I have decided that the Harbor Freight APEX winch just is not good fit with the 4plus winch bumper because the winch has to be rotated 90 degrees to bolt to the bumper and the control box is to big and wont fit between the drum and the first cross member so I will move it to my car trailer where the control box wont be an issue.
I will get another Sherpa winch for the 40 and it is made so that the motor and gear box can be unbolted and rotated 90 degrees and the clutch and control box will be on top and solves the clearance issues.
Will be some shouting when I place the order again.
Sherpa looks like a good winch, get the wireless remote too! I added one to my Harbor Freight winch and I love it, although that winch is on my car hauler.
Sherpa looks like a good winch, get the wireless remote too! I added one to my Harbor Freight winch and I love it, although that winch is on my car hauler.
I already have the Sherpa Stallion 25k on my 1-ton with the remote and really like but the rotation is opposite so you have to pay attention. I will do the same and put the HF winch on the car trailer. May even get to use the mounting plate I bought from HF.
The HF winch is a 12K and I will replace it with a Sherpa Colt 12K for the 40. Maybe over kill but not as much as the Sherpa Stallion 25K on the truck.
I got to looking at dimensions and HF 12K is wider then the Sherpa 17K with 45M rope on the drum. So when I am ready to order I will go with that winch. Yes it is over kill but so was the 25K on my 1-ton. I would rather have the extra length because trees can be hard to reach in Wyoming.
I removed the HF winch from the 40 and mounted on the mounting channel I bought for it at the time I picked up the winch. I was harder to get the nuts and bolts to line up on the plate and they kept sliding out so I put some tape on them. The fairlead was last on and in the 4 Plus bumper but on the channel it had to go on first then bolt the winch to the channel.
Used the tractor to move the assemble to the trailer and set on the tail end and carried it to the front.
Then I hooked up the trailer to the tractor and moved it to the barn so that I can use my drills once I get some steel material to make a pedestal and then drill and bolt into place. Still have to come up with a battery box to power it up.
Ran to Southerlands and got some bolts, angle, flat and tubing to make a mount for the winch on the trailer. Got some G8 1/2-20 bolts and the ones that need to go through the channel, deck were to short, went got some more that worked but when I went to bolt the angle iron cleats the first bolts were too long so had to get 4 with threads the whole length of the shank.
I needed to raise up the channel because of the heads on the mounting bolts so I cut the tubing the width of the channel.
Bolted down and torqued
That bolt is not bent not sure what happened in the photo
Used the angle iron to make cleats they shot with some primer paint. That control box was just to big to fit between the winch and the first cross member and was to large to mount under the hood.
Just needs power. I found a metal battery box on Amazon that has penetrations on 2 sides that I may get but not mount and keep it portable so I can power the winch and the pump on one of diesel tanks.
