Help me mount a winch in my garage

I'm trying to figure out how best to mount a 12v trailer winch in my garage so I can pull in non-running vehicles. 

My house is a 60's splitfoyer with a 2-car attached garage/shop underneath.  

You can't really tell from the photo, but the driveway is fairly steep and quite long - I'd guess 40-50 feet to the road with a fall of two or two and half feet over that span.   Getting a non-runner in is...fun.  I've done it a couple of different ways, but I'd prefer to be able to use a 12V trailer winch to pull it in. 

The shop is the full depth of the house (24"), with a metal beam running across the longer axis of the house at 12" deep, sitting on jack posts.  The back wall is concrete up to about six inches below the ceiling of the garage, then there's the sill plate and studs for the top story on top of that.  The floor is original concrete from 1963, and it ain't nice so I'm not particularly worried about drilling into it.  I would like something cheap, easy, and sturdy that I can mount a winch to to pull non-runners up the driveway and into the house.  Bonus points if it's something I can break down and store out of the way when not being used.

Here are the thoughts I've had, critique and suggest as you will.

1) Original thought was to use a rotary hammer to make a hole in the concrete near the back wall of the shop, then mount something (hitch ball on the end of a steel rod, etc.) and pour new concrete around it.  I don't know anything about concrete, and I'm not too crazy about having something portruding up from the floor, but if it's on the back wall and I can roll my toolbox/benches over it I could live with something portruding.  Downsides are that I don't know how strong that would be, and if it's that low I would likely drag chain/cable on the lip of the garage if I'm trying to pull something up from the bottom of the driveway (but it wouldn't be an issue to pull something off the trailer that I could back up to the door.

2) Second idea was mounting something to the ceiling in the back of the shop , like a 2x10 or 4x4 board perpendciular to and lag bolted into multiple ceiling joists (I figure that an 8" long board would spread the load among eight joists).  then bolt the winch to the board.  I like that it's out of the way, and if it's on the ceiling it won' t drag the cable pulling something from the bottom of the driveway, but I'm a little queasy about whether it would be strong enough.

3) Third idea is a variation on the first, but using the back wall of the shop at the very top where I could run lag bolts into the sill plate and studs.  Seems like it would be sturdier than #2 since it's pulling at right angles to the wall, but I can't stress enough how much I'm not an engineer.

Looking for critiques of these ideas or different ideas entirely. 

I'll get you a picture when I get home. I got a Harbor Freight winch and mounted it to a half inch thick steel plate that is roughly 12 by 24. My drill for half inch holes in it. In my concrete floor I used the lead anchors that you drill a hole through the concrete put the anchor in and then set it by beating it with a hammer. My half inch bolts then thread into those anchors to pull the links to the floor when I need it. Been working that way for years.

I bolted a steel plate down with concrete wedge anchors and chain a drill winch to it. Works great and stores out of the way when I'm not using it. It's under a bench, so I usually keep a 2' length of chain attached to get the winch out where it's accessible. 

I used lag bolts and lag shields to bolt a 2" receiver to the floor. My winch is on a hitch mount which let's me use it on the truck or trailer as well.

https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/trailers-towing/hitches-receivers/receivers/5000-lb-step-bumper-receiver-69670.html

I've thought about doing the same thing in my garage.

I think the cleanest option would be a floor anchor pot and a Warn PullzAll.

Floor anchor pot

Warn PullzAll

The PullzAll has a 1000lb. rating, but you can add in a couple of cheap snatch blocks to easily multiply that capacity.

When I was doing some concrete work in the back yard , we buried a X lug wrench with a chain bolted  to it and a chunk of steel pipe.

pretty much like the floor anchor above except adding the X lug wrench , 

works great  with a 12 volt winch or come-a-long , 

I would do the concrete thing. I'd use a 2" receiver tube sunk into the floor with concrete poured around it. You can get these at Harbor Freight and they're relatively cheap (I linked the 12" tube but they have a 18" tube if you want extra depth). Space it far enough from the wall so that there is some space between a winch and the wall with the tube roughly centered under the winch. I would sink it flush with the floor and put a cap on it when not in use. Then get a piece of 2" square tube and weld it to the mounting plate of whatever winch you get (there should be a mounting plate for mounting it on a bumper). When you want to use the winch you can just drop it in the tube, hook up your electrical and go to work. I have mine mounted in my trailer this way and it works great. Just don't get to a point where the cable/rope is angled up because it will start to pull the winch out of the receiver (duh). If you're concerned about that, get the longer receiver and leave the opening a few inches above the floor so you can put a pin in when you mount the winch.

Here's a link to the build I used for my trailer (halfway down the page). The only difference is that I used an adapter hitch because I wanted the bottom closed off.

Concrete anchors and a plate is going to be the most unobtrusive solution.  Anything 3/8" or over, if you have a minimum of 4, is going to be enough to hold a winch pulling a rolling vehicle.

