I got to thinking about something... (1 Viewer)

[Plumber101010]

I'm 65 and been at this for a long time. I'm not an expert but I get around when it comes to winching. I have a Warn m12000 I took off my truck but I'm now driving around in a Chevy cargo van. I don't care about looks just functionality. And they don't make any mounts for that type vehicle. I think there's a fortune to be made if somebody did, but for now I'm on my own. Least wise reasonably priced. I think I FINALLY found one place online that makes custom bumper style mounts, but I'm not into spending a few thousand dollars... I can't even find a front hitch so I can do a portable one.

However I do want to get unstuck if the situation arises, because though I may not have my truck, I have the heart still. So my locking rear axle with mud tires gets me out of most situations by itself.

Portable winch mounts are nothing new for the rear of the vehicle. But my thinking is why can't I just take this a step further? Why can't I just mount the winch to a portable winch mount and attach it with my straps to a tree and winch myself out that way? What's the difference? What am I missing?

Would seem easy for me to come up with something like a handtruck and a battery. I almost am thinking I don't even need a mount, I can just strap the winch itself to a tree! Ok ok, probably not but you get my point

But I've never seen anyone talk about this or give any builds or ideas or even see anything for sale for such an endeavour! Little tree winches yes, but not a big one. Why couldn't I just take a Winch plate and then take one of my straps and strap that entire thing to a tree and pull myself out?

It seems very doable! Keep in mind now, I don't have any options for a regular mount so I can't attach it to the front of my van! So if it's no Winch or make something that's portable, why not? What are the pitfalls?

 

[gnob]

i think you're over thinking it.

you should look into something like this and making it work with your vehicle.

Dual Pull Winch Plate 33 Inch Wide

The Barnes 4WD Dual Pull Winch Plate was an idea born out of necessity. More and more rigs are tackling harder obstacles than ever. With today's super flexible suspension systems it is often helpful to "suck down" the front of your rig so that the suspension will not unload on a steep incline...

barnes4wd.com

 

[Plumber101010]

i think you're over thinking it.

you should look into something like this and making it work with your vehicle.

Dual Pull Winch Plate 33 Inch Wide

The Barnes 4WD Dual Pull Winch Plate was an idea born out of necessity. More and more rigs are tackling harder obstacles than ever. With today's super flexible suspension systems it is often helpful to "suck down" the front of your rig so that the suspension will not unload on a steep incline...

barnes4wd.com

I don't follow you? That's what I'm talking about exactly, but just attaching that mount to a tree.

 

[gnob]

a multi mount winch seems like a good idea until you have to lift it like three times.
using your idea, you have to have the winch another battery and a potential hand truck riding around with you. all are heavy. now you need to also secure them inside the vehicle to make sure they don't become missles in a potential accident situation. taking up unnecessary cargo room.
seems like a ton of hassle when you could just buy some steel and mount the winch how it should be mounted.

 

[Plumber101010]

a multi mount winch seems like a good idea until you have to lift it like three times.
using your idea, you have to have the winch another battery and a potential hand truck riding around with you. all are heavy. now you need to also secure them inside the vehicle to make sure they don't become missles in a potential accident situation. taking up unnecessary cargo room.
seems like a ton of hassle when you could just buy some steel and mount the winch how it should be mounted.

Buy some steel and do what with it? LOL. That's the entire purpose of my post is they don't make any mounts for my vehicle. And having the winch is no more of a missile than any of the other cargo I'm carrying around which is quite a bit. Thanks anyway

 

[pb4ugo]

Buy some steel and do what with it?

Design and fabricate a winch mount that will work on your cargo van. If you don't have the skills or tools, then hire a shop to do the work. I didn't buy a winch mount for my FJ40 or other friends vehicles, I made them. In your case you probably will need to remove the bumper and some frt body panels to get an idea of what you have to work with. The bumper mounts might be a good place to start. You'll likely be making a bumper to conform to or enhance the winch mount. Or make or alter a winch bumper to mount to the vans bumper mounts or frame.

 

[aztoyman]

Your idea will work and it's better than nothing in a pinch. Especially if you don't mind moving that weight around. A fabricated mount for your van might be do-able. Can you post a pic of your van? There may even be a MUD member nearby willing to help out with fabrication.

