Winch Recommendation for Car Trailer  

Thanks for your reply. Easily done via email. For some background here is the deal - I am custom building a car trailer for my race car. It is a 24’ bumper pull. (Drawings attached in case helpful). It’s my first trailer so I am trying to learn as I go and do my homework. To load the car the trailer is designed for a winch with a box placed in the floor. I will have a beaver tail design, a door ramp and then 6’ extensions because the car is set up very low. This means I’ll need to pull it a distance of about 30’ in total before the load is centered on the trailer. In reading up on the weight capacity of winches I know that the ramp angle increases the load. I further understand that the more wraps of line (going for synthetic in my application) the less pulling power the winch has. If I have that wrong, then please correct me. My car has a curb weight of 3400 lbs currently. If all of my assumptions are directionally accurate, then my questions are as follows: 1. With the car weight and angle, the usual rule of thumb of 1.5 times would say 5,100 pounds of peak capacity. With the increased ramp angle, I want to error on the side of caution and biggy- size the winch, so I have been looking at the Bulldog 7,800 or 5,800 on your site. Am I shopping in the right neighborhood? 2. Space permitting, is there any downside (besides more cost) to having a larger capacity winch? It seems to me if it has less of a load, I increase longevity, etc. 3. The rope runs on these winches seem to be very long and way more than I need for this application. Are there options to safely terminate the rope length to a custom length so that I have one full wrap on the drum plus the length I need plus a little extra? If that’s not feasible, can we custom order a winch to the length I need? This seems to me to be a really effective way to maximize capacity, but I may be missing something. 4. My manufacturer has a deal with Superwinch for the winches they will install in their trailers. I noticed you carry Superwinch for other applications (ATV, light loads) but there are no entrants in the trailer winch category on your site. Instead, you list Bulldog and ComeUp options. Interested in your perspective about the reasons behind the absence of Superwinch in the lineup as I know they have at least a few products that fit the bill. I have the option of having trailer manufacturer install and warranty or DIY and would like to make the call so the build isn’t delayed. On the hitch, some additional detail. I’ll be towing behind a 2016 GMC Sierra 2500HD with the max trailering package. My hitch height and trailer height are 19” so depending on load I am working within a pretty narrow height band, Even so, I pulled the trigger on a B&W height adjustable (4 1/2“ drop/rise) hitch from you guys yesterday. My remaining questions relate to measuring tongue weight as I know that balancing is important for safe trailering. I was looking at the hitches with a built in scale, but opted against them. So the question now is options on how to measure. I know there is a “bathroom scale” version and I can go get it weighed, but looking for your feedback on other products/ideas here. That’s all I can think of at the moment and really appreciate your further thoughts.