"opinion" on this sort of winch use

[ShadowsPapa]

I have a 2" front receiver on my JT, and a Badland Apex 12,000 winch on the front.
I get involved with cars, trailering them and so on and am currently in the process of trying to give away a car I've had sitting around for a while - it must be trailered due to age of tires and condition of certain other parts.
2 of the people interested in coming to get the car have asked about loading it onto a trailer or whatever. +
Generally no problem with a come-along although time consuming due to the limited pull distance before you must unwind the come-along and get another grip. Pulling up ramps and onto an 18' trailer can take a bit of time at 3 feet at a time.
I've done some reading and research into how much effort it takes to pull a car up an incline like trailer ramps or even a tilt bed trailer and honestly, even a 2500 pound winch is more than enough - most figure at a 10% incline a 2500 pound winch could pull a rolling load of over 10,000 pounds.
So I'm thinking about a winch on my tilt-bed trailer at some point.......... but in the meantime, and what about pulling a load onto someone else's trailer?

Idea - but would it work?
hook onto the other guy's trailer with my front receiver/hitch.
Then pull a car onto their trailer.
HOWEVER - that brings up other possible issues, like many trailers have a front rail, and a car at the bottom of the ramps means the rope would be laying on the trailer at the bottom end.
Would it be an issue having the winch rope drag across a front rail of a trailer, or along the bottom/back edge of a trailer until the car peaks at the top of any ramps and is above the trailer bed?
Could a person lay down something like pieces of pipe to hold the rope off the trailer bed or edge of the trailer?

Trying to think through things and find faster, easier, more creative ways of loading dead cars.
And also - when one of your cars is a stick and you are loading onto a trailer, you abuse the clutch a bit and must be QUICK at the top end, disengage and hit the brakes which is hard on a truck/trailer/hitch combination and jerks things around a bit. In a way it's actually safer to load even a perfectly running car onto a trailer with a winch.

Anyway, rather than a come-along with only 3 feet of working distance before you stop, block the car, shorten the chain or rope and run the come-along out and start again it takes a lot of work and time. A winch would be better - could I use my winch and front receiver combo to do it?

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[staying_tuned]

Yeah with a front receiver I’d do exactly as you’ve described only lay down cardboard up front and at the ramp/lip. I run synthetic as well and while they are prone to fray, I’ve lugged my truck while the line rubbed against oak bark, no issues. I wrapped it around a shed and dragged it to another location on the property no problem. Not that you’d need it but if you have the line, run it back to a shackle or hook to ease strain on the winch.


Might be fun to use a drop receiver while having your truck’s front on ramps. You’d likely clear the entire front of the trailer of the wall isn’t too high.

 

[Sandevino]

Your idea would work so long as the front receiver is sufficiently stout to hold the tongue weight and added force of pulling the otherwise inoperable car onto the trailer.

I've loaded cars onto trailers with my wince and a snatch block attached to the deck of the trailer. The trailer was attached to the tow vehicle and my winch performing a directional pull.

If at all possible, I'd rather not damage my toys while trying to load others...

 

[hjdca]

I have a 2" front receiver on my JT, and a Badland Apex 12,000 winch on the front.
I get involved with cars, trailering them and so on and am currently in the process of trying to give away a car I've had sitting around for a while - it must be trailered due to age of tires and condition of certain other parts.
2 of the people interested in coming to get the car have asked about loading it onto a trailer or whatever. +
Generally no problem with a come-along although time consuming due to the limited pull distance before you must unwind the come-along and get another grip. Pulling up ramps and onto an 18' trailer can take a bit of time at 3 feet at a time.
I've done some reading and research into how much effort it takes to pull a car up an incline like trailer ramps or even a tilt bed trailer and honestly, even a 2500 pound winch is more than enough - most figure at a 10% incline a 2500 pound winch could pull a rolling load of over 10,000 pounds.
So I'm thinking about a winch on my tilt-bed trailer at some point.......... but in the meantime, and what about pulling a load onto someone else's trailer?