You asked about the pitfalls. I'm 63 and I'm not as strong as I used to be. I can get hurt easier and I take longer to heal at my age. Ask me how I know. If I was out in the woods and all I could do was strap my winch to a tree to get home, I would do it because that's how I am. Do what ya gotta do kind of guy. Emergency situation only though. I doubt, I would want to do it again. Personally, I'd take another look at how a winch bumper could be mounted on the van. If the factory bumper is bolted to the frame, chances are good there is a way. But this is me, not you. You asked and got honest "opinions". Ultimately you gotta to do what you gotta do.

I'd still like to see your portable solution so please post it up here if you do it. Not to make fun of you or pick it apart, but because it's a step above winching with a High Lift jack or a come-along. I've done both and even though it worked, I didn't want to do that again either.

Good luck with your portable winch solution.

 

[cruiserpilot]

There is a company makes a 'Lewis Winch' that bolts to chainsaw body, can winch up to 3500 lbs. FAST!
So what you propose is totally viable and I get what you are getting at. Pulling from a tree or obstacle is more about
getting that thing to attach. Problem is getting power to the winch you propose. Mounting a winch on a plate is easy,
having a big tree strap isn't that big a deal, there is no stretch so it's just got to be a load strap.
But getting power to the winch is a problem. Electric winch is a giant starter motor and has huge draws. So you
have to figure out how to power that motor.
It would be easy to put a 2" receiver on the front of your van with a cross piece to the frame. Have a portable winch
on a mount, then it's just short jumper cables to power it, otherwise it's in a box in the back. That would be my
suggestion to counter what you are thinking
Something else. The winch recovery tree/rock isn't always just a short walk up the road, sometimes it's up or down
a slippery/muddy crappy embankment. Can't imagine wanting to drag a 85/100 lb winch to the bottom of a tree and
try to hold it in spot while I wrap the attachment strap around said rock or tree. Have the whole darn thing slide down
in the middle. Nope, much rather just be dragging a line and tree strap and snatch block. Much easier, speaking of
being in the mid-60's age group.

 

[Plumber101010]

Design and fabricate a winch mount that will work on your cargo van. If you don't have the skills or tools, then hire a shop to do the work. I didn't buy a winch mount for my FJ40 or other friends vehicles, I made them. In your case you probably will need to remove the bumper and some frt body panels to get an idea of what you have to work with. The bumper mounts might be a good place to start. You'll likely be making a bumper to conform to or enhance the winch mount. Or make or alter a winch bumper to mount to the vans bumper mounts or frame.

Not an option for me, as I said originally, I'm not looking to dump thousands of dollars for this. It's not something that will get utilized enough to justify the cost for me. If I lived in the country where welding shops were cheap maybe, but in the city they charge an arm and a leg to do anything custom. Design and fabricate one? LMAO! I don't have a machine shop outback and even if I did, I don't have the skills to weld so I'm double screwed! I've already been down this road for the last solid year, nothing new to the sun as far as that goes. Which is why I'm thinking of what I am thinking

 

[pb4ugo]

It sounds like you don't have any options. Sell the winch and buy some sort of portable winch, or a AAA membership.

 

[gnob]

It sounds like you don't have any options. Sell the winch and buy some sort of portable winch, or a AAA membership.

go with AAA.

 

[Plumber101010]

Your idea will work and it's better than nothing in a pinch. Especially if you don't mind moving that weight around. A fabricated mount for your van might be do-able. Can you post a pic of your van? There may even be a MUD member nearby willing to help out with fabrication.

You asked about the pitfalls. I'm 63 and I'm not as strong as I used to be. I can get hurt easier and I take longer to heal at my age. Ask me how I know. If I was out in the woods and all I could do was strap my winch to a tree to get home, I would do it because that's how I am. Do what ya gotta do kind of guy. Emergency situation only though. I doubt, I would want to do it again. Personally, I'd take another look at how a winch bumper could be mounted on the van. If the factory bumper is bolted to the frame, chances are good there is a way. But this is me, not you. You asked and got honest "opinions". Ultimately you gotta to do what you gotta do.

I'd still like to see your portable solution so please post it up here if you do it. Not to make fun of you or pick it apart, but because it's a step above winching with a High Lift jack or a come-along. I've done both and even though it worked, I didn't want to do that again either.

Good luck with your portable winch solution.

