Without spending much $, what's a good way to pull non-running cars onto a car trailer? It's an PJ Trailers 518D (18' OAL w/dovetail.) There's a rail in front about 6" tall and 2" square w/2" square uprights & 2 heavy channel stake pockets on the front to use as anchor points. I'm guessing the top of the rail isn't the best pull point. I figure I'd need about 25' of pulling range. Until I sell my house, buy a welder & learn to use it (well) to build an actual winch mount, I just want a budget solution for now. Would you recommend a come-along or something like it? A 4k rated one should be enough for most 4-5k vehicles unless brakes are stuck on the vehicle, right? For a recovery winch, I believe you want 1.5x vehicle weight. Other ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

For just pulling vehicles onto a trailer you only need a winch rated for about half the vehicles weight, assuming it rolls easily.

I have an H&H tilt deck trailer with a 4500# warn winch mounted on it. It easily pulled my '03 3500 dually up onto the deck(remember its a tilt deck). A 4K come along would be pretty big and cost the same as a cheap quad winch. For most cars a 2500# would probably work. You may find it difficult to find one with that much cable so you may have to pull part way up then unspool and do it again.

Warn makes gas powered portable come alongs but they're pricey, probably more than it would cost to have a welder mount a small 12v winch on.

 

If you do get a small electric winch you can also get a pulley to double it pulling capacity. You'll need twice the cable though and it halfs the speed.

 

As of now, I don't have any sort of mounting pad for a winch. Are you referring to some kind of portable inline winch to be used with a ****** block? Later, I will be fabbing a real winch mount.

Edit-
A couple of come along options that I found from cheap to spendy:

5-ton rated come-along for around $50:
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Heavy-Du...ref=pd_cp_hi_0

2-ton More Power Puller w/35' of line for $165 + shipping (remembered this name from a while ago) This is nice, since the line is long enough, plus it can be used to lower vehicle w/controlled descent:
http://www.wyeth-scott.com/ (general info & picture)
https://www.wyeth-scott.com/orders.asp (price & options)

Thoughts?

 

I fabbed a quick-release mount to my trailer to make the winch easily removeable by pulling a pin. This way, it's not as likely to be stolen, or out in the weather. I welded a 2" square hitch receiver tube to the front of the trailer, sunk into the deck, pointing up. I use a 2500 lb. Warn winch bolted to a homemade bracket that drops into the receiver tube when I need it, then plug the power coupler to the permanently mounted battery box, where the winch controls live.

The important part for a removeable winch is that it is small enough that you can easily lift it. If I need more pulling power, as cLAYH mentioned, I just use a ****** block pulley that I keep in the box.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=40764

And there are always 20% off coupons out there.

 

If the car still has 4 wheels even damaged, I've found that the cheapest cable come along with the cable disconnected from double to single works OK. I buy them at surplus stores $25-$30.

 

atv winch

two bills

Mile Marker ATV 12V DC Electric Winch — 3000-Lb. Capacity, Model# PE3000

This heavy-duty 12V electric winch designed for ATVs features a 3000-lb. pull capacity, planetary gear system for fast line speed, automatic load-holding brake, freespooling, power in and out and permanent-magnet motor for low power consumption. Also includes a 12-ft. handheld remote switch.



I would go buy a section of a receiver hitch, and have a muffler shop or trailer shop weld it on , pointing aft.

then mount your winch on a receiver hitch & pad, and you can take it or off, or you can the winch on the hitch of the truck,

or even on ATV, or on a buddies truck. it's pretty versatile that way.

and you could put a trailer on your trailer, and put a hitch in the hidey hole, and hook the small trailer to it, and strap it down.

i have trailered a few of my small trailers home on a car trailer after a buddy was "slow" returning my trailer.

 

With a bit of research on the options, gotta say I'm leaning toward the More Power Puller. I'm not sure about my enthusiasm level for standing in the line of fire of a cheapo, lightweight, $39.99 come-along while loading a car, no matter how tempting the price is. Can get the model w/35' of line to my door for around $160, and it has many more potential uses. Plus, it can be used w/o any fabrication whatsoever, which is a bonus. Only concern is the cable dragging on the trailer deck, depending on the pull point on the vehicle being loaded. Quick, dirty temporary solution may be to put a piece of UHMW plastic on the deck at the top of the dovetail portion.