Idea - but would it work?
hook onto the other guy's trailer with my front receiver/hitch.
Then pull a car onto their trailer.
HOWEVER - that brings up other possible issues, like many trailers have a front rail, and a car at the bottom of the ramps means the rope would be laying on the trailer at the bottom end.
Would it be an issue having the winch rope drag across a front rail of a trailer, or along the bottom/back edge of a trailer until the car peaks at the top of any ramps and is above the trailer bed?
Could a person lay down something like pieces of pipe to hold the rope off the trailer bed or edge of the trailer?

Trying to think through things and find faster, easier, more creative ways of loading dead cars.
And also - when one of your cars is a stick and you are loading onto a trailer, you abuse the clutch a bit and must be QUICK at the top end, disengage and hit the brakes which is hard on a truck/trailer/hitch combination and jerks things around a bit. In a way it's actually safer to load even a perfectly running car onto a trailer with a winch.

Anyway, rather than a come-along with only 3 feet of working distance before you stop, block the car, shorten the chain or rope and run the come-along out and start again it takes a lot of work and time. A winch would be better - could I use my winch and front receiver combo to do it?

Note: The stock sleeve on the winch rope is intended to rest on something like a rock with slight tension and the winch rope is intended to slide through the sleeve without moving it. This is supposed to protect the winch rope.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Your idea would work so long as the front receiver is sufficiently stout to hold the tongue weight and added force of pulling the otherwise inoperable car onto the trailer.

I've loaded cars onto trailers with my wince and a snatch block attached to the deck of the trailer. The trailer was attached to the tow vehicle and my winch performing a directional pull.

If at all possible, I'd rather not damage my toys while trying to load others...

Receiver can handle a 9,000 pound pull and the tongue weight of the trailer would not go over 500 pounds. I've moved my trailer around with a car loaded on it. That's 5,000 pound trailer/car and 500 pound tongue weight. Rolling load. I'd not put a winch in the receiver and try to pull a Jeep out of the muck and over rocks. But the receiver would only be holding up the tongue weight of the trailer - at first maybe 150-200 pounds until a cor started into the trailer, then the tongue weight would drop to almost nothing until the front of the car cleared the trailer axles.
Then at most - 500 pounds or so.
Not really concerned about that as long as it was all a straight line.
I'd thought about snatch block to take half the load off the tongue/hitch - winch rope out from winch to snatch block on car and rope back to front of trailer so halve the load of the car would be on the trailer, half on the winch/truck.
A rolling load on a 10% incline isn't going to present much of a load at all. I think at one point I figured the load to be 1500-2,000 pounds at most since it would be rolling in inflated tires. So the load on the hitch isn't going to be very much.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Note: The stock sleeve on the winch rope is intended to rest on something like a rock with slight tension and the winch rope is intended to slide through the sleeve without moving it. This is supposed to protect the winch rope.

Seems to me I also have another sleeve somewhere that's meant to velcro onto the rope. (besides what's on the rope anyway) Forgotten about that.
With the sleeve and cardboard or something under that it should be fine, then.
I should have read the book again!

 

[hjdca]

Seems to me I also have another sleeve somewhere that's meant to velcro onto the rope. (besides what's on the rope anyway) Forgotten about that.
With the sleeve and cardboard or something under that it should be fine, then.
I should have read the book again!

Yes, in addition to the stock sleeve on the winch rope, I also keep a long sleeve that is cut down the middle with Velcro to re-attach it. It seems to be good insurance for tough recoveries. So far, knock on wood, I have only had to use the stock sleeve. It worked well when there is some tension on it to keep it stationary.

 

[Sandevino]

Receiver can handle a 9,000 pound pull and the tongue weight of the trailer would not go over 500 pounds. I've moved my trailer around with a car loaded on it. That's 5,000 pound trailer/car and 500 pound tongue weight. Rolling load. I'd not put a winch in the receiver and try to pull a Jeep out of the muck and over rocks. But the receiver would only be holding up the tongue weight of the trailer - at first maybe 150-200 pounds until a cor started into the trailer, then the tongue weight would drop to almost nothing until the front of the car cleared the trailer axles.
Then at most - 500 pounds or so.
Not really concerned about that as long as it was all a straight line.
I'd thought about snatch block to take half the load off the tongue/hitch - winch rope out from winch to snatch block on car and rope back to front of trailer so halve the load of the car would be on the trailer, half on the winch/truck.
A rolling load on a 10% incline isn't going to present much of a load at all. I think at one point I figured the load to be 1500-2,000 pounds at most since it would be rolling in inflated tires. So the load on the hitch isn't going to be very much.

