Winches - which, and hydraulic or electric?

[knucklehead]

I am being nagged by my wife to get a winch for the truck. I know, I know, for better or worse, right? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif There are a lot of things that could be done by hand, but my dear sweet wife thinks it is time for me to learn new ways which do not require as much shirt size as hat size (which is why last year we finally got a tractor).

I have an old Koenig PTO winch which I got out of a dumpster, and "someday" it would be nice to turn it into something for the tractor. I have an F150, with no PTO gear or plate on the trans for one. I do have a plow, and the accompanying hydraulic system. It would be easy to order up a standard electric winch, but I am wondering about hydraulics. After a quick visit to the Warn site, I have learned that their winches may be powered from a vehicle's power steering system.

I would like to mount the winch on a plate so it could be used front or rear, and maybe even on the tractor. There are plenty of places I could tap into the tractor's hydraulics. There are already lines leading to the front of the truck, and it would seem easy to plumb to the back.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The easy thing to do would be buy one of the many available electric winches, but I'd like to at least explore the hydraulic choice. Does anyone have any experience with hydraulics winches, powered from steering pumps, or maybe even by the pump to a snowplow? Are there advantages to hydraulics? To electrics? Is there one brand of electric that stands above the rest?

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a link to hydraulic winches.
They run from the power steering pump and look to be pretty powerful.

http://www.milemarker.com/winches.html

 

[DavidJ]

The only concern with hydraulic winches that run off the steering pump is if the engine quits then you have no winch, if you break a belt you have no winch. I have seen people use the winch to load a stalled truck on a trailer once or twice. I'm sure that's not a big issue but something you might consider.

As for electric brands I have a Warn 8000 and a Ramsey Patriot 8000, I like the Ramsey better than the Warn, it seems to draw less power and is quieter when under load. The Warn is older than the Ramsey and that may be some of the difference.

 

[chim]

One thing to consider is the contamination of your hydraulics. You don't run Super UDT in the 150's power steering do you? I guess if there was a single vehicle that the winch would be used on, it wouldn't be and issue. Swapping it back and forth would give the next vehicle's hydraulic system a sloppy french kiss from the last place the winch was used. ("Do you have any idea where that thing may have been last?")

Hydraulic motors are extremely size-efficient compared with electrics.

I have a Warn 8000# 8274 (or 8724 or whatever) buried somewhere in the garage. It's an impressive thing. The last vehicle it was on was in the bed of my last Chebby 4X4 company truck. When I got the new Silverado in 2000, the company switched to leasing, and drafted a new policy concerning what add-ons we can go with (no winches). One of these days I'm gonna find an old CJ or something to play with and that will provide a platform for the ol' winch................chim

 

[alco141]

somewhere i had heard that running the winch off the power steering pump has not worked out for some folks and they have had to replace the pump fairly frequently. if you have a hydr. pump on your engine then you wont have to worry.

alex

 

[knucklehead]

Alex - I was wondering how much abuse the power steering pump would take. I'm also skeptical about adding load to something designed to do one thing - even to the plow pump.

chim - I thought about that, but not as graphically as you /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Truthfully, I don't know what I have in any of the three hydraulic systems I have between the truck and tractor. I need to adjust/rebuild/change the fittings on the truck because they leak, so I will be topping that off with whatever NAPA says is good. I've followed a couple threads in the lube forum....opinions abound, huh? I guess I'd be more fussy about what was in the tractor system than anything. I searched on winches before I wrote and re-read our old thread about your winch just yesterday.

David - A very good point, although I assumed an electric winch would need engine (alternator) power, too, however, due to the large amp draw. Must only be able to really work a winch for a short time before drawing the battery down. So much more info exists on electric winch tech that I am sorta leaning toward them just because I don't want another thing to learn right now.

Moss - That's where I started when I did a Google on winches to see what was out there besides Warn & Ramsey & Superwinch. I was sucked in by the military applications; figured they must be rugged since they meet mil specs, like Mossberg shotguns. Warn has those, too.

As interested in hydraulics as I am becoming (wood splitter, aux fittings for top link, etc, etc), electric may be the way to go on the truck. I am also seriously considering an AC inverter for the truck, and less seriously considering a couple other electric accessories. Dual batteries are also "on the table"...so it seems like the electric fits better with the "big picture". But there's still that unused set of hoses sticking out through the grill most of the year.......

Any recovery guys out there? What do people run on wreckers? Can I just go pick a pretty winch? I've been doing a lot of squinting at the pics in the 4wd mags to see if there's one flavor everyone prefers...doesn't seem so.

 

[Rowski]

Our shop has a '97 F-350 dually with a Jerr-Dan wrecker unit on it. 2 8K lbs winches. Extendable boom which can be between horizontal and vertical. A 3K lb under lift. The winches are piped up so that they will not pull both 8K at once. The boom in retracted position is rated for 23K lbs. The truck could never handle that. The hydraulic pump runs of from the engine via a belt. Most people I talked to like engine mounted pump better. Unlike yourself, you are trying to get yourself unstuck. I need to get people unstuck, so I have to be able to hold my truck while pulling out others. Basically my static friction of my truck needs to be greater than the static friction of object I'm pulling on.

One thing to keep in mind if it gets cold the hydraulic fluid will be thick and not flow good. At below zero our wrecker hydraulics will not work untill the fluid warms up. The pump cavitates badly.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I have a Warn 8000 and I'm very happy with it. It's electric and I mounted it on a platform with a 2" receiver insert so I can use it on different vehicles and on my trailer. For my trailer I have a 1000 amp marine deep cycle/starting battery. It runs my hydraulics for the tilt bed (powered by a starter motor) as well as the winch.

The winch has a power cable with a nice heavy plug on it. The other side I ran to the trailer battery. I can just pin the winch to the trailer, plug it in and I'm good to go. The short cable I ran from the battery came with the hitch platform. It would allow you to have the plug outside your grille to mount your winch in front. There is a longer cable for a rear mount available, too. There is an in cab switch to kill power to it it you choose.

I have no idea if this is the best winch for you (or me) or not. It does a good job for me and I'm happy with it. I think it has a lot going for it and is very versatile for my needs.

Good luck with whatever you decide. I hope this helps. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[micromike]

I have a WARN 9000i and am very impressed with it. I built a receiver hitch for the frong of my truck that mounts flush with a hole in the center of the bumper. I can mount the winch on the front or the back. It's been a life saver for pulling myself out of snow as well as my neighbors on our steep, windy private road.

I need to make a long cable with jumper cable ends so that I can use it on any vechicle with a 2" receiver hitch.

My suggestion is...if you need continuous winching, go with the hydrolic as they don't over heat or run down the battery like the electric . If you need if mainly for emergency recovery situations, you can't beat the convienience of the electric.

Mick

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> I need to make a long cable with jumper cable ends so that I can use it on any vechicle with a 2" receiver hitch. </font>

I have that exact setup and I love it. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I had a spare set of jumper cables and just took the clamps off one end and added a compatible plug I got from a local fork lift company (the Warn plug is the same size they use for lift truck batteries). Along with making your winch adaptable to any vehicle with a receiver hitch, another advantage of that setup is that you'll have a set of cables you can just plug in to your front winch connection plug and jump start a vehicle without even lifting your hood. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif