Removable Tow Hitch Mounted Winch Pros and Cons

What are the pros and cons of a winch mounted on removable base that attaches to a front tow hitch? Like is this legitimate way of using a winch for those of us that don’t need it very often?

 

I think the biggest issue you'll run into is...It may not be there when you need it most. Full-time mounts are usually a bit more out of the way, and are already there when you need them. A receiver mounted option needs to be put on...And usually is in a position where it's more out there and in the way.

If you're the guy pulling others out, it's a good option. If you think you'll be getting bogged down in mud... It'll be a pain to dig out a few gallons of muck to mount it up.

Kinda depends on what you'll be getting into. If you're not going to be burried in mud and you're not worried about knocking it into things the versatility could be great

 

also you're limited by the hitch rating, which is usually 5000 lbs and that's pretty close to what a loaded truck weighs. I think I read somewhere that you should get a 1.5x rating for the weight of the vehicle so around 7k winch?

 

1st gen - 5.5k
2nd gen - 6k
3rd gen - leave it

 

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Well, I won't be getting bogged down in deep mud. And if I do, it won't be deeper than my shins. The winch for me would be more specifically for getting unstuck from deep snow, or an icy hill. The front hitch I’m looking at (DrawTite) has a direct pull rating of 9,000lbs and tongue weight rating of 500lbs. I’m going to go our on a limb and say that depending on that angle, it will yield a proportional loss in rating. Like for example, at 45 drgrees it’d be 4,500lbs.



By the way, I have the winch already. It’s a Smittybilt XRC9.5 Comp

 

I love using mine it is quite handy can be moved to the front or back from vehicle to vehicle and even to different trailers.

Granted my days of hard core 4 wheeling are over but getting out my driveway.

It works for me then my attachment points are as strong as any as a bolted on winch.

 

I had one and used it once, and loved it. The front hitch, tray, and receiver are currently for sale if you are interested. There is a build thread on the front receiver, and here is the thread with pics and it for sale. I used it until a front plate bumper from relentless fabrication replaced it and the winch is permanently mounted now.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/front-2-receiver-winch-tray-and-front-bumper-for-sale.460510/

 

Let's see,
Pros:
you can cut 100'ish pounds off your rig by leaving it at home, depending on your bumper etc.
That will bump mpg slightly

You can swap back to front etc

You'll have a handy front hitch for other uses.

That's about bit for pros.

Cons:
Usually looks goofy when it's on (subjective there)

Takes up bed space. If you're hauling it back there until you need it and off-roading, you'll want some way to secure it in the bed. Having a winch slamming around isn't going to make you happy at the end of the day.

Decreases approach angle/increases the number of things you'll hit when installed

Heavy, not the easiest to move back and forth and you'll usually be wanting to do so when you're already in a bad spot. Swap the cable to synthetic and you'll shed some of that weight.

Can increase stress on frame during angled pulls (physics here, it's a longer lever)

Can be slightly limited in use depending on install. A 12k winch is still going to be pulling on exactly 1 hitch pin (straight pull), not the full frame of a properly mounted winch bumper that's pulling on numerous attaching points. If that pin sheers you'll lose the winch and every chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.



They'll do the job for most folks that don't need much. Most die-hard wheelers wouldn't use them though. Plus you'll lose cool points when cruising the mall

 

Ok, lets fix yours here and then we can take turns peeing on each others lawns.

Ignoring the obvious subjectives and anywhere the answer to your question is already in the text.

Every 50-100lbs you pull off a vehicle yields about a 1% increase in mpg, hence using the word slight. That's not "teenage logic, thats fact and tested more than once. Feel free to google. There is a reason manufactures are doing everything they can to lighten a vehicle.

The further in front something is the less your approach angle, as does anything hanging down.. Pushing something out a foot, that is mounted lower than The bumper will be worse than anything mounted at bumper height.

