Off Brand Electric Winches

[djg james]

I'm in the process (planning stage) of beefing up my single axle (2000#) 5' x 8' trailer to handle single logs that I want to get milled. Granted a single axle trailer isn't the best choice for this, but I run across a decent log only now and then.
As I've mentioned before, my trailer frame is made up of 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron and I've bent some of the cross members approximately 1/2" deflection by overloading. I plan on adding square tube (probably 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" x 3/16") to the existing cross members. I'm trying to keep the weight down since I move the trailer by hand a lot of the time.

Anyway, I want to add an electric winch without breaking the bank. I currently use a HF 2000# winch (I think the kind made for boat trailers) and I can manage a small log by tilting the trailer and using rollers. But it's very slow. I think the largest log I've loaded so far this way is 500#. Not a huge log, but the arborist doesn't keep the logs too long (length) in the burn pile area. I missed a nice Red Elm log that would have made nice lumber because I was at the mercy of a young guy with a trailer. His milling price was the attractive part. But he kept putting me off until the logs were burnt.

I would like to handle up to say 1500# log. Again, not huge. I also plan on adding an arch of some kind to the trailer. With that said, I'm looking at several off brand winches. Mainly, Off Road, X-Bull or Reindeer brands in 3000# to 4500# range. Any thoughts on any of these brands or others and the size?

 

[JRM]

You say the winch is slow, how is it being powered. A battery alone sitting at rest will be drawn down quickly by the strain of a winch and all the sudden a 12 volt winch is running at 8-10 volts (or less) which increases amperage and is hard on solenoids and motors, not to mention SLOW. A reliable way of keeping the battery charged is necessary. Either long jumpers hooked to the vehicle while it is running or a good jump box hooked to the winch battery (what I do).

You could also buy a snatchblock and try that if you haven't already for increased line pull. It's very effective.

My apologies if you have already covered all this.

 

[djg james]

You say the winch is slow, how is it being powered. A battery alone sitting at rest will be drawn down quickly by the strain of a winch and all the sudden a 12 volt winch is running at 8-10 volts (or less) which increases amperage and is hard on solenoids and motors, not to mention SLOW. A reliable way of keeping the battery charged is necessary. Either long jumpers hooked to the vehicle while it is running or a good jump box hooked to the winch battery (what I do).

You could also buy a snatchblock and try that if you haven't already for increased line pull. It's very effective.

My apologies if you have already covered all this.

No thanks for the advice. That's why I posted. I don't do this everyday; just once in a blue moon.
I use a battery set on the side. Will look into hooking to truck battery while engine is running.

Still, the HF 2000# winch is under-powered or a piece of .... It constantly cuts out during one pull. Someone here mentioned duty cycle and I believe I've exceeded that.
If I build a small arch for the trailer it would have a snatch block on it. Initially, I would like to try a straight pull with a larger winch using rollers and tilting the trailer as I've done before. That would save the weight of the arch. My welding skills are another matter for another time.

Sorry, little dense. What's " good jump box hooked to the winch battery (what I do)"?

 

[bryannewton]

No thanks for the advice. That's why I posted. I don't do this everyday; just once in a blue moon.
I use a battery set on the side. Will look into hooking to truck battery while engine is running.

Still, the HF 2000# winch is under-powered or a piece of .... It constantly cuts out during one pull. Someone here mentioned duty cycle and I believe I've exceeded that.
If I build a small arch for the trailer it would have a snatch block on it. Initially, I would like to try a straight pull with a larger winch using rollers and tilting the trailer as I've done before. That would save the weight of the arch. My welding skills are another matter for another time.

Sorry, little dense. What's " good jump box hooked to the winch battery (what I do)"?

I would also use a deep cycle marine battery they work better for winches

 

[djg james]

I would also use a deep cycle marine battery they work better for winches

I do have a deep cycle for my little john boat, which I could use as a stand alone. But I don't see how I could connect to a running truck and the winch without replacing the truck battery with it.

 

[JRM]

No thanks for the advice. That's why I posted. I don't do this everyday; just once in a blue moon.
I use a battery set on the side. Will look into hooking to truck battery while engine is running.

