Hitch mounted winch.

Being that this is my first 4wd truck, I feel like I am looking to do every mod I can to take advantage of having a 4wd.

I do not go "mudding" or four-wheeling, or whatever it is called, but I do spend a good bit of time driving around the farm, especially during hunting season. I also help out around the farm when I can. A winch would have come in handy in the past, but not something that I would use on a regular basis, which is why I would likely go with one that I could put on and take off when need-be.

Does anybody have experience with the mounts that go in the hitch receiver? Is it strong enough to hold a winch in the event that you have to pull another vehicle/piece of equipment out of a ditch or wherever something may get stuck?

I think WARN Makes a winch bracket for a 2" receiver. They also have them on Etrailor.

This would be fine to recover yourself if you got stuck. But honestly, if you are concerned about pulling someone else out, i would look at getting a good recovery rope instead.

Theres a youtuber that is a professional recovery. He uses a hitch mount in the front and back of a jeep cherokee with a harbor freight winch.

He has done some crazy recoveries.

https://youtube.com/c/MattsOffRoadRecovery

I'd imagine first you'll need the front hitch

Then you can get a removable winch mount and of course a winch.
Harbor Freight has a winch mount but you can get whatever you like the most

I havent a clue where he got his hitches from. Probably not from HF.

first you need a winch hitch adaptor
https://www.warn.com/winch-hitch-adapter-mounting-plate-68531

A cradle would mount to the adaptor & the winch fits into the cradle
https://www.etrailer.com/tv-Demo-Bulldog-Winch-Accessories-and-Parts-BDW20011.aspx

You may only need a 8,000 pound winch

I originally was going to to front and rear hitch winch cradle system. Thinking that If I drove into a mud pit, it would be easier to pull it back out than to pull it through the remainder of the pit. What turned me off the rear hitch mount was the cost of $200-300 for just the wiring alone. With the Rams I would guess about 20' of both leads to get to the back, another 8-10' for the front. Then 6 of the heavy duty connectors.

In dealing with a front hitch, the pulling rating is something to keep in mind. 9000# is not all that great when trying to pull a 7-8000# truck out of mud.
https://www.etrailer.com/fmr-2019_Ram_1500.htm?&Redirect=8

In the Jeep world the room of thumb is 1.5x vehicle weight for the winch rating. My 2500 is 8100# so I would need a 12k winch. The thing to remember is that a vehicle stuck in mud/snow will take more umph to pull than a straight pull on a flat surface. Also the heavier rated winch will not work as hard. It's like pulling a 10k trailer, which would work harder a 5.7 or the 6.7? Also they will have a faster pull speed.

There is also cable/syn line length to consider. IIRC the max pull rating is with less than 2 wraps on the spool. A short (30') line and a strap will perform pretty good. But a snatch block with the line doubled back will effectively double the pull rating This does not help with the shortfall of the pulling rating of a front hitch.

I went with the Quadratec brand of winch. Lifetime mechanical parts warranty, 1yr electrical. What is nice is that they have all the replacement parts, you can build a winch from nothing but parts(will be more of course)
https://www.quadratec.com/p/quadratec/q-performance-stealth-winch/12000lb-synthetic-rope

The important thing to take into consideration on a front hitch is the pulling rating

Cable to the back $140
https://www.roughcountry.com/quick-...RoD_cjeq4HTLh9HWteG36wDdPWazKqv0aAnp7EALw_wcB
$140


then 2 for the battery to the front and the winch leads 2X$65
https://www.roughcountry.com/quick-disconnect-winch-power-cable-rs107.html


***** was a ball to have fun with. One funny thing was that on a 2' snow storm I was goofing off in the 4' drift we had on the property and got stuck big time. I hooked my Jeep to the wife's (red) bumper and I was literally dragging it out of the garage. I had to use the snatch strap to get it out.