You are my kind of guy! It's a 2020 gmc savana 2500 6.0 Gas. Very typical and they've been making the same model for many many moons. I'm not doing it for every day use, but couple times a year I takeoff to the middle of nowhere and go camping with my wife and those are the times that I would like to have it with me. So it's not something I carry all the time and I can just make it part of my camping gear. I don't plan on doing anything fancy, I already have a dolly so I'm thinking about cutting a piece of 3/4 plywood and mounting it on the bottom of the dolly for a wide platform, then tossing the winch on it with a regular car battery next to it and done!!! Then all I have to do is strap the winch to whatever object is stout enough and go for it. This is something that's not going to be for daily use it's just for an emergency situation when I know I ahead of time I am going to be in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Plumber101010]

go with AAA.

Now I think you are overthinking this lol! I'm not looking for other options, I'm not looking to reinvent my wheel, I'm not looking for opinions on other ways to go, I'm asking a specific question about what I want to do. I appreciate your info but doesn't look like you can help me. Thanks anyway

 

[Plumber101010]

It sounds like you don't have any options. Sell the winch and buy some sort of portable winch, or a AAA membership.

I do have an option, the one I just spoke of.

 

[Plumber101010]

Your idea will work and it's better than nothing in a pinch. Especially if you don't mind moving that weight around. A fabricated mount for your van might be do-able. Can you post a pic of your van? There may even be a MUD member nearby willing to help out with fabrication.

You asked about the pitfalls. I'm 63 and I'm not as strong as I used to be. I can get hurt easier and I take longer to heal at my age. Ask me how I know. If I was out in the woods and all I could do was strap my winch to a tree to get home, I would do it because that's how I am. Do what ya gotta do kind of guy. Emergency situation only though. I doubt, I would want to do it again. Personally, I'd take another look at how a winch bumper could be mounted on the van. If the factory bumper is bolted to the frame, chances are good there is a way. But this is me, not you. You asked and got honest "opinions". Ultimately you gotta to do what you gotta do.

I'd still like to see your portable solution so please post it up here if you do it. Not to make fun of you or pick it apart, but because it's a step above winching with a High Lift jack or a come-along. I've done both and even though it worked, I didn't want to do that again either.

Good luck with your portable winch solution.

And by the way, I'm not even a fan of Winch bumpers. Every set up I've ever had is just like a simple platform that sticks out in front of the bumper. The last couple have been Warn Trans4mers and that was absolutely perfect and right up my alley!

 

[Plumber101010]

There is a company makes a 'Lewis Winch' that bolts to chainsaw body, can winch up to 3500 lbs. FAST!
So what you propose is totally viable and I get what you are getting at. Pulling from a tree or obstacle is more about
getting that thing to attach. Problem is getting power to the winch you propose. Mounting a winch on a plate is easy,
having a big tree strap isn't that big a deal, there is no stretch so it's just got to be a load strap.
But getting power to the winch is a problem. Electric winch is a giant starter motor and has huge draws. So you
have to figure out how to power that motor.
It would be easy to put a 2" receiver on the front of your van with a cross piece to the frame. Have a portable winch
on a mount, then it's just short jumper cables to power it, otherwise it's in a box in the back. That would be my
suggestion to counter what you are thinking
Something else. The winch recovery tree/rock isn't always just a short walk up the road, sometimes it's up or down
a slippery/muddy crappy embankment. Can't imagine wanting to drag a 85/100 lb winch to the bottom of a tree and
try to hold it in spot while I wrap the attachment strap around said rock or tree. Have the whole darn thing slide down
in the middle. Nope, much rather just be dragging a line and tree strap and snatch block. Much easier, speaking of
being in the mid-60's age group.

Absolutely! But keep in mind I don't have to attach the winch to the tree itself if it's 100 yards away. I can run 75 feet of cable and then attach the Winch and then the short run to my van. I think a fully charged starter battery will last long enough, at least long enough for me to determine if it's going to work! Plus I carry two house batteries with me so I don't see having enough energy as being an issue right now. At least for the short work lol

 

[cruiserpilot]

If you don’t pull on the bottom wrap of a winch the line pull is significantly lower. So you need to have minimum wire on the drum or spool some of it off. I get your idea. Something to think about. I feel you’d be further ahead with a hidden winch, Oh, use synthetic line for sure. Those weights I mentioned above are wire rope. Significant weight savings with Dyneema.

