HF12K winch for my LC100

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46/71 Hybrid

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If this isn't the right place, feel free to move it. I'm posting it here since I just picked up a '00 LC100, I need a winch for it, and this'll chronicle me wiring it up, building a mount for it, possibly building a new bumper, or just figuring out how to hide it behind the stock bumper.

Anyway, HF is having a 3 day sale and the 12K winches are among the sale items. I found a 25% off super coupon online, went to the store, and bought a new 12K winch for 219.33 + tax.

If a HF isn't near you, I confirmed that code 21741290 will work in the online checkout box and they'll deliver it to your door for $6.99.

If you're a purist that only trusts Warn winches, we get it, no need to post. If your winch has double the line speed and it isn't worth an extra 2 minutes to get unstuck, we get it, no need to post. If you think everything HF sells is crap and you wouldn't touch this with a 10 ft pole, we get it, no need to post.

If you need a winch for dragging crap onto your trailer, un-stucking whatever, or using on the trail, this'll certainly do the job if you aren't ashamed to run HF stuff.

Here's a link to the winch.
http://www.harborfreight.com/12000-...-with-automatic-load-holding-brake-61256.html

Hope someone else finds this as good a deal as I did. More 100 tech to follow as I get metal together and the temperature warms up 5 degrees.
 
I was in hf. Yesterday... went into kill time while waiting on wife at an appointment, spent 60 after saving 40 because of coupons. Store employee told me " Google hf coupons" and they will come up. Store clerk then applied 4 to my the 5 items I bought. I have been watching that winch for a year now and I am no winch purist. I thought about it yesterday but wife has a broken leg and I am losing time at work taking her to Dr's.
How do you plan to mount it? I want to do a front hitch receiver and then mount the hitch to something that will work with the receiver. I actually did get the 5000lb bolt on hitch receiver yesterday, so now I have both of the ones that they sell. The wide base one and the little narrow base and I will use the wide bade. I have a solid piece of 3/8" thick by 5" wide by...just barely long enough to reach both frame rails iron that I planning on ...
I was going to take off the front 2 recovery points, drill the iron to fit those bolt holes and then get longer bolts to accommodate the iron slab. Then drill the slab to accommodate the hitch receiver. Bolt the slab in with the recovery points and the bolt the hitch receiver to the slab. I'm not sure if I want the receiver to hang below the truck or be behind the bumper but I do want to keep a hitch step thing in the front to protect the front bumper. The other thing that I am thinking about is the only time I will really want to have the winch with me is when I travel or know I am going into the rough and then I need a secure way to haul it in the front of the truck. I always have a hitch carrier on the back. But I don't want the winch getting stolen in some hotel parking lot.
The last thing I am thinking about is...will the slab be thick enough or do I need to get some square channel iron and then get some brackets fabricated for the ends to bolt to the frame.
In any case I will be following your thread
 
vilasman said:
I want to do a front hitch receiver and then mount the hitch to something that will work with the receiver. I actually did get the 5000lb bolt on hitch receiver yesterday, so now I have both of the ones that they sell. The wide base one and the little narrow base and I will use the wide bade. I have a solid piece of 3/8" thick by 5" wide by...just barely long enough to reach both frame rails iron that I planning on ...

I was going to take off the front 2 recovery points, drill the iron to fit those bolt holes and then get longer bolts to accommodate the iron slab. Then drill the slab to accommodate the hitch receiver. Bolt the slab in with the recovery points and the bolt the hitch receiver to the slab. I'm not sure if I want the receiver to hang below the truck or be behind the bumper but I do want to keep a hitch step thing in the front to protect the front bumper. The other thing that I am thinking about is the only time I will really want to have the winch with me is when I travel or know I am going into the rough and then I need a secure way to haul it in the front of the truck. I always have a hitch carrier on the back. But I don't want the winch getting stolen in some hotel parking lot.
The last thing I am thinking about is...will the slab be thick enough or do I need to get some square channel iron and then get some brackets fabricated for the ends to bolt to the frame.
In any case I will be following your thread
Click to expand...

