Craftsman 12V Electric Winch with remote

[billy]

Tried using one of these to pull my car on my 18ft featherlite. Waste of money. Here are the issues:

1) Trailer lifts up and cable is too short.
You have to detach the trailer from the truck. The winch goes on the ball on the truck. The cable goes over the trailer back to the car. The cable isn't long enough to reach the car on the other side of the ramps. So, you push the car up the ramps and then put the cable on the car. Turn on the winch, the trailer lifts up because the truck isn't attached, duh.

2) Getting power to the winch is a pain. It comes with battery connectors but the cables are too short to go around the truck to its battery. We end up using a second vehicle and using jumper cables to power it.

3) The cable goes tight across the trailer and presses down on the front lip on the trailer creating a dangerous situation.

4) It didn't have enough torque to pull 3000lbs of rolling weight.

We ended up using two guys to basically push the car unaided on to the trailer. The winch was useless.

Stay away from the winch, it's a waste of money. I don't know what it'd be good for. Buy something else.

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

[uwaeve]

To address #1, I think you're supposed to use blocks or jackstands at the back of the trailer anyhow. There will come a day when you try to put something too heavy on the trailer and it will lift your truck off the ground or slip the ball with a bang. I don't think that the hitch and lock may be designed to take a load in the upwards direction anyhow.

Just something I've read, and watched a buddy lift his truck's rear end off the ground driving a tractor (ginormous one, like farm tractor) onto his open trailer.

That doesn't help with the other problems. Thanks for the heads-up.

[billy]

We used jack stands on the rear of the trailer to stop it rising but didn't chock the wheels so it moved forward which toppled over the jack stand and then it lifted.

[Lobo6]

A trailer winch while a good thing is not on the list of "must have" track items. At every track day I've been to perfect strangers will assist you in loading your car. Billy the more track days you attend the more you realize that sharing a paddock brings out the best in people.

Besides the on track driving itself the comradary in the paddock is amazing.

[billy]

I just needed it today My brother (Master Mechanic for Citreon in Europe) is betting that they didn't tighten the bolts between the flywheel and the torque convertor and one came lose. Given the car ran and only 'seized' when we stopped it and the tried to restart, he doesn't think it's a seize. He thinks the bolt has jammed the torque convertor. We'll know tomorrow...

[kbrew8991]

would it be more useful if it was mounted to the trailer itself?

[billy]

Yep
But you can't do that with that winch. We can buy a 'proper' winch for 60 bucks and weld it to the trailer. Way better.

[jstecher]

I bet everyone cant guess who one of the guys pushing the car on the trailer was...I would say he's a good looking man thats still up at 2:56am doing work.

[f1rocks]

Billy did you ever buy a proper winch??

If not, when you come look at my lift I'll show you my winch. It's a Warn remote control unit. I constructed a custom plate that I can mount and dismount on the trailer in about 20 seconds. (I have pics on my laptop)

I do carry a spare battery but the unit is remote control so I can hook on and be in my car controlling the winch. It works fantastic.

A little more than $60 but it makes getting it on the trailer a breeze and saves the clutch.

[billy]

No
I used man power instead. I figure having one on the trailer can't be a bad thing at the same time.