Anyone ever run a rear winch?

[Roert42]

I always wondered why winches were more common on the front of trucks.
Always figured if you got to the point where you needed a winch you probably were stuck and wanted to get unstuck. by going backwards, not go forwards and get more stuck.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I always wondered why winches were more common on the front of trucks.
Always figured if you got to the point where you needed a winch you probably were stuck and wanted to get unstuck. by going backwards, not go forwards and get more stuck.

I’ve seen times where the front winch was just the ticket…

That said, I’m gonna say most of the time ol Murphy (Murphy’s Laws) will bite you in the butt and whichever side you have the winch mounted to, you’ll probably need it on the other side.

 

[Rick W]

I have a question about this.

Mostly from playing more with cars than what you guys do, I’ve had trailers where a winch is mounted on the tongue of the trailer to pull a car on the trailer. I also had a homemade hitch extender with the vertical riser that had a second 2 inch receiver above it. It was like the $30 ones you can buy to pull a trailer with a bike rack above it, but it was 10 times more heavy duty. I used a receiver mount winch on top, which worked much better than the winch on the trailer. I also had two hooks and chains that I would run to the frame on both sides that were on sort of big turnbuckles so you could take any sway out of the extended hitch and also strengthen it. I think that thing still exists somewhere, but not in the shed of miracles.

But here’s my question, something I’ve thought of since I’ve been playing with four-wheel-drives, and wanting a winch on the front.

Is there a way, that makes sense, to route the cable from the winch in the front under the truck and out the back? The only downside would be for you mud runner guys, trying to route it when you’re hip deep in water. I was thinking of something like a couple of fairly heavy duty pulleys that had a flip up/flip down flat over them to keep the cable from jumping before you tend it up.

And an afterthought for all you not to charge through the woods. While you’re at it, putting a winch on the back, don’t you want to put one on each side too?

 

[bobbywalter]

it can work. with a fixed sheave.


but in effect it is brutal on the line. you dont want your fleet angle to exceed 3 degrees when possible. so the fixed sheave would ideally be floating and an axle with the same travel as the drum.

 

[holyford86]

I’ve seen times where the front winch was just the ticket…

That said, I’m gonna say most of the time ol Murphy (Murphy’s Laws) will bite you in the butt and whichever side you have the winch mounted to, you’ll probably need it on the other side.

I have also been bitten by Murphy's law and have been in a situation like that a time or two, where even going backwards 20 feet would give the ability to pick a new line and get through, but didn't have the ability to do so. It is possible to rig with snatch blocks and make a front winch pull backwards but you'll need 3 snatch blocks and probably a winch line extension, along with a bunch of other rigging. This is complicated by other factors, such as wading through waist deep mud or a lack of solid anchor points within a short distance.

I have a question about this.

Mostly from playing more with cars than what you guys do, I’ve had trailers where a winch is mounted on the tongue of the trailer to pull a car on the trailer. I also had a homemade hitch extender with the vertical riser that had a second 2 inch receiver above it. It was like the $30 ones you can buy to pull a trailer with a bike rack above it, but it was 10 times more heavy duty. I used a receiver mount winch on top, which worked much better than the winch on the trailer. I also had two hooks and chains that I would run to the frame on both sides that were on sort of big turnbuckles so you could take any sway out of the extended hitch and also strengthen it. I think that thing still exists somewhere, but not in the shed of miracles.

But here’s my question, something I’ve thought of since I’ve been playing with four-wheel-drives, and wanting a winch on the front.

Is there a way, that makes sense, to route the cable from the winch in the front under the truck and out the back? The only downside would be for you mud runner guys, trying to route it when you’re hip deep in water. I was thinking of something like a couple of fairly heavy duty pulleys that had a flip up/flip down flat over them to keep the cable from jumping before you tend it up.

And an afterthought for all you not to charge through the woods. While you’re at it, putting a winch on the back, don’t you want to put one on each side too?

