Not really sure if this should be in here or not so please mods relocate if needed. :D


Today I really regretted not having a winch on my trailer. Now I'm going to get one very soon but am wondering how hard will the transision be between the flat bed section and dovetail?? Today I noticed when winching with a chain block that at that area the chain dragged on the edge good. Will this area ruin my winch cable?? What have others done??
If pics are needed I can get some.
Thx

I've seen a receiver hitch bolted to the top of the gooseneck and a multi mount winch used. My buddy moves buildings with a trailer with rollers, pulls them up with hte winch. On a dovetail I would just get a piece of that plastic cutting board material they sell in sheets and put a section here the cable would rub. The same stuff Petersons 4WOR used as skidplates on their Lexus SUV.

Mounting up top makes loading to the front of the trailer difficult, as it will start pulling your load "upwards" instead of forwards once it gets close enough, and depending on the cargo that can be a problem.

Just take a piece of Alum. Tread Plate (ATP) and bend it to match the shape where the trailer's dovetail starts, so you create a rub plate for the winch cable. This will certainly help, and will save the damage to the trailer decking. It won't pull down on the deck as hard as you'd think, even when winching a car or truck, we can still pull "up" on the cable by hand if you needed to, meaning its not putting out that much downward force. (and its a 9000lb Ramsey)

If it were my trailer, I might fab up the receiver hitch idea. Put one mount high and one mount low. Use the high one to get the load to the deck. Then stop, move the winch, and continue on with your pull all the way up.

But this could be a lot of hassle to. In which case I would probably line the transition of bed to dove tail with steel so the cable has something to ride on and it doesn't dig into the deck.

I mounted the winch in my trailer about 18" above the floor. At that height, with the slope of my beaver tail and ramps, the cable doesn't drag along the deck when loading.

I would buy a pulley and countersink it into the floor so it only sticks up about an inch weld it in and make the cable run over it. No rub.

Go to a local firehouse and see if they have any spare unused 4 or 5" rubber LDH supply hose. Cut to length b/n loading ramps. Split hose down the middle and screw onto the trailer. This will protect the cable and not interfere with any equipment loading. This works very well for dropping rope over ledges, clifts, etc... if you don't have one of the hight tech roller devices. If you can't find any locally, PM me and I am sure I can find some here for you and get it to you.