So what's the plan to get the trailer off the front hitch once the car is loaded? Floor Jack?

 

[Jaxmax]

Bill sounds very likely to be a great idea, using sleave to protect your line which is usually already on your winch is good enough. I think I would stay away from attaching a snatch block to the trailer though, it’s an unknown rating thing and really not needed, being sure your trailer is mildly hitch high to prevent car rolling forward is a thing also….Jack

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So what's the plan to get the trailer off the front hitch once the car is loaded? Floor Jack?

If it was my trailer I was using, the tongue jack. That's what I've done in the past.
In fact when my fuel pump crapped out in the tank of my SX4. I had to hand load the car onto my trailer, tow it home, then unhitch, swing the truck around and hook up to the trailer with the front of the truck, and then in 4H (due to the loose gravel), push the trailer up the steep slope to the back door of my garage so I could roll the car into the garage off the trailer. The tongue jack will more than handle it as it has a 2500 pound capacity and the tongue weight with the car loaded is only 500. It doesn't even crank hard. Wish I had taken pictures as it was so nice being able to forward drive that trailer with car up to the door opening of the garage. My neighbor told me when to stop with the rear of the trailer up close to the garage slab. Because it's such an incline, the trailer was almost level with the garage floor when the trailer bed was tilted back so we pulled the car off with my lawn tractor. The trailer bed tilted was almost perfectly horizontal and even with the garage floor it's that much of a grade back there.

But I'm actually thinking of ways to load this car onto someone else's trailer and would use a floor jack or bottle jack. Since we're only talking hundreds of pounds of tongue weight, any jack would do it.
I won't know what they have for a trailer until they get here. I've got several bottle jacks including the big one from my press, and 4 floor jacks - no worries there. Could use two jacks for safety.

 

[SteveInOrlando]

Why not just use a snatch block and pull the vehicle onto the trailer that way?

You can leave the trailer attached to the new owners vehicle, just use a snatch block attached to the front of the trailer to change your angle for your tow.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Why not just use a snatch block and pull the vehicle onto the trailer that way?

You can leave the trailer attached to the new owners vehicle, just use a snatch block attached to the front of the trailer to change your angle for your tow.

Possible - was just thinking of the very limited flat space to work in.
Worth considering. will see what they end up coming with.

 

[kevman65]

Why not just use a snatch block and pull the vehicle onto the trailer that way?

You can leave the trailer attached to the new owners vehicle, just use a snatch block attached to the front of the trailer to change your angle for your tow.

This^^^^^

By using the snatch block you're decreasing the load on the winch. You can park the JT next to the trailer queen and get almost a straight pull. You did get another sleeve or two with your Badland winch. But in this case a stout piece of cardboard taped between trailer ramps on the rear leading edge would decrease your chance of rope damage in the pull described above.

 

[rharr]

I've loaded cars onto trailers with my wince and a snatch block attached to the deck of the trailer. The trailer was attached to the tow vehicle and my winch performing a directional pull.

This. Stop over thinking it. Most trailers have some sort of front rail just attach to that with a chain or soft tie and pully, then park your at an angle to the trailer. It's not like you are dragging a block of concrete with no wheels.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This^^^^^

By using the snatch block you're decreasing the load on the winch. You can park the JT next to the trailer queen and get almost a straight pull. You did get another sleeve or two with your Badland winch. But in this case a stout piece of cardboard taped between trailer ramps on the rear leading edge would decrease your chance of rope damage in the pull described above.

No, not in his idea it wouldn't change a thing as far as load.
He's talking snatch block to change the direction of pull, not to halve it.
Besides, a load of 1500 pounds is nothing - we're talking a rolling vehicle on a small incline.

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