<VV> Seeking Trailer Winch Advice

[RoboMan91324 at aol.com]

Wade and all,
 
I have a 6000 lb Torin Big Red Jacks.  It came with  an adapter plate, 
remote control, power cables and a hand crank for  backup, just in case.  It has 
served me well over the past 25 years but  keep in mind that I rarely use 
it so I can't testify if it would hold up with  constant use.  However, it 
seems quite robust.  Keep in mind that the  quality or strength of the Torin 
may have changed since I bought mine a quarter  of a century ago.
 
6000 lbs is probably overkill but maybe not.  My last  trailering adventure 
was a Rampside with three wheels locked from rust.   The Torin had the 
power to pull the Rampside up the ramps onto the trailer with  the wheels 
dragging.  If you know for a fact that you won't ever need to  drag a vehicle with 
locked wheels or sunk into the dirt, you can get by with a  weaker winch.  
I am a great believer in Murphy's Law.  You don't want  the vehicle half on 
the trailer when the winch goes down.
 
Things to consider ...
 
The height of your trailer and the length of the ramps are a  
consideration.  A shorter ramp means that it has a steeper incline.   This makes it 
tougher on the winch.
 
When mounting the winch, make sure it is high enough that the  cable clears 
the back of the trailer.  When the vehicle's wheels are  just starting on 
the ramp is the point when the cable is lowest and might start  rubbing on 
the back of the trailer.  However, the higher the winch is  mounted the 
greater the stress on the bracket and receiver, if that is your  setup.  You may 
want to mount the winch lower and put a roller on the back  of the trailer 
that is wide enough so you can winch a vehicle up from a  reasonable angle to 
your trailer.  The roller is the best  configuration.
 
The length of the power cables can be an issue.  The  Torin's cables do not 
reach the battery in the front of my tow vehicle and I  need to use jumper 
cables to add length.  I keep promising myself that I  will splice longer 
cables onto it but never remember.  Yes, in 25  years.  The alternative is to 
run battery power to the trailer plug  connector on your vehicle but this 
will not help if you lend the trailer to  someone without this hook up.
 
It is unfortunate but an unattended winch will attract  thieves.  What I do 
is remove the winch and mount and put it in the  vehicle.  This is not the 
PITA that you might think.  The winch is  mounted to square tube welded in 
an L configuration with a platform on  top.  The foot of the L slips into a 
square receiver welded to the  trailer.  While winching, I do not need to fix 
the bracket to the receiver  with bolts or a pin because the force on the 
winch tends to pull the L down and  back which prevents the foot from 
slipping out.  Once the force is removed,  the winch and bracket just slips out.  
The bracket is about 10 Inches by 30  Inches.  Make sure the mount and 
receiver is strong enough for your worst  case situation.  The force and the 
resulting torque on the bracket and  receiver will be significant.  This is 
especially the case as the height of  the L increases.  I would not weld the base 
of the winch to the trailer or  bend over the mounting bolts because this 
makes it as much a PITA for you as for  the thieves if you need to remove the 
setup.  Also, removing the winch gets  it out of the weather.
 
Keep in mind that a free wheeling vehicle will want to roll  forward on 
your trailer once the back wheels clear the ramp's hump if the  trailer is 
tilted forward.  As the winched vehicle moves forward, the  trailer will rend to 
tilt forward more and more.  This is especially the  case for a vehicle 
with the motor in front.  Use something to chock the  wheels as you winch the 
vehicle forward.
 
You may want to create a kit of wood blocks and ramp extenders  to take 
with you.  The blocks can be used as chocks as mentioned above but  they can 
also be used to extend the ramps to prevent damage to the winched  vehicle 
against the ramps.  This damage can happen if the body of the  vehicle touches 
the ramps before the front wheels do.  This is especially  the case with 
shorter ramps, vehicles with flat tires, air dams or generally  lowered 
vehicles.  My Corsa has an air dam and low profile tires.  I  have not trailered it 
but I imagine it would have a problem.
 
 
DO NOT use the winch as the front support for the vehicle  while towing.  
Use straps and/or chains that are designed for this  purpose.
 

Doc
1960 Corvette, 1961 Rampside, 1962 Rampside, 1964  Spyder coupe, 1965 
Greenbrier, 1966 Canadian Corsa turbo coupe, 1967 Nova SS,  1968 Camaro ragtop
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
In a message dated 8/24/2013 9:00:09 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
virtualvairs-request at corvair.org writes:

Message:  6
Date: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 14:41:45 +0000 (UTC)
From: Wade Lanning  <wblanning at comcast.net>
Subject: <VV> Seeking Trailer Winch  Advice
To: Virtual Vairs   <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Message-ID:
<809295207.1343059.1377355305777.JavaMail.root at sz0204a.westchester.pa.mail.c
omcast.net>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8



I'd like to  get advice on an electric winch for my car trailer.? Such info 
as w hat  capacity and brand (store) would be appreciated. 



Thanks,  

Wade  


------------------------------