I have been agonizing over where to mount my winch. Front seems good for pulling myself out, rear is good for pulling stuff out. I just had a a brilliant idea....well I am sure posting it here I will find out why it sucks. I usually need help getting a large pieces of timber into the back, so winch at the beck is best. But even better might be to mount the winch in the bed right behind the cab so it can pull stuff up a ramp into the bed saving me some work. Ok, then where do I mount the roller lead window? Or is it just a dumb idea?

 

You can get ATV winches for a good price, usually good for pulling 1,500-2,000lbs, bed is only rated for 1,000lbs of weight, 1/2ton, so you won't be pulling in no 1,500lbs of anything, lol
It will need to be mounted thru the bed to one frame rail, passenger side, as the gas tanks on the drivers side, so harder to work on that side
Cut a piece of plywood to cover back window when loading the bed

Winches to pull vehicles are much bigger, rated 6,000lbs and up

General "rule of thumb" for a winch and its cable, is it needs to be rated for 1.5 times expected weight to be pulled
Ranger curb weight is 3,200lbs, partially loaded it will be 3,500-3,750lbs, so would need a winch and cable rated at a minimum of 5,250lbs

 

You wouldn't have a picture with dimensions on it that would show me where to drill into the bed would you? I have a 1/4" metal mounting plate that will sit on the floor of the bed behind the passenger seat and will mount with two 3/8" bolts long enough to go thru the plate, the bed and the frame. With lock washers and nuts on the top so I will be able to inspect them for tightness without getting under the tuck. The plate has three "T Head" bolts sticking up that fit into "banjo" slots on the bottom of the winch so it can be easily dismounted to store securely inside the cab.

 

The 6 bolts that hold the bed box to the frame are there, so they are "frame lines" in the bed, to drill from the top down

 

Thanks. I looked and those will work to align the winch.