'm not planning on getting stuck...

famous last words

famous last words

That and "Hold my beer I'm gonna try something"

[quote=Rttoys;1399963;]Well, we have a 2000# winch on my dad's 4-wheeler (Grizzly 660) that we broke when it was knee deep in mud. So, don't expect much trying to get yourself out of any sticky situations.:confused:


You refering to pulling my quad out with the winch? I winched a 3000 lb generator across my yard on the grass and all it did was nose my quad down a little.(The plywood helped it slide) Was it a harbor freight winch?

Actualy it was the factory Warn/Yamaha winch, only used it twice. I'm suspecting water got in there, but don't know why. ;) Of course it is a discontinued winch from Warn, a new one is in the $400 range and I did find the parts for the old one at the tune of $200:mad: So now, yes it has a $40 Harbor Frieght special. I figure if it works 3 times it outlast the Warn.:cool:

Good point, I extend mine out and spray wd on the cable and it helps to keep the rust away. Not knocking harbor's stuff, just curious at how well it works. Buddy pulls his race car into trailer with one, swears by it and one time swore at it... go figure.

Go with synthetic rope instead of cable and you don't have to worry about the corrosion bit ;)

Well, I really have no idea what brand this winch is or anything. It has no labels on it. I bought it used from a guy who found it by the side of the road. The way I see it I paid less for it than I would for a cheap Chinese made comealong...

I know they are mainly intended for ATVs and stuff. I'm not putting it on the truck for pulling vehicles. I don't go off roading so I get along just fine by staying out of areas where I could get stuck. I have only been really stuck once... And it was in my backyard... And I got out without assistance.

The reason I want the winch is because I use my truck a lot for moving bits of scrap metal and lawn tractors and stuff like that but I don't like to pull with it because it is very easy to get it stuck (no weight over the back and only 2WD). In addition, in many cases there isn't room to use the truck to pull... I'd kind of rather have it set up so that I can use the truck as an anchor point, that way I don't end up digging a hole under each rear wheel and I don't have to move the truck.

Someday I will get a real 8,000-10,000 lb winch so that I can also pull vehicles if I want, but for right now the 2500 lb is what I've got.

I don't have a receiver hitch on the front or rear... Are they pretty easy to get/install? Very expensive? I might be interested in doing that because in the future I will be getting a bigger winch...

The other thing I was thinking about doing was mounting it on the bumper...

I do like the idea about the jumper cables... Would save me some wiring...

I would just see about a front reciever, get a piece of square stock from the rem yard at the local steel place that fits in it, plus a 1/4" plate, weld the plate to the square stock, drill it for a pin for the reciever, and jumper cable the contacts to pull.

Mounting such a dinky little thing permanently on your bumper would sorta be a waste of time. Plus having a reciever in the front would allow you to maneuver trailers easier sometimes.

In all reality, mounting anything other than a 8k winch on a removable platform is asking to throw something out. Don't know if you've tried to heft a warn 16.5TI winch anytime lately :)

Another idea is fabbing up a mount so you could post mount it on the side of the bed, with a pulley so you could pull and also hoist..... for a dinky little thing like that there's alot of options to an extent...

Another idea is fabbing up a mount so you could post mount it on the side of the bed, with a pulley so you could pull and also hoist.....

I like that idea... I'm always putting heavy stuff in the bed (I haul scrap metal with my truck). Sure would make things a lot easier...

I know it isn't much of a winch, but I don't need it to do much and I also don't really need it to last that long... It was really cheap, so I figured I'd pick it up and do something with it. Like I said, someday I will buy a real winch, but a good winch is probably worth more than both of my vehicles... It may just have to wait. In the meantime, I'm going to see what I can do with this thing...

Yesterday I temporarily strapped the winch to my front bumper with ratcheting tiedowns and tried it out... Works good. I pulled some stuff out of the mud in the backyard that I ordinarily wouldn't have been able to move... I do like the 40' cable. It works good for pulling little stuff (lawn tractors, snowmobiles, motorcycles, bits of farm equipment, etc.) which is something I do a lot of.

I may just continue mounting it with ratcheting tiedowns when I need it... Like you said, there really isn't a point to getting a heavy duty mount for this winch. I will buy the mount when I buy a bigger winch.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

If you're hauling metal the hoist idea is something I would look into doing. It'd make life easier, for sure... and honestly wouldn't be too hard to make an extendable boom with a hydraulic jack as the crossmember to be able to elevate the boom for more fine control if you're using it for something else (ie cherry picker for someone elses engine swap, lifting up a front end to do a double tire swap for winter, etc)

if you got real creative you could do alot of things, and save yourself money compared to buying one of the bed mount hoists... they're pricy!