Proof is in the pudding, a rear front hydraulic winch

[hrbergeron]

I have always wanted a rear winch on this HMMWV because I use it as a work vehicle around the farm, hauling branches, trees, etc. and a rear winch cable would be very useful.

I was lucky to pick up a front milemarker winch for very cheap near me. I wanted to be somewhat military correct when I did my winch, so I wanted a rear hydraulic because I already had a front warn 9k winch. When I started researching and asking other people, several said that without major modifications it would not work in the rear mount. They would say something about the solenoids or lines interfering. The only modification required is to remove a nut for the solenoids, twist them, and reinstall. All bolt holes line up for the winch and fairlead like it would on the front.



After mounting the rear winch plate, I had to drill 4 holes for supports to hold the winch to the airlift bumper brackets. That is the only permanent "modification" I had to do.



I am unfamiliar with the way the stock rear winch is plumbed, in pictures I have seen it is done somehow through the cadillac valve. My solution was to plumb it the same way that the front hydraulic winch works (using one of my other HMMWVs for reference), one line on the hydrobooster and one on the steering box. I used the hydraulic lines listed on ebay for around $50 without issue. The only problem with them is that both ends are female. In the engine bay, all the fittings needed to be male. So with my box of random brass fittings I was able to adapt them to fit properly in the hydrobooster and steering box. Took me 4 tries to run the lines from front to back and have enough slack but it was accomplished with a lot of dirt in my eyes and face.



After bleeding the power steering system I tested it with some jumpers, works great. I have ordered a controller plug and will attempt to wire it so that I can use a warn electric winch controller so I don't have to buy another controller. I have also added hose protector covers to the exposed portions of the hydraulic.

 

[NDT]

Cool! I guess the fluid doesn’t mind visiting the back of the truck all day. On the factory setup, the solenoid gets moved up by the Cadillac valve.
Cable needs to be rewound so it pays off the bottom of the spool.

 

[Coug]

You might want to do something other than the brass fitting there, as most brass fittings are only low pressure rated, which is to say 1200 psi max pressure (on the high pressure ones) or less (as low as 250 psi depending on type). Earlier pumps had max output pressure of 1,450 psi, newer ones can hit up to 1800 psi.
(my pressures might be off, going by something from a different thread, but at minimum all of them are above the max working pressure limit for any type of brass fitting)

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

Cool! I guess the fluid doesn’t mind visiting the back of the truck all day. On the factory setup, the solenoid gets moved up by the Cadillac valve.
Cable needs to be rewound so it pays off the bottom of the spool.

was just going to say that very same thing....I’ve used rear winch on the front and had to rewind the cable to pay out from the bottom.

 

[hrbergeron]

Cable needs to be rewound so it pays off the bottom of the spool.

I’ve used rear winch on the front and had to rewind the cable to pay out from the bottom.

Good ideas. When I have the wire harness next week I'll do this.

 

[hrbergeron]

You might want to do something other than the brass fitting there, as most brass fittings are only low pressure rated, which is to say 1200 psi max pressure (on the high pressure ones) or less (as low as 250 psi depending on type). Earlier pumps had max output pressure of 1,450 psi, newer ones can hit up to 1800 psi.

These brass fittings are high pressure rated. The PSI supplied to the winch is less than the PS Pump puts out. The hose it takes the place of is the one that runs from the steering gear box to the hydrobooster.

 

[Coug]

These brass fittings are high pressure rated. The PSI supplied to the winch is less than the PS Pump puts out. The hose it takes the place of is the one that runs from the steering gear box to the hydrobooster.

Reading through the mile marker troubleshooting manual, the absolute minimum pressure needs to be 1255 psi, and the highest pressure rating I can still find for any brass fitting is only 1200 psi. I'm sure there is some margin of safety built into the fitting and it will probably work just fine for you for a long time, I just hate to think of adding components into a system that aren't rated for it, and are most likely to fail when you are in the greatest need for it to work.

 

[hrbergeron]

Reading through the mile marker troubleshooting manual, the absolute minimum pressure needs to be 1255 psi, and the highest pressure rating I can still find for any brass fitting is only 1200 psi. I'm sure there is some margin of safety built into the fitting and it will probably work just fine for you for a long time, I just hate to think of adding components into a system that aren't rated for it, and are most likely to fail when you are in the greatest need for it to work.

These are rated at 3000 PSI.