Ideas for a winch for my RAM?
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: South Georgia/East Florida
For occasional use, you don't need a second battery, I have one in my truck but that winch gets used for land clearing around my hunting property. The one on my Grand Cherokee is occasional use and lives inside the Jeep 98% of the time.
Yes, you should always have the vehicle running when using the winch. Those numbers are about average for an import winch.
The duty cycle and line speed of that winch is paltry compared to a Warn or Ramsey, but then again, at roughly 1/4 the cost, what would you expect? Again, the Harbor Freight is on par with about all of the cheap Chinese import winches.
I wouldn't jump out to replace the battery OR alternator especially since you don't intend to use the winch much. With such a low duty cycle the time you need to "rest" the winch will allow the alternator to maintain the battery (again, you see that with the inexpensive imports, lets remember that a similarly rated Warn sells for about $1200, so you'd expect better performance). I would however, replace both the battery and alternator with better/higher capacity when/if the time comes to replace them. A starting battery that is also a deep cycle, like a Yellow Top Ultima would be a good one to have since it's made to be discharged deeper and re-charged often.
Yeah, 3.5 AWG is normal for 6', with a Warn it calls for 4 AWG minimum for 6' and all Warns over 8000# ship with 2 AWG. For a run from front to back, I say 2 AWG, but this is a MINIMUM and 1, 0 or even 1/0 would be better. I ran 1/0 to the back of my truck. I simply cut the cable (2 AWG) that came with my Warn M9000 and installed a couple of quick connects so I could remove it in seconds for the portable mount on my Jeep. Which reminds me, look for a Welding Wholesale Supplier in your area, they tend to have the wire and quick connects for ebay prices and no shipping. Stay away from the 4 Wheel Drive specialty shops or even Lowe's/Home Depot who are VERY PROUD of their heavy AWG stuff. The Warn Quick Connects are $69 EACH and are push type and require you to solder the ends in. The ones I bought at my local welding supply house are a little bigger and bulkier, but they twist lock and use a set screw to hold the wire in, so no tools other than a flat screwdriver to install and best thing - THEY WERE $9 EACH!!!
You probably should buy about 25' to be on the safe side, I ran mine down the frame rail on my truck and used heavy duty zip ties to hold it. You only need a couple of feet for the negative side, since you can ground it to the frame at the rear bumper. Figure about $2 per foot on ebay/Amazon.com but shipping can be high, this is heavy wire! I think I paid something like $2.29 a foot locally, but my Lowes was over $4.50 per foot for 1/0! 0 or 1 AWG will be slightly cheaper.
One thing you need to do is get the proper accessories, Amazon.com has a nice "kit bag" with everything you'd need for well under $100, I've seen both the Smittybuilt and Rugged Ridge for around $69.
LEARN PROPER WINCHING TECHNIQUES - PEOPLE HAVE DIED BY INCORRECTLY USING THEIR WINCH!!!
I have a link to a great "WINCHING TECHNIQUES & SAFETY GUIDE" in the Outdoors Section of this forum...
Yes, you should always have the vehicle running when using the winch. Those numbers are about average for an import winch.
The duty cycle and line speed of that winch is paltry compared to a Warn or Ramsey, but then again, at roughly 1/4 the cost, what would you expect? Again, the Harbor Freight is on par with about all of the cheap Chinese import winches.
I wouldn't jump out to replace the battery OR alternator especially since you don't intend to use the winch much. With such a low duty cycle the time you need to "rest" the winch will allow the alternator to maintain the battery (again, you see that with the inexpensive imports, lets remember that a similarly rated Warn sells for about $1200, so you'd expect better performance). I would however, replace both the battery and alternator with better/higher capacity when/if the time comes to replace them. A starting battery that is also a deep cycle, like a Yellow Top Ultima would be a good one to have since it's made to be discharged deeper and re-charged often.
Yeah, 3.5 AWG is normal for 6', with a Warn it calls for 4 AWG minimum for 6' and all Warns over 8000# ship with 2 AWG. For a run from front to back, I say 2 AWG, but this is a MINIMUM and 1, 0 or even 1/0 would be better. I ran 1/0 to the back of my truck. I simply cut the cable (2 AWG) that came with my Warn M9000 and installed a couple of quick connects so I could remove it in seconds for the portable mount on my Jeep. Which reminds me, look for a Welding Wholesale Supplier in your area, they tend to have the wire and quick connects for ebay prices and no shipping. Stay away from the 4 Wheel Drive specialty shops or even Lowe's/Home Depot who are VERY PROUD of their heavy AWG stuff. The Warn Quick Connects are $69 EACH and are push type and require you to solder the ends in. The ones I bought at my local welding supply house are a little bigger and bulkier, but they twist lock and use a set screw to hold the wire in, so no tools other than a flat screwdriver to install and best thing - THEY WERE $9 EACH!!!
You probably should buy about 25' to be on the safe side, I ran mine down the frame rail on my truck and used heavy duty zip ties to hold it. You only need a couple of feet for the negative side, since you can ground it to the frame at the rear bumper. Figure about $2 per foot on ebay/Amazon.com but shipping can be high, this is heavy wire! I think I paid something like $2.29 a foot locally, but my Lowes was over $4.50 per foot for 1/0! 0 or 1 AWG will be slightly cheaper.
One thing you need to do is get the proper accessories, Amazon.com has a nice "kit bag" with everything you'd need for well under $100, I've seen both the Smittybuilt and Rugged Ridge for around $69.
LEARN PROPER WINCHING TECHNIQUES - PEOPLE HAVE DIED BY INCORRECTLY USING THEIR WINCH!!!
I have a link to a great "WINCHING TECHNIQUES & SAFETY GUIDE" in the Outdoors Section of this forum...
Last edited by HammerZ71; Aug 4, 2011 at 07:07 PM.
Thread Starter
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Professional
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 134
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From: Lombard, IL
Hammer, you are the best! I will BOOKMARK this thread so that I have this info when I go through with this!
Thanks for the tip on the negative side, because I would have just ran it all the way back to the battery! GAH! You don't need to do this and it makes sense too.
This sounds like I will learn quite a bit here and I feel I can do it! I didn't realize that they made deep cycle batteries that were cranking batteries too. That is GREAT to know!
Thanks again man!
Thanks for the tip on the negative side, because I would have just ran it all the way back to the battery! GAH! You don't need to do this and it makes sense too.
This sounds like I will learn quite a bit here and I feel I can do it! I didn't realize that they made deep cycle batteries that were cranking batteries too. That is GREAT to know!
Thanks again man!
Administrator
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 24,686
Likes: 21
From: South Georgia/East Florida
Here's a link to the post I have in the Outdoor Section for proper winching techniques. Read it, study it - there will be a test!!!
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1397634-post5.html
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1397634-post5.html
Thread Starter
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Professional
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 134
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From: Lombard, IL
I ended up buying this just for now: http://www.harborfreight.com/automot...uller-543.html
It's a SMALL step towards the right equipment. It's better than nothing too.
Thanks
It's a SMALL step towards the right equipment. It's better than nothing too.
Thanks
Thread Starter
|
Professional
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 134
Likes: 0
From: Lombard, IL
FWIW, that winch is on SUPER sale with a $100 off coupon! http://widgets.harborfreight.com/wsw...9&keycode=1002
Thanks
Thanks