One man winch operation?

[General Mcgregor]

I recently had a discussion with my neighbor who is a Korean war vet, he worked on a 5 ton wrecker (what specifically I'm not sure). I was talking to him about needing two people to perform a safe and successful winching operation weather you are pulling stumps or pulling the truck. I was always told that one person should always be in the cab to operate the clutch when the pto is engaged, and even if it isn't someone should be there. He told me it was possible to operate the winch using the exterior clutch only, Its a Garwood 10,000, The way he described it was: 1 Engage the pto on the desired range, making sure the clutch is out on the winch. 2 Freespool to your load, attatch it and return to the winch. 3 very slowly move the clutch lever to the 'in' position and it will behave just like the clutch on the transmission...?? There is no way Im trying this until I know what the results would be. I feel almost positive that it wont work but I could be wrong. Personally, I think he's thinking of a hydraulic winch. Is this possible? If so is it bad for my winch? Is it safe?? I have no problem doing it the way I always have but it would be cool to know if I could do this.

 

[crasheej]

Won't work.

 

[jasonjc]

DO NOT DO IT... Bad things will hapen.

The lever on the winch is NOT a "clutch". The lever on the winch is too lock the drum to the main shaft. Lock in or out thats it. Here's the pic so you can see for your self. Do these parts look like they were ment to be moved from in to out when moving. You may get in but the out under load is the hard part.

 

[73m819]

DO NOT DO IT... Bad things will hapen.

The lever on the winch is NOT a "clutch". The lever on the winch is too lock the drum to the main shaft. Lock in or out that's it. Here's the pic so you can see for your self. Do these parts look like they were meant to be moved from in to out when moving. You may get in but the out under load is the hard part.

that is called a JAW CLUTCH

though not intended to, it will engage at idle, wont disengage under a load, I have seen this done all the time with winch trucks in the oil fields, with one man operation, the only way to line up the drum to lock the drum back to power when it was released for free wheel.

so YES the VET is right, it will WORK the way he said.

 

[Barrman]

It will work as posted above. You just need to remember that he didn't own the truck he was doing it on, didn't have to pay for replacement parts and didn't have to do the replacement work. That changes a lot of what does and does not get done.

 

[General Mcgregor]

that is called a JAW CLUTCH

though not intended to, it will engage at idle, wont disengage under a load, I have seen this done all the time with winch trucks in the oil fields, with one man operation, the only way to line up the drum to lock the drum back to power when it was released for free wheel.

so YES the VET is right, it will WORK the way he said.

So if I'm understanding you right it WILL engage but it WON'T disengage unless the load is relieved?

 

[73m819]

at a high rpm, you will sheer the drive key, or twist splines, but at a low idle without a load, the jaw will drop in and start spooling the slack with no damage, as I said, this is done all the time with this type of clutch.
In the OLD friction cranes, a lot had jaw clutchs to switch from swing to travel, you disengaged one clutch, then engaged the other, as things turned, you could here it go CLINK and feel it in the lever as it droped in place


"So if I'm understanding you right it WILL engage but it WON'T disengage unless the load is relieved? "
YES

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

If all else fails, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS .

They can be found in the MANUALS in the SS Resources Section I believe.

 

[crasheej]

If you have lots of green stamps go ahead and do it that way .!

 

[wsucougarx]

There's a thread that someone did that did just this. Used the clutch handle. It tore the crud out of a dodge pickup they were winching and busted the winch in the process

 

[runk]

couldn't find the cool video of the blue dodge pickup getting bounced through the trees, but found this thread...
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/24404-winch-disaster-three-donkeyss-hard-work.html

 

[wsucougarx]

Good on you Runk, that's the one I was thinking about

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

One man can operate the winch in the proper manner, but having a spotter would make things a lot safer.

 

[Stretch44875]

Here's a video of me operating the winch. Had a helper, but don't always have one. One time thought the PTO was in neutral when getting out of the cab, and it was in reverse. Made a mess of the cable.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxnFB_Lz-ss[/media]

 

[wsucougarx]

Hey Stretch I've been meaning to ask you what the other lever is for your "modification". Have had this on my mind ever since I saw the vid a few months ago.

 

[General Mcgregor]

Thanks Stretch44875! Before I opeated my winch for the first time I watched this video on youtube just to make sure I was doing it right...small world!

 

[swbradley1]

I think that is the handle for his dump bed but I don't know that for sure.


sw

 

[Stretch44875]

For the dump. Engages the extra PTO on the rear of the winch PTO to run the hydraulic pump.

 

[73m819]

" Go up in the truck, turn up the idle,"
from the three donkeys thread,, that's was the problem , sounds like the idle was around 1800, at low idle the winch barely spools, im guessing that the vet in post #1 engaged the drum, then got in the truck for the rest of the operation, there is no way to engage the drum clutch by your self from the cab, you could leave the truck off, free wheel the winch, then bungie cord the drum clutch to pull it to engage, the jaws will ride on the drum jaws and drop in when the truck is started and the pto goes in gear.

the TMs talk about ideal conditions, two man crew, ect., unfortunately that does not always exist, so a person has to IMPERVISE

 

[General Mcgregor]

Anyone ever thought of rigging up some kinda handle to operate the pedal clutch from the front bumper? Like an old deuce parking brake handle with a cable to the pedal? You could lock it in either position AND adjust the ammount of tension, just a thought.