Attaching Winch Temporarily to Truck Bed

[joep42]

I had been using Ohio Steel Folding Aluminum Ramps to successfully drive my Sears lawn tractor on and off my 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 4X4. Then last week the unthinkable happened - the tractor with me on it did a wheelie and we both came tumbling down. The ramps never moved.

Never wanting to do that again I decided to get a portable 12V electric winch. Nothing fancy, something like they have in Harbor Freight for about $50, so I can winch the tractor up the ramps, with me at a safe distance, and put the winch away when I'm done.

I prefer not to bolt the winch mounting plate to the bed of my pickup. I hate making holes if I don't have to - plus I have a heavy rubber floor mat and was planning to get a full bed liner. Also, I haul a lot of things in my truck so I could also see this permanently mounted plate as a hindrance.

I realize the winch has to be centered & held in place near the rear of the truck bed in order to haul the tractor up. I have looked all over the Internet for some easy solution but can't find any. Is there someway I can use the existing stake holes and/or factory bed hooks to temporarily secure the winch (e.g. 2 short chains both connected to the mounting plate and the other end of each chain attached to each of the factory bed hooks)? Are the factory bed hooks strong enough? Any other solutions?

If the only solution is to bolt the winch mounting plate to the bed, is the bed metal strong enough to keep the plate from ripping out? The tractor weighs about 500 lbs.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
JoeP

[ECVcrawltoy711]

mount the winch to the tractor and use the chain idea for the hook to go around