I'm working along the same lines as you, I also have the 5,000 step bumper that I re-purposed from something else so that was free for me.

My idea is to weld the 5,000 step bumper to the bumper support that runs just behind the bumper. If I flip it upside down, that'll be a 14" weld across the bottom, welds on the sides, and if I feel that it needs it, I can weld a 2" tube to the bumper support and weld that to the step bumper as well. With that much reinforcement, the weak point will be the bumper support itself and I'm not sure if it'll bend or not under a heavy pull. I've seen flimsier metal pull more but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Here's some pics to illustrate what I'm talking about.

This is my re-purposed step bumper.



The end of the tape measure is touching the bumper support, this is what runs from frame horn to frame horn and appears to be bolted with 2 bolts per horn. I would weld the step bumper to the top of that.


This is where the winch would slide in, right behind the license plate. Nice and high with no fears of anything hanging lower than stock.
 
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Alright, I pulled into the garage today and started cutting, I'm at the point now where I'm ready to make the first weld. If I had about 2 ft of 2"x2"), I'd be able to finish up tonight. With the 2x2, I'm going to weld an "L" with the top of the L connecting to the bottom of the step bumper and the bottom right of the L connecting to the stock cross member. This'll give me welds at the bumper support and front crossmember, more than enough support IMHO.

Anyway, here's the stock setup after I'd just finished cutting the plastic.


Here's the hole that's left over...I filed the edges slightly to get the plastic burrs off.


Here's the step bumper positioned and ready to be welded. I'll weld it from the bottom and spot weld the sides. With the finned portion of the bumper, there'll be plenty of room to get the pin in/out.


Here's a close up.
 
I see you went all HF. Even used the hitch. I used those HF hitches on the front and rear bumpers on my 80 and WJ. They held up just fine. I even used the HF universal mount for about 5 years with many tugs. That didn't hold up as well. Had some structural issues but nothing some angle iron and a few key welds couldn't fix.
 
Well, after thinking about it some more, I wanted more support than what the 1/8" thick stock bumper tube could give me.

My solution was to weld 2 pieces of 2x2x1/4" angle together to make a square tube, weld that to the recovery point mounts bolted to the front frame horns, and then weld that to the back of the HF winch mount.

Pictures are needed to give you a better idea but using an online structural calculator, this new mount will only deflect slightly over 1/8" at a full pull of 12k lbs. Those calculations don't take into effect the original 1/8" bumper tube so I'm comfortable up to 15K lbs, which I don't envision every happening. At least now though, I have no thoughts in the back of my head about the mount failing and the bumper flying off :).

The whole mount is removable with 6 bolts and nothing was welded to the frame of the truck, it's a plug/play solution that is every bit as strong as the rear hitch.
 
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After looking around online and researching voltage/amp drops, it looks like my best bet is to add a second battery via a marine switch and build an easy hold down (maybe a rubber bungee).

This'll give me a short wiring run if I need to winch from the front. If I need it from the rear, I can pull the battery, stick it in the cargo area of the cruiser, and have the same short run of cable. With my marine battery, I oughta be able to get a solid 7-10 minutes of winch time which should be more than enough.

Since I'll build my own tray, this puts me at $25 for the quick connects, $20 for a 300 amp solenoid, and $10 for a Daystar rocker switch. Assuming misc. costs of $20, I'm looking at ~$315 total for the winch and dual battery setup.
 
TriArcher said:
Did you just bolt your hitch up to the recovery points on the underside of the frame?
Click to expand...

No, i welded 2x2x1/4 to the frame recovery mounts, and then welded that to the HF receiver, which was already welded to the stock bumper. The 2nd picture gives the best view, everything in that picture is now one solid piece.

This way keeps the hitch much higher and it comes out through the bumper rather than underneath the bumper. Ground clearance isn't diminished in any way....
 
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