When you don't have the winch mounted, if you choose the right anchors, you can install a "sidewalk bolt" or cover bolt on the anchor to eliminate crap getting in the holes and a tripping hazard

jimgood said:

I would do the concrete thing. I'd use a 2" receiver tube sunk into the floor with concrete poured around it. You can get these at Harbor Freight and they're relatively cheap (I linked the 12" tube but they have a 18" tube if you want extra depth). Space it far enough from the wall so that there is some space between a winch and the wall with the tube roughly centered under the winch. I would sink it flush with the floor and put a cap on it when not in use. Then get a piece of 2" square tube and weld it to the mounting plate of whatever winch you get (there should be a mounting plate for mounting it on a bumper). When you want to use the winch you can just drop it in the tube, hook up your electrical and go to work. I have mine mounted in my trailer this way and it works great. Just don't get to a point where the cable/rope is angled up because it will start to pull the winch out of the receiver (duh). If you're concerned about that, get the longer receiver and leave the opening a few inches above the floor so you can put a pin in when you mount the winch.

Here's a link to the build I used for my trailer (halfway down the page). The only difference is that I used an adapter hitch because I wanted the bottom closed off.

 

Came here to suggest this. 

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

I've thought about doing the same thing in my garage.

I think the cleanest option would be a floor anchor pot and a Warn PullzAll.

Floor anchor pot

Warn PullzAll

The PullzAll has a 1000lb. rating, but you can add in a couple of cheap snatch blocks to easily multiply that capacity.

 

I installed 36 of those floor pots recently in an auto body shop. Installing them isn't as simple as it seems- they are basically a giant wedge anchor, and the tool to install them is a hydraulic press with an open foot that pushes down on the can of the pot, while a chain running through the open foot attached to the hydraulic press to lift up on the bottom half of the pot (wedging the 2 halves together). It requires a significant force (5000# IIRC), AND a device that can measure the pressure while pulling. The instructions show a very specific tool which the manufacturer does not offer, and I was unable to find. I rigged something, but it only worked moderately well. 
 

In the auto body shop I wasn't totally concerned. If an attachment point pulls out of the floor, it's just a matter of reattaching it. But if it were to pull out in this situation, a car would be rolling down the hill. 

I would only do it if you could find the correct hydraulic press tool (and therefore I prefer the idea of 2" tubing embedded in the floor)

I have a steep drive and shop setup just like yours, I used an old boat winch that plugs into 120V, and has a really long cable.......I have a steel workbench in front of the side with the scissor lift on it and use the winch to pull cars onto the lift. The winch is bolted to one of the legs of the bench (about 1ft off the floor) and the bench is bolted to the concrete floor. 

Super good idea and I could not get some of my projects onto the lift without it - I also like the idea that I can control the approach of the car, stop and adjust the wheels and so on without needing an extra person to steer the car. I use a short length of chain with hooks on each end to hook up to the car so I can pull from the middle of the car, otherwise you might find it pulling to one side constantly.

One thing about mounting to the back wall - if you don't have a remote control for the winch (wireless would be best) you have to watch out for the cable, that you don't trip over it as you're pulling the car in. I would mount the hitch closer to where the car will end up - if that's near the back wall then that's the good location. My garage is longer than a normal garage as it runs the length of the house (front to back that is) so mounting it on the back wall wouldn't really work - the cars stay at the street end of the shop, the back is the work area and tool storage.

The winch isn't mounted yet in this pic,, but it's on the cross bar on the legs of the bench on the left.

A few things about mounting winches.   

You have to size the connection to handle the stalled pulling ability.     A steel plate lag bolted to the concrete floor should do it.  Size and quantity of the lag bolts can be determining by reviewing the manufacturers shear and tension rating.   (You will get some eccentricity induced uplift at the back end of the plate so that's why tension rating is important)

Industry standard it to multiply winch mounting connections by 5.

If the winch rating exceeds the weight of the vehicle you would have no problem with the driveway angle.  The winch itself already has the 5x factor of safety built in but  you should make sure  your additional cable or chain duplicates this.

SV reX said:

jimgood said:

I would do the concrete thing. I'd use a 2" receiver tube sunk into the floor with concrete poured around it. You can get these at Harbor Freight and they're relatively cheap (I linked the 12" tube but they have a 18" tube if you want extra depth). Space it far enough from the wall so that there is some space between a winch and the wall with the tube roughly centered under the winch. I would sink it flush with the floor and put a cap on it when not in use. Then get a piece of 2" square tube and weld it to the mounting plate of whatever winch you get (there should be a mounting plate for mounting it on a bumper). When you want to use the winch you can just drop it in the tube, hook up your electrical and go to work. I have mine mounted in my trailer this way and it works great. Just don't get to a point where the cable/rope is angled up because it will start to pull the winch out of the receiver (duh). If you're concerned about that, get the longer receiver and leave the opening a few inches above the floor so you can put a pin in when you mount the winch.

Here's a link to the build I used for my trailer (halfway down the page). The only difference is that I used an adapter hitch because I wanted the bottom closed off.

 

Came here to suggest this. 

x2, exactly. Have done this on a steel deck trailer as well, tying the receiver tube into the frame below. Using a generic chunk of 3/8 flat plate as the winch base works well and will support any reasonable choice of winch capacity. You could do the same approach (flush version) near the entry of the garage for a roller fairlead too.