I've seen setups where the winch is mounted in the middle of the vehicle and the cable can be routed forwards or backwards with relative ease, it's been a while though.

Once one starts adding side winches, one is well on their way to having an off road wrecker, haha.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I have a question about this.

Mostly from playing more with cars than what you guys do, I’ve had trailers where a winch is mounted on the tongue of the trailer to pull a car on the trailer. I also had a homemade hitch extender with the vertical riser that had a second 2 inch receiver above it. It was like the $30 ones you can buy to pull a trailer with a bike rack above it, but it was 10 times more heavy duty. I used a receiver mount winch on top, which worked much better than the winch on the trailer. I also had two hooks and chains that I would run to the frame on both sides that were on sort of big turnbuckles so you could take any sway out of the extended hitch and also strengthen it. I think that thing still exists somewhere, but not in the shed of miracles.

But here’s my question, something I’ve thought of since I’ve been playing with four-wheel-drives, and wanting a winch on the front.

Is there a way, that makes sense, to route the cable from the winch in the front under the truck and out the back? The only downside would be for you mud runner guys, trying to route it when you’re hip deep in water. I was thinking of something like a couple of fairly heavy duty pulleys that had a flip up/flip down flat over them to keep the cable from jumping before you tend it up.

And an afterthought for all you not to charge through the woods. While you’re at it, putting a winch on the back, don’t you want to put one on each side too?

As Bobby mentioned, it’s less than ideal but can be done to run the line under a truck. Far less trouble to just have a front and rear winch if you’re going to play on the difficult stuff.

Oh, and side winches are actually a thing. A bunch of the off-road recovery guys run them.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I have also been bitten by Murphy's law and have been in a situation like that a time or two, where even going backwards 20 feet would give the ability to pick a new line and get through, but didn't have the ability to do so. It is possible to rig with snatch blocks and make a front winch pull backwards but you'll need 3 snatch blocks and probably a winch line extension, along with a bunch of other rigging. This is complicated by other factors, such as wading through waist deep mud or a lack of solid anchor points within a short distance.

I've seen setups where the winch is mounted in the middle of the vehicle and the cable can be routed forwards or backwards with relative ease, it's been a while though.

Yeah, usually that’s those like trophy rigs that they speed run through stuff and they have a really big winch drum that spools fast, if I mind right.

Once one starts adding side winches, one is well on their way to having an off road wrecker, haha.

Well, there is that… lol

 

[bobbywalter]

i had a 3500 chain mount in the back for a long time that just sat in the box usually and ran off of a 50 foot old extension cord nut in half to make a neg and positive....got it for free...eventually it croaked from drowning.......went to a 2k hanger winch because i wanted it to be weaker then the rigging. went thru alot of those....still have one.. but mostly i use a chainfall now

 

[bobbywalter]

Yeah, usually that’s those like trophy rigs that they speed run through stuff and they have a really big winch drum that spools fast, if I mind right.


Well, there is that… lol

giggle pin

 

[bobbywalter]

Gigglepin Webshop

Manufactures of the Gigglepin Winch and specialists in Warn Competition Recovery Winches and Upgrades. Gigglepin also offer Land Rover vehicle servicing, winch servicing, 4x4 offroad parts.

gigglepin4x4.net

 

[holyford86]

@bobbywalter do you know of any resources for gin pole design and such? I've done some searching but have come up empty so far.

 

[Lefty]

I had a rear mounted winch on my old Izuzu: useful for all of the reasons that have been mentioned.

 

[Shran]

Some of the buggy guys around here run rear winches for the sole purpose of compressing the rear suspension. You don't need much, just an ATV winch is fine for that purpose.

 

[Lefty]

Some of the buggy guys around here run rear winches for the sole purpose of compressing the rear suspension. You don't need much, just an ATV winch is fine for that purpose.

interesting.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Some of the buggy guys around here run rear winches for the sole purpose of compressing the rear suspension. You don't need much, just an ATV winch is fine for that purpose.

Why?