Pulling with winch

[Marlboro]

My main use for the deuce is extracting stuck mud trucks, while these winchs are great they can be a pain to use do to not having a level wind. Is it a bad idea to use the cable as a strap so to speak? I sometimes will winch out a dead truck till its out of the hole then put the winch in netural and reverse out of the area. Is this hurting the pto or any other winch parts?

 

[cattlerepairman]

As with many other things, common sense applies. If you do what you describe, then, no, this is not likely to cause damage or danger.

The winch is, however, an ''integrated system'' that is designed to work within its load limits, torque limited by the shear pin in the PTO shaft.

Applying force to the winch cable by moving the truck allows you to exceed the load limits. I understand that the way the worm gear works makes it highly unlikely to be able to move the winch drum by applying force on the cable, with the winch clutch engaged. It is a very safe setup that way.

But, for example if you were to pull in low range reverse, with 6x6 engaged, on asphalt, with 5t of gravel in the bed, I am sure that the force you apply to the winch cable, the winch and its mounts can exceed the force they are designed for.

Another favourite is to yank on the cable (i.e. having slack in the cable and then building momentum with the truck until the cable is pulled tight very suddenly).

I have the utmost respect for the power contained in a winch cable, shackle or chain assembly under load.

 

[spicergear]

Do yourself a favor and cut 75' of cable off of the (guessing) full factory spool of cable you currently have. That allows you a little more room of side pulling and stacking of the cable before you get into danger with the cable stacking up and binding causing the shear pin to let go or pop the bottom 'bolt' connecting both sides out of the drive case and destroying the winch. I have pulled the way your are describing. If the winch is in good shape it shouldn't back off but that is not entirely the way to use. I would certainly expect that prolonged use like that will loosen the crispness of the worm and bull gear.

Get the correct ends or three wire rope clamps and a thimble for EACH end of the 75' length cut off and use that as a pull cable.

 

[steelandcanvas]

Marlboro, A good short manual to copy and keep with your vehicle is
FM 20-22, Field Recovery Operations. It gives you some good pointers on rigging, self recovery, etc. Here is a link: http://www.jeepolog.com/UserFiles/downloads/field%20manuals/Fm20-22%20Vehicle%20Recovery%20Operations.pdf

 

[John S-B]

You can also be more versatile by getting additional pulleys and straps to have a change of direction while still winding your spool in a straight line. You can use a large tree or another truck to attach a pulley when you can't line up your winch to the truck being pulled. Of course your pulley and straps have to be rated for the max. pully you are going to do. You can never have too many straps, and sometimes you need to have a second truck as an attachment to prevent a rollover when pulling a truck on the side of a hill.

 

[glcaines]

Whenever I'm winching something that is even remotely close to approaching the shear pin failure point, I use a snatch block.

 

[Squirt-Truck]

Use proper rope ends, avoid cable clamps, they reduce the effective strength of the rope.

TERMINATIONS EFFICIENCY RATING
WIRE ROPE SPLICE

FLEMISH EYE SPLICE 1/4" TO 1" DIAMETER AND SMALLER 95%
1 1/8" TO 2" DIAMETER 92.5%
2 1/8" & LARGER DIAMETER 90%

PRESSED SLEEVE 1" DIAMETER AND SMALLER 95%
1 1/8" TO 2" DIAMETER 92.5%
2 1/8" & LARGER DIAMETER 90%
HAND TUCKED SPLICE ONLY TO BE USED WHERE SLING ENDS ARE
TERMINATED AND NOT ALLOWED TO ROTATE
1/4" DIAMETER - 90%, 5/16" DIAMETER - 89%,
3/8" DIAMETER - 88%, 7/16" DIAMETER - 87%,
1/2" DIAMETER - 86%, 5/8" DIAMETER - 84%
3/4" DIAMETER - 82%, 7/8" DIA. & GREATER - 80%

SWAGE SOCKET OPEN OR CLOSED 100%
SPELTER SOCKET OPEN OR CLOSED 100%
WEDGE SOCKET 75-90% DEPENDING ON DESIGN
CLIPS 80% IF INSTALLED CORRECTLY

 

[Marlboro]

Some good tips here guys, Thanks! I run with a few snatch blocks and always use aleast one. Thanks for the recovery manual, Ill read through it when i get some time.

 

[spicergear]

John S-B is dead on. I use that practice when pulling logs up steep banks. I'll position the truck with a large tree maybe 20' in front of it and hook my snatch block on that tree and make sure the truck is lined up straight. The cable will spool back and fourth nicely from that distance and it hardly matters what rolls or movement the log coming up the hill does.

Squirt truck, yep...3 however is the way to do it IF you're going to and most people won't be able to put a 40,000 to 50,000lb load on a 1/2" cable by wheel pulling with a 13,000 to 20,000lb truck. I'm not disagreeing with you, I prefer the terminating clevis ends like the ones on the front winch too.

 

[Squirt-Truck]

Good info. For general purpose reference, it is standard recovery practice to assume you can pull a MAXIMUM of 75% of the winch truck's weight, with wheel chocks and locked brakes.
Note that two (2) lining the winch cuts the winch load in half, but you still only have 75% of the truck's weight to pull with.

Spicer, excellent suggestion on using a turning point to allow proper rope laying on the drum.

 

[Troll1216]

+1 on the snatch block, very handy and makes winch winding go much more uniform. I don't have a W/W but have used smaller ones. it also, i think, provides a little buffer in case of a broken cable, but I still put an old moving blanket on the line.