Idea for a winch mod

[Dodge man]

The Engineers that were involved in that design probaly assumed there would always be a Driver and Assistant Driver to operate the vehicle and winch.

You are correct except that the design engineers don't (or shouldn't!) assume anything. I was an engineer on a number of military contracts and basic conditions including the number of personnel, their MOSs (and additional specialty training) and level of experience are always specified in the SOW (Statement of Work) for the contract. If the engineers determine that more personnel are needed or if they need additional training or other special requirements such as minimum strength requirement or a height limitation then it's one of their jobs to bring those to the attention of the contracting agency and they implement those or make other changes to avoid those requirements. I personally upset a lot of apple carts by asking for, and getting, additional training, safety equipment, tools, manpower, etc on several major military programs. I wasn't willing to put people at risk un-necessarily which frequently didn't make me popular with program management!

But to get back to this case, the military has always used both a driver and an assistant driver, even since before they started using motor vehicles, so the equipment design and operating procedures were implemented with the knowledge that two people were available. We operate differently so it's not inappropriate that we change the equipment and procedures to reflect that (keeping safety in mind, of course!)

 

[fasttruck]

REFERENCE IS MADE TO m816 SET UP. tO OPERATE POWER DIVIDER FOR REAR WORK PLATFORM OF TRUCK WHICH CONTROLS REAR WINCH AND CRANE FUNCTIONS AN AIR OPERATED CLUTCH CONTROL IS PROVIDED. THIS OPERATES AN AIR CYLINDER ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE TRANSMISSION ABOVE THE PTO FOR THE FRONT WINCH WHICH MOVES A CLUTCH CONTROL LEVER ON THE RIGHT END OF THE CROSS OVERSHAFT WHICH PASSES THBROUGH THE TRANSMISSION BELL HOUSING AND HAS THE NORMAL LEVER TO THE FLOOR PEDAL MOUNTED ON THE LEFT END. tO REPLICATE THIS WILL INVOLVE OBTAINING AN OVERLENGTH CROSS SHAFT, PROBABLY A DIFFERRENT TRANS BELL AND AN AIR CYLINDER WHICH SEEMS TO BE THE SAME ONE USED TO OPERATE THE WINCH CABLE TENSIONER ON A M123. PICS ATTACHED.

 

[fasttruck]

PICS ATTACHED HERE. pHOTO 1 IS CONTROL STAND, CLUTCH CONTROL LOOKS LIKE TROLLY HANDLE. PHOTO 2 SHOWS PASSENGER'S SIDE OF TRANS: AIR CYLINDER IS ABOVE PTO DRIVE SHAFT AND LEVEL ON CLUTCH SHAFT IS VISIBLE. # 3 IS AIR CYLINDER SHOWN ON M 123 WINCH. PHOTO 4 IS DRIVER'S SIDE OF TRANS.

 

[m-35tom]

operating a winch while standing anywhere near the winch is a really BAD idea.

tom

 

[General Mcgregor]

Like I said before I'm not trying to get anyone hurt. If this really is a bad Idea stop me now. But as long as you arent a complete idiot and forget to chock your wheels / set your parking brake and ensure that your trans is in neutral I think it would be a useful mod. I would never want to operate the winch outside if it was a super heavy load.

I like the engine kill cable on the bumper idea too.

 

[topo]

even with two people operating the winch one of them is still to close to the winch the driver can only see there head and has no idea where there hands are .the remote control work for me even the idea of a rod and a lever that lets the operator stand to the side of the truck sounds much better then being in front of the truck .

 

[spicergear]

Topo, I have serious question with the use of the pneumatic cylinder on the in/out clutch on the winch...mainly because you said it could be operated from inside or outside the truck. ?!? Outside the truck means that you are relying solely on the air cylinder to kick the winch clutch out and since it's used in a 'winching context,' I'd presume to think that there would be some load on it- ?? Not so sure if you've tried to kick that clutch out with 50' of cable just being idled in on the winch by hand or not but it may have only been last week when a guy lost a shear pin (luckily) when his 10K Garwood didn't disengage there spooling the cable in. There needs to be a torque break on that winch clutch in order for it to disengage. Just trying to force it out with virtually any load on it doesn't work in my experience...even just weight of grab chain on the spool will be enough that the handle won't want to move.

That air cylinder may be convenient to save ONE trip to the front of the truck when working alone, but putting it in the context of that may be how the load is stopped or disengaged is not the way to use these winches and the way to find some damage.

 

[KsM715]

The whole problem with being right up front is many people (one on here just a few weeks ago) think they can wind up the last few feet to make the cable neat and clean and thats when things go bad. If something happens (or doesnt happen when its supposed to) you dont have time to react to try to shut off the winch or kill the truck or get the **** out of the way. The deuce winch will easily over power the parking brake and pull past chocks. If your off to the side thats one thing but if your in front of the bumper your asking for it.

I wouldnt put the control cylinder on the handle that controls the dogs. Under a load it will take a lot to pull the dogs apart and will eventually tear things up.

Edit: spicegear got to it before I could finish typing my reply

 

[topo]

the air cylinder is used to just shift the dogs when they are in or out . then shift the switch back to the middle position this bleed the air and shift lever can be shifted from out side like normal . the clutch in the truck should be used to stop the winch from pulling the load not trying to kick the dogs out

 

[Floridianson]

The place to be anytime you operate any equipment is in the operators seat with the seat belt on by yourself or alone.....

 

[deathrowdave]

must use hydro or air power or have a handle 3 ft long to have enough leverage