trailer winch and battery install

Kevin Leitem

Registered User
i thought i would share this with you all. My car has been ready now for a couple weeks, but i figured i better give my trailer some TLC before I started going to the track. I knew if i didn't do it now i wouldn't do it.

The winch is a viper max 4000 from www.motoalliance.com. I think it is the best bang for the buck winch. i got it for 210.00 shipped. Seems to be a very nice winch. all the bolts are stainless, comes with a cover and two wired remotes. plus a 4 ton snatch block. what i really liked is the one remote has a waterproof plug and receptical. so on my battery box i mounted the receptical, and when i need the winch i can just plug in the remote that i can keep in the truck. no need to even open the battery box, which is pretty cool too. more on that later. i left the other remote in the battery box just in case i use another truck and forget the plug in one.

the battery box is a marine trolling motor box from minnkota. it has 2 dc plugs (cigarette ligter style),external lugs for charging or hooking up anything dc powered or even a inverter for ac power. and it has a battery level check and circuit breakers, 10 amp for plugs and 60 amp for lugs. i also ran a charge wire from the truck to charge the battery

now i just can't wait to break the car!:eek:
 

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That's a nice box never seen it before. What's the pull capacity on the winch? I'm guessing 4k lbs single line?
 
That's a nice box never seen it before. What's the pull capacity on the winch? I'm guessing 4k lbs single line?

Yes it is a 4000, I had a 89.00 summit 2500 lb on it before but it was getting all rusted and the free spool did not work anymore. But it did surprisingly well. It pulled my sprinter van on while sitting on a decent hill.

One thing that people don't realize is that the rating on winches is on the first layer on the drum. And every layer is significantly less. I cut about 15 feet off the line which took off a full layer when completely pulled in. I have no need to winch 50 feet away.
 
One thing that people don't realize is that the rating on winches is on the first layer on the drum. And every layer is significantly less. I cut about 15 feet off the line which took off a full layer when completely pulled in. I have no need to winch 50 feet away.


Thats not a bad idea:rolleyes: I bought a winch last year (8000 lb mile marker.) with probably 50 feet of cable. I have yet to use it but never though about cutting the cable down some.

Ken
 
Thats not a bad idea:rolleyes: I bought a winch last year (8000 lb mile marker.) with probably 50 feet of cable. I have yet to use it but never though about cutting the cable down some.

Ken

with a winch that size there would be no advantage of shortening unless you wanted to slow down the winch in speed. thats a recovery winch, which means your bird could be in 3 feet of mud with flat tires and still pull it on. since you have a nice big winch, i would make a hitch mount for it on the trailer, wire it with quick connects. then you can mount it to your truck hitch if you would ever need it on your truck
 
with a winch that size there would be no advantage of shortening unless you wanted to slow down the winch in speed. thats a recovery winch, which means your bird could be in 3 feet of mud with flat tires and still pull it on. since you have a nice big winch, i would make a hitch mount for it on the trailer, wire it with quick connects. then you can mount it to your truck hitch if you would ever need it on your truck

I bought in because it was 300 bucks and I wanted to be sure I had more than enough power. I tend to over engineer everything:rolleyes: I power it off a two prong socket on the rear of the truck. The cable curls up in a compartment on the trailer The cables also powers the electric over hydralic ram that tilts the trailer to load and unload and a built in air compressor. I can only use the trailer on my truck right now untill I figure how to hook an external battery to run it all using someone elses truck. The winch is permantly attached to the front and is in a nice alum box for security and keep it out of the weather.

Ken
 
here's some help

I power it off a two prong socket on the rear of the truck. The cable curls up in a compartment on the trailer The cables also powers the electric over hydralic ram that tilts the trailer to load and unload and a built in air compressor. I can only use the trailer on my truck right now untill I figure how to hook an external battery to run it all using someone elses truck. The winch is permantly attached to the front and is in a nice alum box for security and keep it out of the weather.

