It ain't pretty, but it gets the job done.....

[Stanley Steamer]

I decided I would make me a winch plate for the hitch receiver in case I ever want or need to pull something......I figured it might even come in handy this morning if we had of needed to get the Karmann Ghia on a trailer....That's why I have it on an 8" riser instead of lower down in a straight line with the receiver......my little welding table and new swivel vise came in handy on this project....I had maybe 3-4 beads that looked decent, but I made several passes on the ugly welds....

I used it to pull two large Spirea shrubs out of the ground at my Inlaws.....it worked about like I expected it to....I used a water hose to soak the ground around the roots, dug a small slit large enough to wrap the chain around the root ball and pulled away....had to use the shovel to cut a few errant roots, and added a little more water and they came out of the ground with minimal strain on my poor back.....this is a small 3,000lb ATV type winch from Harbor Freight....cost me about $50 on sale.....and it has a nifty remote control that was VERY handy in the stump pulling position....

I can always use a jack stand under the winch to keep it from pulling down on the Kia suspension.....had the brakes locked in while in neutral....didn't have anything handy to chock the wheels, but the Kia weighs ~4,000lbs....it did the job without too much trouble..... .......

[The Anvil]

Looks pretty good to me. Nice work.

[PAVALKER]

I think it looks great, but can't help thinking that your weakest point may be at the 90 degree point.  If I were making that, I might have mounted the winch directly to the horizontal square tube to keep it low and eliminate joints.... but that's just me.   Let us know how it works....

[Stanley Steamer]

I made it tall like that to clear the bed of a car hauler......the winch is small enough and I have enough bracing on it that it didn't budge as far as the welds go.....I'm not a welder, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn a time or two......

[Walküre]

Yup, you'll break the winch or the cable, LONG before you break the mount.

good on ya, Stanley - I LOVE making stuff, even if it's JUST "stuff".

I spent a couple days, making this "load leveler" out of ford flathead water pump bearings, and an old scissor jack screw, "just cuz", when I could have saved a whole bunch of time, and effort, just getting one from Harbor Freight, pretty cheap. But, then I wouldn't have had so much fun!



As they say, the journey is as important, as the destination...

R