How to Power an Electric Winch on a Trailer Pulled By a 2017 Subaru Forester

Question:

I have a 2017 Subaru forester XT with a Duracell D35 battery CCA - 550, RC - 90, Ref. CA - 675. I have the stock hitch and electrical connector that was an option on the Forester - the electrical connector is a 4 wire flat connector 1 male and 3 female see attached photo. My trailer tail light connector plugs into it. Id like to simply unplug the trailer light connector at the dock see attached photo and plug in a connector from the winch that would be 4 wire flat 1 female, 3 male. Will my car battery and electrical system be sufficient to power the winch I have a 16.5 ft lund boat that weights approximately 1200 lbs fully loaded and including outboard. Do you sell a cable assembly Minimum 5 feet that will allow me to connect the winch to the 4 wire flat car connector? and what is the part to order? Id like to use the current mounting surface that is used for my Fulton winch see attached photo. I have no problem drilling holes if needed but was wondering if this orientation will work for the Dutton TW4015? Id also like to fasten the winch to the boat using Trident theft prevention nuts. Im assuming that would work but just wanted to ask? The trident nuts I have are 3/8-16. Is that the correct size for the winch mounting bolts? Thanks you very much for your help

asked by: Kenneth L

Helpful Expert Reply:

You do have a few options to get an electric winch, like the Dutton-Lainson StrongArm # TW4015, working, but the 4 Flat will not be able to do so alone.

The first will be to add a battery to the trailer. This will usually be my suggestion, but as you do not have brakes on the trailer and it is for a boat trailer, it will not be the best way to go.

What I suggest doing is upping your 4 Flat to a 5 Round, both on the trailer and vehicle. The Pollak 5-Pole # PK11502 for the vehicle side, # PK11501 for the trailer side would be a much cleaner install when paired with the Curt Mounting Bracket # C92CR.

You will need a few more things, like wiring ( # 12-1-1 ) and a 40 amp circuit breaker ( # 9510 ) to run up to the battery, but this will get you on your way.

Attaching the Dutton-Lainson StrongArm Electric Trailer Winch # TW4015 should not be an issue at all. It looks like you have a Fulton F2 currently installed which installs in almost the exact same way. You may need to widen out the holes a little, but odds are it will be a direct replacement. As long as you can get the 12 volts of power to the trailer plug, you should not have any issues running it either.

I don't personally have any experience with the Trident theft prevention nuts, but there should be absolutely no issues using them.

I also included an article about wiring up a trailer winch that should help as well.