I searched for threads regarding winch installs but was surprised that I didn't find any. Apologies if this is the thousandth question on the topic.

I'm considering installing a winch on the front of Roxy for the purpose of doing some light pulling/slow towing of vehicles around the property. My driveway is essentially too narrow, steep, and curved to get a trailer up, and there's no room at the top to turn it around so I have had to back it up the driveway in the past, which is no fun and becoming harder as the rose bushes grown.

A front mounted which would allow me to very slowly move my restoration project (it's on a dolly) up and down the driveway to where my trailer is located for a lot less than a suitable ATV or remote trailer robot.

Who's installed a winch on the front of their 19 F150 and what was your experience? It seems that there are <9500 pound and <9500+ pound winches. For my purposes the former will suffice. How much modification is required of the OE front bumper? Which winch did you install and did it come with the bracket or did you have to purchase it separately?

-tj, back home in the Cruz Mtns after a 1 week evacuation in which my truck served as a very useful evac/towing/hauling tool.

 

I think there are three approaches you can take.


1: Fit a front end receiver. It’s one if the smartest things a trailer owner can do. You can push and pull the trailer into position. You can also use it as a mounting point for a winch.
2: Fit a winch. Plenty of mounting options out there to chose from. You don’t modify your bumper. Either buy a replacement or get something like the Warn guard including mount
3: look at an electric trailer tug. They are out there.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm not terribly crazy about the front end receiver for several reasons, not least of which is that the trailer and my truck combine to a length that is very challenging on my driveway. I have ~6 inches of margin of error on either side, and if I miss the window, I have correct and take another stab at it. I've back pushed the trailer up before, but it takes about an hour. I simply can't put the cab where I need to, to get the trailer to do what I want, because I run out of room.

The winch seems to solve the problem because I don't have to pull the trailer, and the car and dolly are small and light enough that I'll have more room. I'll need to slowly of course, but with a couple men to help it should be feasible.

The remote trailer tugs are super cool but they're about $4K.

Picture of car and dolly below. I'll obviously have to weld a bracket on the front to attach the cable.




-tj in the Cruz Mtns

 

I bought a front receiver for my 16 I have not put it on yet. The reason was to mount a winch when needed and remove it when not. I have a Badlands 12000 pound winch from HF. I mounted it on a winch mount from HF that will go into a 2 inch receiver. The idea was I could move it from front to back when needed and put in the garage when not. The back receiver has worked for everything I have needed it for so far. The winch will pull truck if you don't have it set right.

 

Thank you. I don’t understand what you mean by “the winch will pull truck if you don’t have it set up right.”

-tj

 

That one is easy. Hook up to a bush you want to pull out of the ground, place truck on driveway with out chocks. Start to pull bush and the trucks slides instead. If the load is heaver then your truck you will need to chock it or tie it off to a tree etc to make sure you are not the one being pulled.

 

I got a Smittybilt X20 12,000lb winch with synthetic line for right around $500 from 4Wheel Drive Hardware. Mine is mounted in the bumper, but for your purposes I would really consider the front receiver mount. You may be surprised how maneuverable your trailer is when hitched up to the front of your truck.

 

I am not sure if i understand what you are looking to do exactly but if you are only using the winch with the truck stationary then would it matter if winch is on back of the truck then you could just get a receiver mounted winch to put on the back of your truck when you needed it and store in garage when you dont.

 

If the goal is to move the car that's on that dolly, there are much cheaper ways to do that than buying and mounting a front hitch on your truck. You might even be able to get away with something like the warn drill winch, which has a 750lb pull power and can be used to pull cars up on to trailers. This would allow you to hook off your tow hooks, or your trailer hitch, or off a stable point inside your trailer, etc.

https://www.warn.com/drill-winch-750...nthetic-101575

This is the 500, the newer one is 750. As the guy in the video points out, a ****** block would add to its pulling power.

 

Ah, of course. I understand now. The combined weight of the car (it’s just a body) and the dolly it’s bolted to is <1000 pounds, so I think the big girl will be able to win that tug of war battle.

-tj