Non XJ winch mounting ??'s

After almost two years, one hernia, and some late night back pain my wife bought me a winch to help load my sewer machine into the van. I've got some questions on mounting it tho. BTW, Superwinch T1500 with 75 foot of cable.

The winch will be used to pull a main line sewer machine up a ramp and into the van. The machine weighs in at 275lbs so I figure the initial pull to get it rolling should be close to 500lbs or so. The winch has power in and out.

It will be in the back (cargo area) of the van. Two possible spots, both well inside, both requiring me to run cable from the battery back. It does have a remote control unit so in both cases I can run the winch from outside the van. Vans battery is on the passenger side.

Spot one...preferred.
The winch would be installed on the drivers side, under a shelf unit. It would most likely have to be turned approximately 45 degrees or would pull off to one side constantly. I planned to mount an eye bolt to redirect the cable to allow for a straight pull into the van. Total length of pull is only about 6 foot. There is a protective wall there to mount the control unit to. This is my preferred spot as it gives me more room in the van, the winch is protected under the shelving unit, and it centers the weight load.

Spot two
Winch would be mounted approximately passenger side of the cargo area in about the center. The pull would be a straight pull, no need to change cable direction. No protection for the winch so I would probably build a small wooden cover. The control unit would most likely end up mounted to the interior roof. Total length of pull again 6 foot.

Any input? Considering the length of battery cable needed, any special type needed? Any special concerns?

Considering the weights concerned; machine runs 275, to get it rolling probably close to 500; can the winch be mounted straight to the van floor or should I use a plate? I have enough 1/4" to add a plate both top and bottom or as needed. Definitely needs to be removable so I can use it when I finally upgrade to my next van.

Sarge

No advice?

Mount it for a straight pull, you will cause cable damage using an eye-bolt. I would think with only a 500 lbs load the van floor would be fine, use a backing plate to help distribute the load. Follow the mfg recommendation for cable size.

HTH

Rev

Thanks. *grin* Seems I'll have to refigure my "filing" system back there.

Sarge

you could mount it along the drivers side and put the eye bolt in my only suggestion would be to use a small snatch block to make the turn.with the snatch block you can go up to a 180 degree turn .so you could have the winch toward the back of the truck and have the cable go forward thenpulleys are back out to the machine as well. pulleys are your friend.

i would most likely put it in the front along the drivers side wall. put the eye bolt in and use a snatch block to make a 90 degree turn toward the back for a straight pull

For it's occasional use I would add a red or yellow top back there, then run a disconnectable cable between the trailer and van to charge the battery up or just throw a charger on it at nite after using it... Heck for along time I used two cigarette lighter adapters with heavy lamp cord to charge someones battery up who left their lights on in the parking lot of the nite club at 2am. That way if a woman was nervous she could just crack her window enough for me to slide it thru, plug it into her lighter and sit there for 15 min while it charged thru the cig lighter ckt, would not want to pull power thru that though, melt in a hearbeat.......

It'll get used on average 4 times a day, well 8 times, once out and once in. But each run would be about 1-2 minutes or so. There will be days where it is used a lot more tho. Just had a 12 job day recently. You would recommend a second battery rather than run it off the vehicles battery?

Sarge

Yup, your vans standard car battery is not meant to power that kind of device for extended periods, take a look at the current draw on that puppy, thats in the range of a small starter motor, running for 1-2 minutes. I know it's small by our normal warn 8000 and 9000 standards but it is still a current/amps hog and we are talking daily long term use here and with that kind of use I would run heavy battery cables from the van to the trailer, pigtail it at the van with one of those flat wide 2 prong connectors, forget what they are called but you see them on electric powered snow plows, they are keyed so they can only go together one way. Better safe than sorry.

No trailer, just in the cargo are of the van. Should I use an isolater?

Sarge

Sarge said:

No trailer, just in the cargo are of the van. Should I use an isolater?

Sarge

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Battery isolator won't hurt, just get one for a two battery setup, then it does the switching by itself depending on how you wire it, been a while since I did one so I don't know whats current on the market...

Would it be possible to just run another wire from the alternator to the new battery?

Sarge

Sarge said:

Would it be possible to just run another wire from the alternator to the new battery?

Sarge

Click to expand...

Anything is possible but why take the chance, I'd keep the vehicle electrical system as seperate as possbile from the winch system. With all the components in the new vehicles I may be over cautious but thats me.