Winch mount?

[Premier]

Would it be ok to mount a winch on one of these if you have a front hitch on the Explorer? Just curious if anyone has done this nothing came up in a search.. and it would allow a winch from the front or rear. Click the links for what I was looking at.

 

[JDraper]

Yep..I had thought of doing that when I had my '01. I'd be tempted to reinforce the hitch because you can put a heckuva lot more force on it whne you're trying to get un-stuck than just by towing something.

 

[Premier]

my dads a welder, if you welded it to the frame would that do? Or would you have to fab some kind of supports as well?

 

[JDraper]

I'd bolt it to the frame, then weld it, and add some reinforcement across the back of the cross beam, like a 1/4" angle beam or a 1/4" wall box beam.

 

[Premier]

Thanks!

 

[RangerX]

Tom Rios runs that receiver-mount winch cradle deal. Look for pics in the current Truckhaven 2007 thread. His board name is FAKRWEE.

 

[Brian1]

I have not had any problems with mine. I made the winch cradle, hitch and bumper myself.

I would also recommend reinforcing the hitch by plating the top and/or bottom of the joint where the receiver hitch and cross bar meet. Also some gussets off the frame plates to the cross tube would be good if they would fit.

 

[FX4TRACMAN]

I have a front mount reciever for my Trac that Draw-Tite makes and it is rated for 9000 lbs of winch pull but if you want to be sure that nothing goes wrong such as ripping your reciever out of the X frame and you can get it welded to the frame I would shoot for that just to be on the safe side.

 

[Hanzo Steel]

Yeah I was thinking of a tube prerunner type bumper with a hitch mount so I can move the winch from front to rear as needed.

 

[John Nall]

Anyone know of a front reciever for 1997 Explorer?

John

 

[IZwack]

Anyone know of a front reciever for 1997 Explorer?

Search JCWhitney's website.

 

[jpserra]

As long as it is

1. a straight pull
2. Does not exceed 6000lbs of weight.


The stresses put on the tow hitch must be minimal with no lateral pull, lest you tear bolts out or potentially twist the frame.

JP