I also have had one of those Harbor Freight hand winches on my trailer for years. I have never had a problem with it as long as the vehicle I am winching does not have frozen brakes on it. It is actually more powerful than an electric winch I had before. I need a new one now though as I left it outside for years and the rust got to it badly.
You seem to have missed the point (or maybe I did)... Just say I want to go look at a vehicle 2 hours away. Do I drive there, try to make a deal, borrow a trailer, etc. How's this... I need a pice of metal welded, do I take it to town, pay say 50 bucks? How about I spend 4/500 on a welder...maybe it will never pay for itself, but sure is convient. Why do I have 3 sheet metal brakes? Why do I have 4 welders? Why do I have horses? None will pay for themselves, but when I need it/them, they are at my disposal.
Well one thing the thread, reiterates. If you are going to drag hulk on the trailer that don't have wheels or don't wheels that turn and you are going to drag them out of the mud where they are buried to the frame you need at least an 8K winch and a 12 or bigger is nicer yet. If 95% of what you haul are rollers you can get away with a lot smaller winch I've got about 70 bucks tied up in the winch that I bought at an auction last year. 20 something of that is for a new remote. I think it is a 4500 lb winch but most likely the only rigs I'll haul are rollers. I've got a seriously good come along that I picked up at a moving sale and thought the guy was nuts for selling it. I gave him 5 or 10 bucks for it and I don't think you can buy that one for 50. Still I just don't feel like ratcheting a car up on the trailer again with all the stuff that goes with it including tying it off or blocking the rear tires so it doesn't roll back off the trailer. I drug a car out of a field one day that would have been a fifteen minute project with a winch that took me over an hour with a come along. Hook a chain to the car because the come along only had a 12 foot cable, hook the come along to the front of the trailer and the chain and pull, reset when you ran out of cable, pull it a few feet more and reset again and repeat. My dog had time to explore the whole 5 acre pasture that it was in though. The older I get the less I want to work hard.
Pretty much what I was saying, not doing anything HAMB related to make a buck, hell, not even trying to make a buck doing a thing in my shop, I buy for convience
Well guys, you just stepped off into my bailiwick! I used to be a couple of different brand winches, dealer! ....First of all ... all winches are rated off the first layer of cable! So... if you have a 8000 lbs winch and 16 feet of cable layed out , you actually have a 4000 lbs winch! A 4500 lbs winch on the first layer will out pull it! You all are all talking about different lbs. winches...... well, a winch can only convert whatever energy you have in a battery to motion! To get the “ full” 15000lbs force, advertised by some companies, you need three 31 series batteries hooked up in parallel to achieve 15000 lbs of force! A little winch on a large battery will work better than a big winch on a small battery! Like mentioned a snatch block will help the winch pull a big load! But that comes with a penalty! But using pulleys to your advantage, can be beneficial! Here is a stump I pulled out with a Polaris . And that is a small one! Bones
^^^^ This is the best advice on the whole thread. Also ,with cheap winches ! Get a better power supply Bigger gauge cables instead of the Anemic ones that are supplied with the winch
I have a 3500 lbs Harbor Freight winch on a receiver mount on the front of my trailer. My power supply is 1 gauge battery cable run up to the left hand battery on my Ram Diesel. When I winch, I put my truck on high idle and go to it. This little winch pulled an Isuzu NPR on my trailer with a snatch block. Normal sized cars give it no trouble what so ever. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
IMHO, it isn't just about capacity. 8, 9, or 12k winches are all about the same size. The difference is usually internal gearing. A 12k winch will have a lower line speed, making it easier to control whatever you are dragging. Not to mention that it will pull less amperage, because it isn't working as hard. Double lining an ATV winch is a dangerous game. Yes, you theoretically double the capacity, but you are still trusting a single 3/16" cable. We have two of the Harbor Freight winches on the track wreckers. They're 1/3-1/2 the price of Warn, MileMarker, or Superwinch. The only trouble I've ever had with the one in the WreckerVan is the remote giving up after living outdoors for two years. FWIW, a replacement was $15.
