BIG Winch Placement

[STPPINZ]

I am mounting a Superwinch 16.5 on my Unimog 404.0. I had a bumper made that turned out great but I have one reservation. It sticks our pretty far. My approach angle has suffered with this huge winch on the nose of the truck. For some it wouldn't be a big deal but I can think of some obstacles in Moab that would post a problem with this set up even with the new 42" tires.

My question is this...Is this to big of a winch to use in a 2" receiver cradle set up? It would be pretty slick to be able to use the winch in the front and the back. I am sure a pretty heavy duty cradle will be needed but would that be enough? I have seen this work with smaller winches (8K or so). My vision is to make a tighter more approach angle friendly bumper with a 2" receiver embedded into it.

Other than the issues of moving the weight of the winch around and finding a place to store it on the truck, would you think that a receiver hitch could/would support that large of winch?

Any thoughts?

 

[Greg]

I don't have an answer to your cradle question, but do have a thought... how about mounting the winch behind your cab and running the winch line thru a tube, out to the front of the Mog?

You could just as easily (not sure how easy it would actually be) run a tube out the rear too, and be able to winch from the back as well.

No worries about a reduced approach angle, your winch is securely mounted and out of the way, for the most part.

I would imagine you'd probably need to use synthetic winch rope, since it would be easier to feed back & forth thru the tube.

 

[I Lean]

The winch manufacturers only offer 9K winches in their receiver-mount packages, as far as I know--that alone would make me scared to use a 16.5....plus the fact that you'd have to lug that bad boy around, and your back wouldn't like it too much.

 

[Unimog]

I don't have an answer to your cradle question, but do have a thought... how about mounting the winch behind your cab and running the winch line thru a tube, out to the front of the Mog?

You could just as easily (not sure how easy it would actually be) run a tube out the rear too, and be able to winch from the back as well.

No worries about a reduced approach angle, your winch is securely mounted and out of the way, for the most part.

I would imagine you'd probably need to use synthetic winch , since it would be easier to feed back & forth thru the tube.

As long as you don't have PTO on your machine, the Unimog is ideally suited for this arrangement since you can use the path through the drivetrain/engine bay/body that is set aside for the PTO shaft.

 

[SAMI]

^ Sounds like that's your huckleberry right there..

 

[STPPINZ]

I don't have an answer to your cradle question, but do have a thought... how about mounting the winch behind your cab and running the winch line thru a tube, out to the front of the Mog?

You could just as easily (not sure how easy it would actually be) run a tube out the rear too, and be able to winch from the back as well.

No worries about a reduced approach angle, your winch is securely mounted and out of the way, for the most part.

I would imagine you'd probably need to use synthetic winch rope, since it would be easier to feed back & forth thru the tube.

Thanks for the great idea Greg. I was thinking of making a cradle that hooked up to the front and rear bumper using 2-3 receiver hitch holes but center mounting the winch is a sweet idea. Then I would not have to lug the winch cradle around and find a place to store it on the truck. I will have to look at how much room I have to work with tonight. I would have ample room as Eric suggested not having a PTO but I just added a power steering box from a 416 that is a monster.

Now to think of a way how it could be used in the rear of the truck. That would be a tough one...having to take the winch rope out of the front tube and string if through the rear tube....

 

[SAMI]

To aid in getting the winch rope in/out of tubes you could possibly use a fishing pole.. Easy to store as they are collapsable, and you could come up with a way to attach the rope to the pole.. Or something on the end of it that would push/pull the rope along.

 

[Unimog]

Now to think of a way how it could be used in the rear of the truck. That would be a tough one...having to take the winch rope out of the front tube and string if through the rear tube....

You could do like Bob Ragain did on his 404: Make the winch midship mounted with the cable going back to the rear. The cable goes through a snatch block that attaches to the rear of the frame and then out through the PTO path to the front. The hook can hook onto something on the front bumper and you can drag the snatch block out the back to pull from the rear. Hope this makes sense.

 

[SAMI]

^ That's brilliant! Not only does it solve routing issues, it's actually helping your winch to have more power - by having less rope on the drum.. Brilliant..