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Old 28-05-23, 15:49
rob love rob love is offline
carrier mech
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Shilo MB, the armpit of Canada
Posts: 7,521
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There are some considerations to the electric winch. First is the rating. Usually the rating indicates the maximum load when setup for a 2:1 pull: that is to say you are using a snatchblock and cutting your line speed in half.



Next will be the duty cycle. Some are better than others. I was always partial to the warn winches of yesteryear. The good old 8274 series winches gave stellar service, and can occasionally be picked up off kijiji for $400-600. Most guys removed them off some older vehicle they scrapped, and with today's light frames and aerodynamic plastic front bumpers, the huge winches of yesteryear do not find a place on today's vehicles.



With the flood of Chinese made winches on today's market, both Ramsey and Warn have had to follow suit with the cheap, non-repairable electric winches. I will admit to having one mounted on my trailer, and it will pull the load on as long as I have plenty of battery. Your battery supply will be a consideration for your setup. In my days of looking for trouble when offroading, I actually melted a battery post when winching a huge log.



Perhaps a good alternative would be to install a PTO type winch off a military truck on your post, and power the PTO winch with an old electric motor thru a chain and gears. Then you are not maintaining a battery (or batteries) for the job. Around here, the winches off the old deuce and a half are easy to find and are rated at an honest 10,000 pounds. The hydraulic winches off the MLVWs are also about, but then you are putting together a hydraulic power pack to power it.



Another thing to watch is if you are using the full spool of wire. If the winch is out of sight, the wire can bunch up and jam. With the wireless features of a lot of todays winches, you can be at the pulled end of the cable operating the winch from your remote or from your smart phone.



All this said, the rolling resistance of a vehicle is only 5% to20% of it's weight, depending on the ground surface. If the tires are full on the vehicle being pulled, the ground is relatively hard, and you are not going uphill, then a 10,000 pound vehicle only requires a winch pull of a few hundred pounds. But as soon as you add a flat tire, a dragging brake, an incline, the load all goes up from there.



On my new (to me) 2018 RAM diesel truck, I added one of the heavy duty front winch (anti-deer) bumpers and installed a 10,000 pound Dodge/Ramsey winch. I have only used the winch a couple times, and it was a back-saver. I recovered an old P-20 water trailer from the scrapyard which required moving some very heavy and awkward steel out of the way, then pulling the trailer out of it's mud resting place. The winch gave stellar service and I did not even shed a drop of sweat. It made the total installation worth every penny.
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