Remember, when using a snatch block, it must be rated for the the entire load, since it will enable you to pull twice the capacity of the winch. Try to take good care of the line, or wire rope. The biggest issue I see there is the fact that it is usually used on sheaves and drums that are too small in diameter for the line size. Yes, a smaller drum gives you more mechanical advantage, but like a too small in diameter snatch block sheave, it also bends the line tighter than it should be bent, giving you those annoying pigtails, or curly-q's that make winch work so much fun.
I use a winch every few days. Harbor Freight 12K w/wireless remote. I load & unload all vehicles using the winch. Jim
A pulley block doesn't double the load capacity of the cable, only the pulley block. The cable should be rated to the winch . And the cable is pulled linear "around" the pulley It is a similar scenario to using a lower gear in a transmission [it doesn't change the torque applied to the input]
No..... my truck has a 45,000 lbs winch too and a 20,000 lbs winch for live poles. And I have several snatch blocks to boot. These are just two of over twenty five winches that I own! Lol
The more important thing to me is how to power the winch. Look into tow truck jump starter wiring, and you'll find the harnesses to wire an easy plug in the back bumper to power the winch. My dad welded a trailer hitch receiver to his car trailer with a plate on top to pin the hitch to the deck, and its handy as well. Easy to attach and remove the winch to store in the box as an anti theft measure. Sent from my SM-G975U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I used a Beebe hand winch on my trailer for years and if you were man enough to crank it, it would pull most anything on my trailer. As I got older I found I was not man enough any longer and bought an 8k SmittyBilt electric winch and can now load with the push of a button. I'm man enough for that at this time of my life. Should have bought it earlier!
I have used an ordinary engine hoist to lift engines, frames and whatever, and with a home made dolly, made from the wheels from a rototiller, on the other end, and moved them around the yard. I have even removed and installed engines with it. But I also have a small excavator, a Bobcat, and an F600 with a hiab, to spot things where I wanted them in the yard. I got an offer I couldn't refuse, so I sold the trailer, as I don't haul things around any more, The only reason I used the Warn 8000# winch on the trailer was, because I had it, and I also needed to load the Bobcat with the winch a few times. I mounted the winch as a portable unit, so I could keep it in the garage. Bob
I have two winches on hitch-mount plates. I have hitch mounts on the front and rear of my 4x4 truck for stuck situtations, and a hitch mount inside the trailer for loading/unloading. I use "Anderson plugs" on the pigtails of both of my winches, with corresponding plugs in the trailer and at the front and rear of the truck.
You seem to have justified reasons for owning a trailer and I own one for the same reasons, my needs and convenience. Maybe I missed his point but what I got out of it is... People expect him too drop everything because he has a trailer and truck to tow it with and they don’t..... which can be a total inconvenience to him. I relate to him simply because I get the same phone calls. I might ad that I pay for AAA for myself so I don’t do this exact same thing to my friends when I need a tow. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
My brother in law's Ramsey winch on his F100 4x4, was more important to him than his wife. In regard to imaginative solutions to pulling all manner of heavy equipment out of the mud and snow, there is a TV series I like watching, called "Highway Thru Hell", mostly filmed on a treacherous piece of winter highway in BC. It is interesting to see the innovative solutions to some severe accidents. Bob
That’s my kind of fun. My friend is starting up back up his salvage yard and a couple of us old farts are going to be working it. We will have a several winch trucks and a roll back. We are also going to specialize in pulls no one else wants or can’t do. I may have to dust off my old dozer blade! Between racing and working at a salvage yard this should have been a great Summer......if it wasn’t for that bug!!! Bones
My neighbor ordered that Bronco special in 1968 from Clay Ford, Checotah, Okla, with almost every option available that year. Including two trac-locs and pto winch. My friend bought it in about 1972. We four wheeled in it for a couple years. He drove it to his ex wife’s house, things went bad, she shot and killed him with the gun he bought her and taught her to shoot. I lost track of the Bronco after that. About 15 years later I saw it for sale, at a business. I bought it, played with it, let it set, fixing it back up now. I reckon I’ll keep it and the 73 that I have. Bones
have been in the same situation. Chain the car to a tree or pole and drive the trailer out from under it.
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