 

[Plumber101010]

If you don’t pull on the bottom wrap of a winch the line pull is significantly lower. So you need to have minimum wire on the drum or spool some of it off. I get your idea. Something to think about. I feel you’d be further ahead with a hidden winch, Oh, use synthetic line for sure. Those weights I mentioned above are wire rope. Significant weight savings with Dyneema.

Excellent point and something to keep in mind! The more layers I have on the drum the lower the rating. And of course I can offset that by using a pulley which I do most of the time anyway cuz, well why not? Lol. I'm not a fan of synthetic rope at all, except maybe in this specific circumstance you could be correct. Hard to say because this is all hypothetical anyway. Hypothetical I would even get stuck to begin with, hypothetical the nearest tree would be 200 yards away, hypothetical I'm stuck bad enough that I need as much energy as possible and not just a little boost, so who knows! But having a dolly makes the weight a lot easier that's for sure but nothing compared to synthetic, you are correct about that for sure!

Lately I have been using those little rubber blocks you strap onto the wheel. Man Ole Man they never cease to amaze me at getting me out of trouble!!! Hard to imagine how well they work but they absolutely do!

 

[Mark W]

WTF would you attach the winch to a tree... with a battery to run it and a hand cart to get it there? Are you planning on getting stuck in a paved parking lot? 'cause using hand cart in any kind of terrain that you are likely to get stuck in is gonna suck. A lot.

If you are gonna attach your winch to something with straps and chains... chain it to the back of the damn truck! At least then you can leave the extra battery and the fricken hand cart at home.

You were given some sensible suggestions from people with experience. If you consider the effort of looking at your rig to figure out how to mount a winch a major hurdle and if you consider paying for a little bit of steel and welding excessively expensive... you are kinda in the wrong forum. BTW, do you not even have a receiver hitch on the back of the rig? Are you not aware of the plethora of plates to mounts winches to receiver hitches?

Of course since you are talking about a two wheel drive chevy cargo van, you are probably not looking in the best place for advice.

Sounds like you have a pretty solid idea of what you want to do anyway. Drive on and enjoy your rig and where it will take you. That's what it is all about after all..


Mark...

 

[Plumber101010]

WTF would you attach the winch to a tree... with a battery to run it and a hand cart to get it there? Are you planning on getting stuck in a paved parking lot? 'cause using hand cart in any kind of terrain that you are likely to get stuck in is gonna suck. A lot.

If you are gonna attach your winch to something with straps and chains... chain it to the back of the damn truck! At least then you can leave the extra battery and the fricken hand cart at home.

You were given some sensible suggestions from people with experience. If you consider the effort of looking at your rig to figure out how to mount a winch a major hurdle and if you consider paying for a little bit of steel and welding excessively expensive... you are kinda in the wrong forum. BTW, do you not even have a receiver hitch on the back of the rig? Are you not aware of the plethora of plates to mounts winches to receiver hitches?

Of course since you are talking about a two wheel drive chevy cargo van, you are probably not looking in the best place for advice.

Sounds like you have a pretty solid idea of what you want to do anyway. Drive on and enjoy your rig and where it will take you. That's what it is all about after all..


Mark...

Funny, but I never did think about strapping it to the van instead of a tree! That is excellent advice and exactly what I was looking for here, ya know, at the wrong place for me lol. The rest of your comments didn't make any sense but I'm too tired to explain why! But in short, unless I plan on backing down trails in reverse having it on the receiver is not going to do me much good. But I definitely don't think you fully read my opening post as it addressed most of your sarcasm! LOL. But I don't think it's too hard of a concept to understand why I don't want to dump $3,000 to do something custom to mount a winch that will probably get used once every couple years if ever at that! And as I already stated, I've been at this trying to figure out a way for quite a long time so don't you think that perhaps, nice word for obviously, I checked into welding shops??? Personally I always get a kick out of people who recommend extreme things like HEY, what's the issue here, just stroll out to your backyard where you have that $50,000 machine shop and fabricate your own mount! There's a lot of things that can be assumed about a guy that has a winch, the LAST thing on the list is he has his own shop in the back and he can fabricate and install his own winch mount!!! This is a cargo van, it's not easy at all to fabricate something for a vehicle that was never designed to have one on it!