Front vs rear winch

I found the pic. This is a Pete rollback rated at 26,000 GVW, those are F550 4x4's with service bodies and cranes and lift gates, plus boxes loaded with fittings. Figured to be 12,000 - 14,000lb trucks. Go with the light figure of 12,000lb each that's 24,000lb and then the weight of the rollback at 16,000lb for a total of 40,000lb. Both the wheel lift and the bed held by a 1in diamer roll pin at the pivot points. I remember that long trip well. That truck tha was governed at 84, couldn't get over 55mph with that load and I rocked like a baby all the way for the 90 mile run, and sometimes even rocking a bit harder over a wave in the road and the front tires of the towed vehicle scrubbing the ground cuz that's as high as I would get the wheel lift and I used a floor jack to help get it that high. Not a safe trip by any stretch and my nuts were in my throat the whole trip. Thise air brakes didn't stop **** on that trip. Left lots and lots of room to stop and kept away from everyone.

Oh, those trucks were so heavy, the first one even broke my winch line loading it. I put a quick fix on it, and backed it up to a pole to help push it up on the truck as the winch pulled it up. It was nuts, but I showed up, so they were leaving with me. I don't get paid for driving an empty truck.

Frankenchevy said:

A hitch will fail before a 5/8 pin, provided there isn’t excessive slop in the hitch holes already and the pin isn’t a piece of rust.

I’ve seen pintle hitches rated to carry three times what the OPs truck weighs that have 5/8 pins. The wall thickness of your receiver or cable’s condition would be more of a factor.

But if you’re really leaning towards the movable winch idea but are concerned with the shear strength of a 5/8” pin, you can go with a 3/4” setup.

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I completely agree, the 5/8 pin is more than up to the task. A grade-8 bolt with a lock nut would work fine too.

I just did this to the front bumper of the K3500. Not so much for winching purposes, I dont even own a winch, mostly for shoving the 20 foot utility trailer back into a 9 foot run between my garage and the neighbors fence.
You can build one as heavy or as light as You would like, with heavy gauge box tube steel, it`d take a bunch to bust it up.

Oh yeah, the snow plow on the Polaris is home made too. LOL



And a peek at the backside. If I was going toi use it for winching, there`d be a lot more bracing installed.

If you mount your winch on the front and REALLY bury it good luck getting to it! (Not fun in deep water). And having an attachment on the rear for a strap only helps if you have another truck with a winch behind you. Granted, most try to always go with a buddy but if you are on your own and the winch is on the front you might have to do some digging to get to it (not fun). Also, plan on how to have enough cable/straps/etc. to reach a solid anchor point.
With a rear mounted winch you'll probably be able to get to it and can either try a different route or try again another day.
I don't go off road anymore but in my younger days these things came up. Granted there were times in deep snow drifts where I admit a front mounted winch was the way to go. Trying to move a hitch mounted winch from the rear to the front in deep "muck" wouldn't be my idea of a real good time. Just my opinion.
YMMV.

MrMarty51 said:

I just did this to the front bumper of the K3500. Not so much for winching purposes, I dont even own a winch, mostly for shoving the 20 foot utility trailer back into a 9 foot run between my garage and the neighbors fence.
You can build one as heavy or as light as You would like, with heavy gauge box tube steel, it`d take a bunch to bust it up.

Oh yeah, the snow plow on the Polaris is home made too. LOL

You must be registered for see images attach

And a peek at the backside. If I was going toi use it for winching, there`d be a lot more bracing installed.

You must be registered for see images attach

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You could dangle your truck from that all day with no problems.... without further bracing. It's so easy to overbuild with steel. Thanks for the pics.

trukman1 said:

If you mount your winch on the front and REALLY bury it good luck getting to it! (Not fun in deep water). And having an attachment on the rear for a strap only helps if you have another truck with a winch behind you. Granted, most try to always go with a buddy but if you are on your own and the winch is on the front you might have to do some digging to get to it (not fun). Also, plan on how to have enough cable/straps/etc. to reach a solid anchor point.
With a rear mounted winch you'll probably be able to get to it and can either try a different route or try again another day.
I don't go off road anymore but in my younger days these things came up. Granted there were times in deep snow drifts where I admit a front mounted winch was the way to go. Trying to move a hitch mounted winch from the rear to the front in deep "muck" wouldn't be my idea of a real good time. Just my opinion.
YMMV.