Anyone have experience with the More Power Puller?

 

I have a come a long that the cable goes straight thru, doesn't actually wind up on a drum. Its nice cause you can put as long a cable as you want on it. Bad cause its a pain coiling all the cable up and trying to store it.

Watch when you load a car to make sure that the the hitch of the trailer(the front) is higher than the tail, otherwise when the car clears the dovetail onto the deck it will roll forward and crush you.

 

Loading with a come a long gets old real fast. Especially when you go for that inop car that doesn't roll well or has a tire that won't hold air. That's also were having that little 3-4000 pound winch do nothing more than get ya angry. Believe me I speak from experience buy some thing that is rated higher than you think you will need.

 

I 1st had a 3500 winch, not enough, then a 4500 Superwinch, not enough, now a 9000 Superwinch, just right. The cheap winches are rated higher than they actually are and you need to remember that is only on the 1st layer of cable.
If you use less than 25' off a 100' roll you will only get 25%pull rating.
The best bang for the buck winch is the Smittybuilt R8000 for $299, its one of the better chinese winches.

 

You've got some bum info there. Winches are rated on the first wrap of cable, so less cable on the drum mean more power. Also 25' of cable doesn't cause 75% reduction in pulling power either.

Here are Warn's spec for a 9.5ti winch(I run one on my Jeep). As you can see even on the 5th wrap you still are only down about 25%.


12V DC PERFORMANCE SPECS

Line Pull
Lbs.(Kgs.) Line Speed
FT./min(M/min.) Motor
Current Pull by layer
layer/Lbs(Kgs.)
0 62(18.9) 47 amps 1/9500(4313)
2000(910) 16.3(4.97) 160 amps 2/8650(3927)
4000(1810) 11.8(3.60) 230 amps 3/7920(3595)
6000(2720) 9.31(2.84) 305 amps 4/7400(3359)
8000(3630) 7.59(2.31) 370 amps 5/6940(3150)
9500(4310) 6.67(2.03) 425 amps

 

1) If you are ONLY pulling a rolling chassis (even with drivetrain), the winch will only see ~100-300lb force. For reference, have you ever pushed a car?

2) If you need more force, you can (and should) have what is called a ****** block. It's a pulley that allows you to use a double line pull, basically allows the winch to double it's weight capacity. i.e. a wich rated for 2000lb, can pull 4000lb.

3) I have owned a Warn 2500lb winch for ~13 years. Still works great, but 3 years ago, I had to design and build a solenoid pack / wired remote for it. I have heard of some wireless remote winches, but they are usually larger and not really needed. The remote will allow you to SAFELY load a car by yourself.

4) Use a deep cycle battery. Install a bass-boat battery charger on the trailer, and plug in the battery charger once a week or the night before you are going to use the trailer.

5) Even the ATV winch listed above will work for you. You shouldn't have to spend over $250-300 for a good quality winch. Oh, BTW, I prefer good name brand quality for a safety device like a winch. Harbor freight stuff is NOT designed to last long, or even past 2-3 uses.
Tony

 

[QUOTE=cLAYH;2558731]You've got some bum info there. Winches are rated on the first wrap of cable, so less cable on the drum mean more power. Also 25' of cable doesn't cause 75% reduction in pulling power either.

Without getting all technical! Reread my post. Yes the winch is rated on the 1st wrap, you can't get any less cable than the 1st wrap, either dead load like a good winch or rolling load like a cheap winch. Yes the shorter the pull the less power the winch has. I said 25% to make a point without sorting thru winch ratings, glad you got me straitened out.
When you go out to yank a car on the last thing you want to do is waste time playing around with ****** blocks, remember you are not just winching on flat ground, you are pulling up ramps onto the trailer. Get an 8000 winch or bigger any thing less is just a toy.