Ken

Ken, you can mount a battery on your trailer, then if you have the seven pin hook up there is one pin that is set up for 12v from the truck. What I did was hook that to the battery so whenever the truck is plugged in to the trailer it is charging that battery. It is a good idea to put a relay in that wire so you don't hurt anything by mistake..
I have been running this way for quite a few years without any trouble from it. I do check the battery from time to time and so far everything is good. Running these big winch's is a nice thing when you need to get that broken race car back home.
One more thing, with the longer cable you do have the extra help of using a pulley block to make it ever less work to load those heavy loads. This doubles the load weight that you can move....Rich
 
Ken, you can mount a battery on your trailer, then if you have the seven pin hook up there is one pin that is set up for 12v from the truck. What I did was hook that to the battery so whenever the truck is plugged in to the trailer it is charging that battery. It is a good idea to put a relay in that wire so you don't hurt anything by mistake..
I have been running this way for quite a few years without any trouble from it. I do check the battery from time to time and so far everything is good. Running these big winch's is a nice thing when you need to get that broken race car back home.
One more thing, with the longer cable you do have the extra help of using a pulley block to make it ever less work to load those heavy loads. This doubles the load weight that you can move....Rich

I gave the battery a lot of thought but the problems I saw were I only use the trailer a few times a year. That and I have to store in a lot behind the shop and I was concerned about it coming up missing. I am happy I still have all my tires. The cable just plugs into a plug in the rear of the truck to power everything. The down fall is not being able to use a diffrent truck. I just need to add a few terminals that a seperate battery could be used if another truck uses the trailer.

Ken
 
add it as needed.

I gave the battery a lot of thought but the problems I saw were I only use the trailer a few times a year. That and I have to store in a lot behind the shop and I was concerned about it coming up missing. I am happy I still have all my tires. The cable just plugs into a plug in the rear of the truck to power everything. The down fall is not being able to use a diffrent truck. I just need to add a few terminals that a seperate battery could be used if another truck uses the trailer.

Ken

Ken you can always use the battewry in something else till you need it. You will have a battery box mounted and it is up to you when you put the battery in the box. You don't have to leave it all the time and with your building skills you should be able to build something that you can lock if need be.. Just some food for you.....Rich
 
Ken you can always use the battewry in something else till you need it. You will have a battery box mounted and it is up to you when you put the battery in the box. You don't have to leave it all the time and with your building skills you should be able to build something that you can lock if need be.. Just some food for you.....Rich


Thanks for the ideas. i had planned a few minor things on the trailer and that might just work well for me.

Kevin: I like your setup. I could have gotten by with a little less winch but better than not enough

Ken
 
Thanks for the ideas. i had planned a few minor things on the trailer and that might just work well for me.

Kevin: I like your setup. I could have gotten by with a little less winch but better than not enough

Ken

For that price, I would have gotten the same winch. I have been looking at AC winches for the garage( tired of pushing my junk) dang, those are expensive. Probably going to get another DC and a battery
 
Kevin, try this.

For that price, I would have gotten the same winch. I have been looking at AC winches for the garage( tired of pushing my junk) dang, those are expensive. Probably going to get another DC and a battery

Mount a eye bolt in the front of your garage. Hook a pulley to it with a rope that you hook to your car. Run the rope under the car and hook it to something to pull. I use my tractor to pull whatever I am working on in by myself. Sure you have to watch the steering but it sure beats pushing something in all the time... Best part, cost factor, less than $50. thats the great part......Rich
 
if your cars been done for a few weeks howcome were only getting pictures of your trailer winch ! or did I miss the memo with the car pictures.
 
Mount a eye bolt in the front of your garage. Hook a pulley to it with a rope that you hook to your car. Run the rope under the car and hook it to something to pull. I use my tractor to pull whatever I am working on in by myself. Sure you have to watch the steering but it sure beats pushing something in all the time... Best part, cost factor, less than $50. thats the great part......Rich

I pull cars in with my tractor, there is enough room to pull them in and still get the tractor turned. But I still want a winch. I work real hard to be this lazy!
 
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