Putiing a winch on a lever increases the torque applied at any angle. Adding 1 foot of weight on a 1 foot lever, 1ft/lb. 1 pound on 2 feet, 2 ft/lbs, etc. "Give me a long enough lever and ill move the world"

If your mount puts the winch 1 foot further away from the frame than any other mount and apply 4500 lbs on an angled pull you're applying an extra 4500 lbs of torque on your frame than if it were mounted 1 foot closer. Physics.


I don't think you understand hitch ratings. Towing is done on a road, which is a smooth and steady pull. Winching is not. Anyway assuming you have a class 3 front mounted hitch, the hitch itself is rated for.... 3500 to 8000 lbs (curt hitches, ymmv) what does your truck weigh? How much force is needed to unstuck you? Depending on your stuck, that can be several times the actual weight. Remember torque? Not all stucks have a hitch point straight ahead. It all adds up, or multiplies in some cases.

A hitch pin is designed for exactly 1 thing, towing. We're back to the smooth and steady thing. A trailer rolls, a stuck vehicle doesn't. With a properly mounted and built winch bumper you have multiple fail points but odds are they wont all fail at once. If you tear out one, you can stop pulling. A hitch mount has exactly 1 failure point before the frame mount, and its in double shear orientation. If it goes, its gone. If you bought cheap, if you got stuck with a manufacturing defect there is no backup.

Again, for most people they will work fine. It's the ops decision if he needs to consider himself most people or not, Most stucks, a quick tug is all it takes. For others you'll mangle a 1 ton truck frame, and the taco frame isnt nearly as strong.

There is more to consider safely recovering a vehicle than making sure you don't spill your beer. It doesnt matter if a winch pulls the same, its how it pulls and what it's pulling on. I'm sure YouTube is full of vids of "its all the same, and it doesnt matter". But in many cases, it matters.

 

Lol, wow Indy, you sure struck a nerve and offended someone it seems...

I do think they are and can be useful, i even had one with intentions of running and using it but ended up going with winch bumpers instead. I had and do have pretty much the exact same "cons" list as you have presented Indy...

 

Its a hobby

I must be good at it since i do it without trying

Physics isnt opinion, its pretty much the as fact as fact can get.

Op asked for a list of pro/con, that's what was provided, not a point by point assessment of every possible configuration. Arguing what ifs is best left to sitting around drinking beer imo but they do tend to pop up for some reason. C'est la vie.

 

just some more info for consideration. seems straight on would be ideal, but if you're pulling at angles you may have trouble.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/124036-hitch-mounted-winch-rating

http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/f32/front-hitch-mounted-winch-361497/

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f282/hitch-mounted-winch-any-good-86729.html

 

It comes down to your personal use

Physics does not lie or has not been proven wrong to date

Each recovery is different only speaking from hands on experience although I have had people tell me they are all the same..

Myself I like having the option of moving my winch from place to place .

Approach angle means nothing to me

I would guess my portable winch is used more on the trailer loading vehicles

The thing with Electrical winches they will stall long before anything might fail in most cases

Interesting thought if one is worried about just one 5/8" pin simple matter to install another in both pieces of receiver

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/qnyla-2016-build.407885/#post-12028609

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/receiver-winch-install-front-and-rear.368480/

^See these forum examples.

I think Indy pretty well covered it.

 

So I went through the same pros and cons list with the installation of my winch... I chose to go with a bumper mount on my '02. A little background that helped me decide:

• My mothers second husband was a tow truck driver, and I used to go our on recoveries with him which taught me a lot about moving stuck, overturned, and vehicles in otherwise bad ways. I've seen a Honda Accord so badly stuck that the F450 tow truck moved before the Honda even began to budge.
• I drove a tow truck for Copper Mountain for a few season and I had a few close calls when trying to move buried or stuck vehicles (you wouldn't believe how much snow a Cat 936 can force under a car if the operator chooses to be a dick)
• I now work in an industry where we suspend, tension, and hang fairly large loads from cables. My current max load is approximately 23,000 lbs. of tension into a 3/4" cable 3,500' long. It connects two mountains in the Blue Ridge near Asheville, NC. People ride it everyday for fun.
• In addition to hanging cables across valleys, I have had to open some corridors in forests with minimal impact. Known as high lead logging, essentially we drop the trees, construct pick points, and run upwards of a thousand feet of 1/2" 6x26 IWRC EIPS Galvanized wire rope through the picks (McKissick Blocks) and haul the logs to an established road.

