Fulton F2 winch retrofit on Boatmate trailer

[Wolfpacker 4]

Had a replacement winch in the garage for a while because I didn't take the time to figure out how I wanted to retrofit a 3-bolt winch on my 2-bolt trailer.  Others have just drilled the extra holes, but I didn't really want to do that and didn't trust I get the holes square on the square tube.  I read a couple of threads on other forums folks have used a washer and one bolt on the back and the winch failed (or the washer failed, then the winch broke).  So I came up with an alternate way to spread the load - will report back the results.

 

Basically I just cut a piece of 1/4" x 1" stock down to 2 1/2" and drilled a hole dead center:

 

Slide this in the winch body between the two gear assemblies, fish a 4 1/2" fully threaded hex head bolt and flat washer into the plate, and then towards the back of the winch.  You'll have to massage it a bit by angling the plate to get it to fit, but I figured out this is the max size that will fit in there.  The plate basically spreads the load where the 2 bolts would have done that job.  I was able to fit a 9/16" box end wrench in under the gear assemblies to hold the hex head while tightening.  I think this will be an effective and cheap solution for others that don't want to drill extra holes, but time will tell.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2020 by Wolfpacker
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[firescrap 8]

How has this held up? Looking at doing this on Saturday.