winch???

[unfitfitter]

can any of you guys direct me on looking for and installing a winch on my 2004 xlt, im only really using it for pulling my seadoo trailer from the delaware bay in cape may N.J. to the street ... basically from the water up about 25yds... to the dead end street, the beach is too steep and loose for the truck so im looking to bypass driving on it, and i just ordered a "bigfoot" jetski trailer for the sand ,, but like i said the beach is to inclined for manually pushing it up to the street...

 

[unfitfitter]

and yes there are two free boat ramps in the area that i could use but thats an open invitation for disaster over there with all of the knuckleheads down there , organized chaos !!! so im looking to load it to and from the water a half a block down the st, frrom the house via beach...... thanks for any info

 

[BigDaddy]

If that is the only reason you are going to be using it, you could just use a receiver hitch plate and mount the hitch to the rear receiver when you need it. Get the trailer up to the truck, remove the winch and hitch up the trailer.

 

[unfitfitter]

sounds like a good idea, would the winch plug into my trailer hook up electrically???

 

[tonydiv]

You'll probably want to run a large gauge wire directly up to the battery. The size of the cable depends on how large of a winch you get.

It kind of sounds like you could get away with one of those cheap 3000 lb winches that you see at places like Tractor Supply or Harbor Freight Tools.

Just be sure to check how much cable will fit on the spool. (100' would be the minimum that you'd want)

 

[04DrBlur]

The Harbor Freight (Chicago Electric) winch is the exact same winch as Mile Marker. I had one on my Jeep(Mile Marker) and altough it was cheaply made it worked every time I needed it. I would save your $$$ and get the Chicago Electric. If your gonna drop some coin definately get a Warn.

 

[tonydiv]

I would second that.

The military has a formula that they use to figure how much power is needed to winch a vehicle out. It uses the weight of the stuck vehicle, the angle of the terrain and the mire factor (how muddy or sandy the surface is) You may be able to find this info with a quick google search to see the minimum size winch you need.

 

[KWT2000]

also when looking at these small winchs the rated lbs is for rolling weight not dead weight. i have a 2000 lb winch to raise the snow plow on my four wheeler plow weighs about 300 lbs and it struggles to lift it. so be sure to get one that will do the job

 

[04DrBlur]

The winch lb rating is with only one wind on the drum. I believe it decreases with the more line on the drum. Also you are goin to need a wheel on the tongue of the trailer or it will just dig in to the ground and act like an anchor.

 

[unfitfitter]

thanks for all the great info, my seadoo weighs around 700lbs, plus i would guess around another 150lbs for the bigfoot beach trailer... yea i would probly need about 100ft. of wire with the depth of the beach...