Thoughts on a winch mount built primarily for side pulls?

Here is another description on moldman05 situations where we have used his rear winch. His winch is a harbor freight unit bolted to 1/4 plate welded to the rear frame rails above and behind the rear axle below the bed. Fair lead is about 18" to 2' behind the winch on the rear "bumper".

Harbor freight 12k winch has a spring loaded plate that tries to push cable flat to prevent cable bind on the housing and mounting plate when winching at angle. This feature ensures level and even no load spooling of the cable, and works some while loaded.

First situation, on of out group was broke and only had 2wd, near lions den in Harlan.

Long rocky uphill climb towards exit of lions den in the rain.

We pulled Russ's ( moldman05) front winch and hooked to the back of my jeep.

Pulled rear cable and hooked to broken rig to help him up the hill. Had to winch nearly entire hill, resetting a couple times to get rid of straps, and to reset the cable. Once he lost momentum, couldn't get moving in 2wd, as the front r & p were gone.

Worked perfectly, and glad we had it.

Second situation,

I believe the trail was lower J, in IVy branch, there is an uphill off camber left turn to exit and return to main trailhead.

To the right side was shear drop off back into the dry creek bed that is lower J. We were taking the easy out.

Fallen tree, half buried in the ground. Tree fell from trail exit, up towards main trail. Tree acts like a ramp to push everything over to right and off trail, literally hanging over side.

I was able to crawl front up and over the tree and, and bounce the rear driver tire into the tree while throttling and steering uphill and continuing up the exit. I knocked all the loose dirt off.

When Russ hit it, he made front over no problem, but being 25" longer wheel base, the tree just pushed the rear axle over, and putting the right rear off the side, and the rear differential sitting on the ground.

Russ's truck is a one ton Chevy with s10 cab, big block Exo truggy on 42s. Weighs around 6k lbs given that he carries tools, straps, coolers, and parts for most of our group.

Trying for several minutes to get up and around just eroded the bank, and was no success.

The downhill right rear and diff in the ground was stopping all progress. If anyone knows Russ, he isn't scared of liberal usage of throttle, and that's when we knew it was time to pull cable.

Again we ran his front winch to the back of my jeep, I did a rear dig, to dig two deep holes to act as wheel chocks and locked Down my brakes.

We ran his rear winch uphill and 90degrees to the side to try to force the rear back onto the trail.

The rear winch only held pressure sideways, as we winched him forward. The rear winch 12k lbs, would not single line pull the truck sideways, having only spooled out maybe 20' max.

What worked was to keep the rear winch tight, and winch himself forward.

Because we had the rear cable at 90 Degs, as he went forward it pulled the truck over.

Both times we have used his rear winch, we have used both winches.

Both times we have had both winches working against one another.

Be smart about what you are doing and use common sense. If both cables are inline, and both seem over loaded, understand that you are working against yourself.

If one cable is on angle, understand truck will want to spilt the angle difference.

A brief look into an entry level physics book will give you everything you need to know about practical application of two forces in different directions.

Moral of the story:

I don't think one center winch is a substitute for winches front and rear, but if you can have a front winch, and have real estate to add a read winch, do it.

Several times we have arranged the trail riding Order due to arranging certain rigs in front or behind of Russ, knowing he has both winches. On tight trails where turning around is impossible, this feature is invaluable.

This is especially true if someone
In the group loses their front winch.

As well for Russ, if he loses one winch still has the other.

For hardcore trail riding, this is an excellent feature.

We aren't ultra4 or rock bouncing, the extra 100lbs is a drop in the bucket compared to the value gained by such tool. It's not for everyone, but if you can swing it, do it.


Sorry to hijack, just wanted to detail the times where we have used his and it worked well for us.
 
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