Still, the HF 2000# winch is under-powered or a piece of .... It constantly cuts out during one pull. Someone here mentioned duty cycle and I believe I've exceeded that.
If I build a small arch for the trailer it would have a snatch block on it. Initially, I would like to try a straight pull with a larger winch using rollers and tilting the trailer as I've done before. That would save the weight of the arch. My welding skills are another matter for another time.

Sorry, little dense. What's " good jump box hooked to the winch battery (what I do)"?

Does your winch have a circuit breaker inline? Something like this, they do get weak over time, I removed mine years ago and never replaced it. I just keep an eye on the winch motor to make sure it's not getting warm which it almost never does.

Other reasons for overheating are undersized or too long of wires between the winch and battery. The smaller the wiring the higher the amperage which creates heat at the winch. This is a big one that many miss.

As far as running a snatchblock I use one quite a bit when pulling up logs and other things that don't roll just for the fact that it decreases the amperage load (heat) on the winch which allows me to run it and the battery longer.

I have a battery jump box (used for jump starting dead vehicles) that I hook to my trailer battery and simply turn it on to "charge" while I am using the winch. Similar to hooking jumper cables to a running vehicle to power the winch battery, the important part is to provide current to the battery so that your winch has 12 volts to run on. A battery with no charging source will quickly deplete which again, increases amperage. The goal is to maintain 11-12 volts while the winch is in operation, this is where it is designed to operate.

 

[djg james]

This is the one I've got:
https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/winches/2000-lb-marine-electric-winch-61237.html
I think is was $40-50 when I bought it so I don't think it has much in it. I use the standard wiring that came with it. I don't know what gauge that is. It must have some type of thermal protection, though. That's why it keeps cutting out.

P.S. That's a nice setup you have there. Would be ideal if I had the need for it.

Would 3500# be enough or would you stick with 4500#? Keep in mind small logs. HF has a Badland 3500# for $120 with coupon.

 

[JRM]

Without knowing exactly what your going to get into I'd go with as much capacity as you can. The winch on my trailer is a Badlands 12k, I don't pull anywhere near 12k lb logs up and sometimes it works it on bigger stuff. The big stump in the bottom pic barely pulled it with my snatchblock. 2 thoughts here, dead weight is just that especially when they are digging into the ground before you get them up on the deck, and, it's a HF winch - not the best quality. But like you I really only use it a dozen or so times a year which it works great for.

 

[bryannewton]

I do have a deep cycle for my little john boat, which I could use as a stand alone. But I don't see how I could connect to a running truck and the winch without replacing the truck battery with it.

You don't want to use a deep cycle battery for starting a truck

 

[VirginiaIron]

I have one of those winches from the early 2ks. Many of the smaller winches are actually ??? Hundred pounds ROLLING weight. So dead weight is generally out of the specs and math/guess work. Also, the instructions usually have the winch capabilities determined by line wrap on the spool (& duty cycle), the more line on the spool the less pull the winch has.

This log arch reduces the multiplied dead load forces on the ground required to pull but you still need a large enough winch to lift that portion of the log weight through the arch. A snatch block will double your capabilities.. The last video uses the arch to unload the log.

 

[djg james]

Thanks for digging those up. The last video is more like my situation. Small trailer, small log. I don't care for the drop on the end of the trailer though. I wonder what pound pull that winch is? Still some dead dragging to do.

 

[VirginiaIron]

Thanks for digging those up. The last video is more like my situation. Small trailer, small log. I don't care for the drop on the end of the trailer though. I wonder what pound pull that winch is? Still some dead dragging to do.

If he uses his support rods, that would stop that drop. I would say his winch is probably a minimum 5k rolling load. Keep in mind, the closer you are to an empty spool on the winch the closer you are to its true pulling capacity. You could always post a question on YouTube, I'm sure he'd be happy to reply. Let us know.

 

[northmanlogging]

Small low rated winches are just slow. It gets marginally better with more power but still painfully slow.
I have a smittybilt 12k? maybe a 9K winch on my old crummy, it works pretty good and was only I think$400 new 6 years ago might of been closer to $600... been a little while since I've even looked at it, but it works the treat and has never let me down.