You mentioned that the receiver hitch you are looking at has a direct pull rating of 9000 lbs. also that you have an XRC9.5 Comp. Thus at max pull you are already 500 lbs. above the maximum rating of the hitch. Another helpful tool in recovery is 2:1 mechanical advantage, by adding a snatch block into your system you can effectively double the working load of the winch, theoretically giving you 19,000 lbs. of tug. With that kind of force eventually something is going to give, (my guess is the hitch pin) and from experience when things go south in a rigging senerio it happens with little warning, and lots of energy. You already understand the decreased strength of the receiver in an off angle pull, (45 deg/4500 lbs. give or take) and in a recovery situation you rarely have an inline anchor. The XRC9.5 also runs a 5/16" cable if I'm not mistaken, which has a Minimum Breaking Strength (MBS) of around 10,000 lbs. a synthetic rope say 3/8" is around 17,000 MBS (the 3/8" 7x19 IWRC EIPS Galvanized Aircraft Cable we use at work has a MBS of 14,400 lbs. and that's the domestic) I agree that that it would be nice to have a movable system, but if something fails the best case scenario would be a costly fix to the truck, the alternative could be much worse.

 

I've had front mounted winches and I currently have a rear mounted winch. My next winch will be a hitch mounted winch, with receivers front and rear.

My primary reason is protection from the elements. Over the years, I've had several times where I have had to battle the winch to work properly because of mud/dirt/water exposure getting into electronics. My truck sees dirt on a near daily basis, and by "dirt" I mean snow six months of the year, mud three months of the year, and then three months of good dirt.

Secondary reason is weight balance, as I will mount it in the front of the bed, which will center the weight as best as possible.

Third reason is the flexibility to use front or rear.

Fourth reason is ability to transfer to another vehicle.

 

Regardless of which direction the op goes, great advice is to fully test the winch before each outing. The best place to find failed electrics or bound up cables is in your driveway, not 20 hours from civilization with a failed winch.

I had a set of ruts collapse under my f250 once. I was out of cell range and hunting alone in bfe which is stupid to start. All 4 wheels were a foot from the ground but there was a fantastic anchor point about 30 feet away. Unfortunately my cable somehow had kinked under itself and i could only get 6 out. I had an 8 hour hike to try and find help as option 1. I ended up spending 3 hours working to free the cable followed by 10 seconds winching, and a couple weeks waiting for all the wire pokes to my hands to heal. I could have easily avoided that with a quick test when i had shelter and tools.

Learn from my mistakes

And buy synthetic cable, soooooo much nicer to work with. That ^ was my last pull with wire, swapped everything after that and had a happier life. New things to learn when you use it though, but learning is fun.

 

To through my two cents into this argument ......

My front receiver mounted winch had 22" of clearance under the front lip of it when mounted with stock suspension. It did not change the approach angle from the stock front bumper. In running blue trails at Windrock, TN it never snagged on anything.

It was able to slide the truck sideways with the winch on the tray. Nothing broke or bent.

A 5/8 shear pin seems to have about 12,000 lbs of shear strength (24,000 if you account for the double shear mounting). The standard 2" tube used in hitches has about 9000 lbs of deformation strength (based on a quick internet search). Both of these are higher than the 8000 lbs of possible pull strength from my winch on the first wrap in a straight line. By the time there are a few wraps of winch line, the winch is not strong enough to break anything.

I did move the winch to a plate bumper and permanent mount because I like the look better.