Americas Moveable winch

I got the winch installed on the hitch receiver today. Now I need to figure out how to wire it to the grenadier. I can’t find a 100% answer on if we have the 500a circuit if we didn’t order the winch but have the high output circuit (on all trialmasters). Has anyone done this yet?

I’m also waiting to see exactly what type of plug/power will be on the rear and if I’ll need to wire that too. If anyone in the us has a hitch yet or gets theirs installed, I’d love to know.

I was planning to wire with quick connects like these

My understanding and I am pulling @DaveB Into the conversation but you are not able to winch the Grenadier witha portable winch. The rear winch is designed for pulling cars on to trailers or logs. Plus, I believe you plug it into the Nato socet to power the winch.

ADVAW8S said:

My understanding and I am pulling @DaveB Into the conversation but you are not able to winch the Grenadier witha portable winch. The rear winch is designed for pulling cars on to trailers or logs. Plus, I believe you plug it into the Nato socet to power the winch.

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The removable rear winch is restricted to the load rating on the tow hitch and they rate it at 3,500 kg.
It weighs 42 kg so that would need to be taken into account, (Australian rating is 3550 kg)
They list it as a "self recovery" winch but it would seem to me that as the vehicle weighs near 3,000 kg you wouldn't want to be trying to drag it up a slope out of mud on a straight pull.
i was told that it was not approved to be used on the front tow hitch that I have on my vehicle but not given a good reason why.
Maybe they just wanted to sell more of the front winches.
Trying to slot 42 kgs (93 pounds) into a 2" hitch receiver would definitely be a two person job I think.
All Australian Belstaff edition vehicles come with the tow hitch as standard so also get the 500 amp outlet.
If you order the tow hitch from the factory you should get the 500 amp wiring as well however I have also seen that it is in there as standard but not wired to a switch or a relay activation circuit.
Surprisingly the hi load switch setup, that is required, is not standard but is automatically selected if you go for either winch.
Of course if you had that mounted to your tow bar you couldn't have a trailer or caravan on at the same time.
Personally I see very little use for it as it takes up so much space in the vehicle and you sure as hell wouldn't want it stored on the roof






View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m-HwP35Nfkw

100% picking this up with enough precision to put in a 2” receiver is a 2 person job.

I do understand the limit is 7700 pounds on the hitch. I feel safe with an 8000 pound winch and I do realize an 8000 lb winch is also not going to pull you out of 2 feet of muck or over giant boulders. This is solely for emergencies

The reason for the lower weight rating is because the hitch in the front is not a class 4 hitch. I fee very safe using this on the rear and considered putting a 10k or 12k on the rear, but decided on the 8k so I could move it to the front.

I’ll let ya’ll know once I have it wired and can test it

Psignore00 said:

100% picking this up with enough precision to put in a 2” receiver is a 2 person job.

I do understand the limit is 7700 pounds on the hitch. I feel safe with an 8000 pound winch and I do realize an 8000 lb winch is also not going to pull you out of 2 feet of muck or over giant boulders. This is solely for emergencies

The reason for the lower weight rating is because the hitch in the front is not a class 4 hitch. I fee very safe using this on the rear and considered putting a 10k or 12k on the rear, but decided on the 8k so I could move it to the front.

I’ll let ya’ll know once I have it wired and can test it

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Rolling load is not the same as vehicle weight.

The WWL of the hitch is 7700 pounds, not the failure point.

The winch only has 8000lb rating on the first wrap, not 3-4 which you'll likely spend most of your time on.

Unless the truck is a POS, you'll be fine for direct pulls, but I'd be cautious on a double line pull, as you won't get the audible cues the winch is straining until way above your 7700lb limit.

If there are recovery points, you can make a couple short lines to attach to the carrier plate and let it float too.

I used an 8k on the front and in the rear bumper of a loaded lx470 for years without issue. I winched a lot. People buy too much winch and hang too much weight off the front end.

Zimm said:

Rolling load is not the same as vehicle weight.

The WWL of the hitch is 7700 pounds, not the failure point.

The winch only has 8000lb rating on the first wrap, not 3-4 which you'll likely spend most of your time on.

Unless the truck is a POS, you'll be fine for direct pulls, but I'd be cautious on a double line pull, as you won't get the audible cues the winch is straining until way above your 7700lb limit.

If there are recovery points, you can make a couple short lines to attach to the carrier plate and let it float too.

I used an 8k on the front and in the rear bumper of a loaded lx470 for years without issue. I winched a lot. People buy too much winch and hang too much weight off the front end.

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Thanks for the instructive comments.. one thing I didn't quite understand was "..to attach to the carrier plate and let it float too" I can't quite visualise what you mean by that...can you describe further?
I optioned the front tow hitch (and I have an Aldi winch (34Kg) with a wireless remote which I've yet to unbox after 12 yrs!) ... I can see some practical use for it at a friend's remote property as a construction aid... )

Zimm said:

Rolling load is not the same as vehicle weight.

The WWL of the hitch is 7700 pounds, not the failure point.

The winch only has 8000lb rating on the first wrap, not 3-4 which you'll likely spend most of your time on.

Unless the truck is a POS, you'll be fine for direct pulls, but I'd be cautious on a double line pull, as you won't get the audible cues the winch is straining until way above your 7700lb limit.

If there are recovery points, you can make a couple short lines to attach to the carrier plate and let it float too.

I used an 8k on the front and in the rear bumper of a loaded lx470 for years without issue. I winched a lot. People buy too much winch and hang too much weight off the front end.

Click to expand...

Hi
Yes 100% agree on the weight comment, although you rarely ever winch a vehicle that is on a flat surface and able to move freely.
There is usually some additional load which is hard to measure and usually a lot more, or less, than you think.
A really important point you have pointed out is how the load rating chnages the more you have let out. Really misunderstood or even not known by the user.

Look up double line pulls, reverse winching, etc online and there are some fine tutorials that demonstrate the geometry and the load seen. In the end, the winches maximum nominal load is withing 4% of the WWL of the hitch. the only scenario in my head where you're goign to have need an abundance of caution, is at extreme angles. That fairleed may be 2' from the anchor point on the frame and thats a lot of leverage. But, thats ALL hitches. To me the matched numbers are just a reason to pay attention to what I'm doing.

Some portable winch plates have a couple loops or holes in the back corner. Make t 5-10 ft lines and attach one to each recovery point on the frame, and then rig as normal. the three lines form a plane like the three legs on a bar stool, and the winch will elevate but it wont flip, and it pulls. Its like using a black rat, or a high lift, but without your face and neck directly above 6000lbs of kinetic energy stored in the system waiting to whip your head off as you crank. (a little exaggeration there, hopefully) That setup is nice as you may find your hitch buried and pointing deep down, and this is not as much digging.

In the end, its like all winching. just don't be an idiot. Work with the winch when you can, dig a little, keep the wheels spinning a little, make it as easy as you can on the winch.

Personally, if a good carrier bumper doesn't come out before I need to use the truck, I'll just put a 6000lb winch on a piece of plate I'll weld up myself. People recover with a high lift and com'a'longs that put no more than 3000 pounds out, but somehow they need something with 1.5x to 2x the actual weight of the truck to get unstuck when its a winch. I used a bellview for years that never had more than 6000lbs and a 1.5hp motor. I'd love to know where this advice originated. Personally, I was much less concerned about the weight rating of the winch than the line length. Force breaks things, and line for rigging is your friend.

Thank you. Learning a lot about winching from you both. I never would have thought of trying a double line pull, and now what I know what one is, still won’t with this winch and vehicle, but understand the physics and added stress trade off for a bit more power.