 

[Tedster2]

I'm in the process (planning stage) of beefing up my single axle (2000#) 5' x 8' trailer to handle single logs that I want to get milled. Granted a single axle trailer isn't the best choice for this, but I run across a decent log only now and then.
As I've mentioned before, my trailer frame is made up of 2" x 2" x 1/8" angle iron and I've bent some of the cross members approximately 1/2" deflection by overloading. I plan on adding square tube (probably 1-1/2" X 1-1/2" x 3/16") to the existing cross members. I'm trying to keep the weight down since I move the trailer by hand a lot of the time.

Anyway, I want to add an electric winch without breaking the bank. I currently use a HF 2000# winch (I think the kind made for boat trailers) and I can manage a small log by tilting the trailer and using rollers. But it's very slow. I think the largest log I've loaded so far this way is 500#. Not a huge log, but the arborist doesn't keep the logs too long (length) in the burn pile area. I missed a nice Red Elm log that would have made nice lumber because I was at the mercy of a young guy with a trailer. His milling price was the attractive part. But he kept putting me off until the logs were burnt.

I would like to handle up to say 1500# log. Again, not huge. I also plan on adding an arch of some kind to the trailer. With that said, I'm looking at several off brand winches. Mainly, Off Road, X-Bull or Reindeer brands in 3000# to 4500# range. Any thoughts on any of these brands or others and the size?

After I pulled the Chevy out, and was about to unhook him, he asked about the Tahoe that he had tried to pull out. 2 trucks, 3ft of snow and the Chicago electric didn't even get warm. For the price I've found them comparable to warns.

 

[sean donato]

I have one of the original 12k harbor winches on my deck over. Before that it was mounted on my 93 f150 that I four-wheeled with. For intermittent duty it does fine. I've used it for a lot of log pulling on my deck over. 2 big batteries. It does get hot after a long pull, but I've never had a reason to have it charged up during a pull. The batteries are a pain to keep maintained. Honestly if it died tomorrow it doesn't owe me a dime.

 

[Lightning Performance]

This thread interested me by looking at your winch setups in the front of the trailer. I'm wonder in post #6 who built that forward high mount and what material was used to build it?

My plan is using a 12K Warn. That mount would need some struts or is going to get bent on these big logs. The trailer is capable of hauling 14K but should be updated to something near 21K. I should be able to run a two foot mount up off my front frame. No plans to go higher and mine will be bolted on to aluminum I beams up front on the A frame.

 

[sean donato]

You need to remember a 12k winch with 4 wraps on the drum is rated little over 6k pull. One wrap on the drum is "full rated pull" also the chances of using a full 12k worth of pull is typically pretty slim, and at best last only a short time till you get the load moving.

 

[JRM]

This thread interested me by looking at your winch setups in the front of the trailer. I'm wonder in post #6 who built that forward high mount and what material was used to build it?

My plan is using a 12K Warn. That mount would need some struts or is going to get bent on these big logs. The trailer is capable of hauling 14K but should be updated to something near 21K. I should be able to run a two foot mount up off my front frame. No plans to go higher and mine will be bolted on to aluminum I beams up front on the A frame.

I built it myself to achieve a straighter line pull when the deck is tilted back. Originally I kept the original winch mount on the deck but found that I never used it so I did away with it. The rack is made of 8"x 2" box tube and the braces 2" angle. I've bogged down my winch with a snatchblock pretty considerably several times over the years - still straight and square. I do make sure I tie back down low when doubling up the winch to minimize the stress.

 

[Lightning Performance]

View attachment 1015211View attachment 1015212View attachment 1015213

I was thinking about four of those angle iron struts straight with both ends tied to your front sides and all the corners welded in but on the outside of the front frame bolted with welds and inside the lower cross member right through the deck on the back pair.
My forward A is considerably longer than yours on this other trailer. My twin axle is close to your pics. That 2x8 looks beefy good idea.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Also like the landing gear all tied in.
Nice work.