NPC5515

Hey Guys,
Just got a portable 12,000 lb winch, and I was wondering what size welding wire I would need if I wanted to run it from my rear hitch. Assuming I ran the welding wire from my main truck battery to the rear, what would happen when I take the winch off? It seems like a serious safety hazard just having these 2 live cables flopping around back there when the winch is disconnected...any advice or ideas? Thanks!

NPC5515

On second thought, would anyone recommend just buying a spare car battery and hooking it up to the winch whenever I need to use it?

DanielElfert

You could do what we did on mine and have a huge switch on the battery wires to the winch. You can pick them up at autozone

NPC5515

Did you run welding cable form the battery to the rear?

DanielElfert

Not sure what you mean by welding cable,

We just took the cable that came with the winch, hooked it up to a switch, and the switch to the battery. We didn't go all the way to the back, but it's the same premise

NPC5515

I was told that the regular cables that come with the winch aren't long enough to go from the front engine battery to the rear trailer hitch. So I was told to buy welding cables since they're longer and run them from the engine to the hitch. Did you just use the stock cables your winch came with?

tanked_darren

You need to figure out what size wire came with the winch and go from there. I've seen setups where the wires go to a socket (also called a quick connect) that plugs into a socket in the winch. No need to worry about loose wires flopping around, if I was installing a winch this is the only way I'd do it. Google winch wire quick connect.

Generally the winch fits into a hitch bar and is easily moved from the front to the back, also easily removed so it don't get jacked.

DanielElfert

And quick tip. Slide the winch on BEFORE playing off road. It would be hell trying to carry 100 lbs of steel around in a big slushy.

Driftboater

Warn and similar companies sell wiring kits for the front and rear. I chose the Warn kit for my winch because it appeared to be the most complete kit for the money- HD zip-ties, solenoid, dust covers for quick disconnects, switch to install in the cab to disable power when not in use etc. I installed the 20' kit which was just barely long enough for my '11 SCrew FX4; the 24' would have been a little easier to install. The kit uses 2AWG wire. I installed the rear quick disconnect by bolting (with supplied hardware) to the hitch-mount right next to the trailer plugins- looks very neat and professional. You can find them on amazon for about $175-

The quick disconnect for the front came with the Warn Multi-mount cradle I purchased- it was 6' long. I ran both front and rear off the one solenoid that came with the kit, which is controlled/powered by one switch since I will never run both at the same time. Hope this helps.

Slicktoptt

I bought this kit off ebay for my portable set up. Very pleased with the quality. http://www.ebay.com/itm/190924110728