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Front or rear, there's really no safe place for the winch when you are dealing with mud. It's liable to get burried in the muck no matter what.

If you’re goin wheeling you can’t be scared to get a little dirty I like to carry a set of chest waders with me, especially if it’s kind of a planned trip.

Its not going to be a wheeling truck, just planning on running it in the woods during hunting season. If I get this truck stuck above the bumpers getting muddy will be the least of my worries.

TheFishBox said:

i have looked at the majority of the threads on the internet and can’t seem to find the answers I am looking for. I am debating on a winch for my crew cab and at this time only want to do one winch.

Would you recommend a rear or front winch? I am leaning towards front but one of the complelling arguments for rear are if your stuck do you really want to go farther forward or pull your self back in the direction you came from.

Also what winch pulling strength does a guy need to get for a one ton crew cab?

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My dad wired his truck for both he added a 2 receiver sleeve to front plow mount and uses plow cables and separte solenoid to operate the winch and ran secondary set of wires to rear and mounted winch on receiver bracket

Well I am resurrecting this one from the dead. I have settled on a front winch mount and was looking at the behind bumper winch mount (bbwm). Does anyone have this setup?

TheFishBox said:

Well I am resurrecting this one from the dead. I have settled on a front winch mount and was looking at the behind bumper winch mount (bbwm). Does anyone have this setup?

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I have their front shackle hook mounts on mine. I'd also eventually like to get the behind the bumper one. My experience with them has been top notch. Excellent quality parts and the guy is super responsive. I think he's in Gresham

bucket said:

Front or rear, there's really no safe place for the winch when you are dealing with mud. It's liable to get burried in the muck no matter what.

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This is true, can also be tore up rock crawling. I know of a guy who has his stored onboard. He can take it out and using receiver hitch type mount, slide it in the front or the rear as needed. It's not just one slide in though like a hitch. His is double. It was a great custom set up on a lifted F250 truck. It plugged in using 12V 50amp Anderson plug, which also doubles as a place where he can connect jumper cables to the front or the rear either to receive a jump or give a jump.

HotRodPC said:

This is true, can also be tore up rock crawling. I know of a guy who has his stored onboard. He can take it out and using receiver hitch type mount, slide it in the front or the rear as needed. It's not just one slide in though like a hitch. His is double. It was a great custom set up on a lifted F250 truck. It plugged in using 12V 50amp Anderson plug, which also doubles as a place where he can connect jumper cables to the front or the rear either to receive a jump or give a jump.

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Yep, I have the quick connects on two of my trucks (although not the rear... haven't got around to it yet) and also my trailer. Plus some 20ft jumper cables to plug in. Can use the same winch for the trucks and trailer and the trailer has it's own deep cycle battery. It's a very versatile setup.

The single receiver mount is perfectly fine, a 5/8" hitch pin is more than up to the task, as was mentioned earlier in this thread. EXCEPT for pulling from the side, which will put a lot of stress on the winch cradle (among other things). Dual receivers will lessen that issue, but it's still hard on equipment and that scenario should be avoided anyway.

bucket said:

Yep, I have the quick connects on two of my trucks (although not the rear... haven't got around to it yet) and also my trailer. Plus some 20ft jumper cables to plug in. Can use the same winch for the trucks and trailer and the trailer has it's own deep cycle battery. It's a very versatile setup.

The single receiver mount is perfectly fine, a 5/8" hitch pin is more than up to the task, as was mentioned earlier in this thread. EXCEPT for pulling from the side, which will put a lot of stress on the winch cradle (among other things). Dual receivers will lessen that issue, but it's still hard on equipment and that scenario should be avoided anyway.

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Yep, those work great. Are yours the Anderson type plugs too? Those are great to have and you can put those end on other things too like an air compressor that you can plug in at front or rear of your rig. We put those plugs on rollbacks front and rear so we can either pull up in front of someone or behind them. Comes in handy when they're nosed into a parking lot, or on a busy section of highway.

HotRodPC said:

Yep, those work great. Are yours the Anderson type plugs too? Those are great to have and you can put those end on other things too like an air compressor that you can plug in at front or rear of your rig. We put those plugs on rollbacks front and rear so we can either pull up in front of someone or behind them. Comes in handy when they're nosed into a parking lot, or on a busy section of highway.

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Yep, same type of plugs you posted about earlier. The gender neutral type.