Patent Application
20190031072
This disclosure relates to a pick-up truck having a winch assembled to receptacles provided on the sidewalls of the bed.
Pick-up trucks are popular, in part, because they may be used to transport a wide variety of objects. For example, pick-up trucks may be used to transport relatively heavy wheeled vehicles such as motorcycles, All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), snow mobiles, personal watercraft, and lawn tractors. Ramps may be used to facilitate loading and unloading wheeled vehicles into the bed of the pick-up truck, but even with the use of ramps heavy objects may be difficult to load into the truck bed that may be more than three feet above the ground.
Winches may be used to facilitate loading vehicles into the truck bed. Bed winch mount assemblies are known for attaching a winch and winch motor or drive to pick-up truck beds. However, the assemblies are designed to be attached to the bed, stake pockets on the top edge of the sidewalls, the end wall of the bed, or the cab of the pick-up truck. Permanent connectors or adapters are required to be attached to the pick-up truck to receive the bed winch mount assemblies that necessitate drilling holes in the truck bed and may compromise the anti-corrosion coatings and paint.
Aluminum pick-up trucks have been developed to reduce vehicle weight and provide improved fuel efficiency, increased cargo capacity and better handling. Fasteners such as common steel screws and bolts are difficult to adequately secure to the body panels forming the pick-up truck bed and are not recommended to be used with an aluminum pick-up truck box. In addition, galvanic corrosion may develop between the aluminum body parts and steel fasteners that can adversely affect the paint or durability of the pick-up truck bed.
This disclosure is directed to solving the above problems and other problems as summarized below.
According to one aspect of this disclosure, a pick-up truck body including a truck bed having a floor and sidewalls is provided with a winch. The sidewalls each include a receptacle. A frame includes a beam extending in a transverse direction across the truck bed. The beam is held spaced from the floor. Right and left connectors are provided on right and left ends of the beam that are adapted to be received in the receptacles. The winch is attached to the beam and may be used to facilitate loading and unloading objects.
According to another aspect of this disclosure, a pick-up truck including a truck body having a truck bed having a floor, and right and left sidewalls that each include a front receptacle and a rear receptacle. A winch support frame includes a beam extending transversely across the truck bed that has a winch mounting plate provided on the beam, and right and left rails. Each rail includes a front connector and a rear connector that are adapted to be received in the front and rear receptacles, respectively.
According to another aspect of this disclosure, a winch assembly is provided for a truck bed having a floor, and right and left sidewalls that are each provided with a receptacle. A beam extends in a transverse direction across the truck bed spaced from the floor with a winch attached to the beam. Right and left connectors disposed on right and left ends of the beam are adapted to be attached to the receptacles in the right and left sidewalls.
According to other aspects of this disclosure, the beam may be arcuate with a concave side facing a tailgate receiving portion of the truck bed. A plate may be provided on the beam at a lateral center of the beam that is adapted to receive the winch. An electric motor may be operatively connected to the winch to extend and retract a cable from the winch that is attached to an object to be loaded and unloaded from the truck bed.
Alternatively, the right and left rails may be attached to right and left ends of the beam. Each rail may extend parallel to one of the right and left sidewalls and may have front and rear sets of connectors received in front and rear sets of receptacles provided on right and left sidewalls.
The above aspects of this disclosure and other aspects will be described below with reference to the attached drawings.
The illustrated embodiments are disclosed with reference to the drawings. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are intended to be merely examples that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. The specific structural and functional details disclosed are not to be interpreted as limiting, but as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to practice the disclosed concepts.
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A connector 38 is shown in
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A straight beam 60 extends in the transverse vehicle direction at is connected on opposite ends to the right and left rails 56 and 58. The straight beam 60 is disposed in the front portion of the truck bed 12 near the front wall 20. A winch mounting plate 62 is provided at the lateral center of the beam 60 and is adapted to receive a winch 24 (as shown in
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The embodiments described above are specific examples that do not describe all possible forms of the disclosure. The features of the illustrated embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the disclosed concepts. The words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation. The scope of the following claims is broader than the specifically disclosed embodiments and also includes modifications of the illustrated embodiments.
