More winching ops questions

[cranetruck]

For you experienced winch operators, what is the average amount of cable used?
With more than 250 ft available on the drum, it seems like a lot is never used and only serves to decrease the pulling capacity and increase the chances of shearing a pin.
Is anybody running, say 100 ft on the drum? One could always just add to the length and pulling in smaller increments, if you know what I mean....

 

[Barrman]

I have used the winch on both M35's a lot. Pulling things onto trailers mostly. I only had to use the entire cable once. But, it was when the Gasser was down to the running boards in mud and the nearest tree was about 195 feet away.

I have often thought about just 100-125 feet. But, that one time reminded me that winch cable in the shop doesn't do me a bit of good out in the real world.

 

[Elwenil]

In my opinion it's a toss-up. For MVs in service and four wheeler's, you typically want as much wire rope as possible since you never know what situation you are going to get stuck in. With a longer cable, you also have more options as far as using a block to get more pulling power without taxing the winch so much. You can still run a block with wire rope extensions, but it's a lot more work and a bit of a pain. With all that said, less wire rope can be beneficial in certain situations. Less rope means more power as you stated and also less chance of it building up on one side of the drum causing breakage. If you are using the winch in more a commercial application to do a particular job, you could determine the optimum amount of rope to use and stick with that. Personally, I'm going to deal with all the drawbacks of having a full spool on my Ramcharger even though my Braden holds a lot more than the average commercial wheeling winch since it will come in handy for long pulls, gin poles and recovery in bad situations.

 

[cranetruck]

Hmmm...the idea is to bring the extra (extensions) along with the ends finished as shown below. Simply use it when needed and gain lots of pulling capacity with only one or two layers on the drum.

I keep a 50 Ft section of wire rope with thimbles in the truck (thanks Kenny) on my trips for use with the K-boom to "winch" and it doesn't take a lot of space..

Edit: Above is in response to Barrman

 

[drgreg]

Is the chart showing winch derating due to cable layers or cable derating due to legnth?
Less cable on the spool would mean slower winch speed but would have advantages too.

 

[Stretch44875]

I've use the full length at least 3 times. You'd be amazed how much more stuff is 200ft than 100ft away!

 

[cranetruck]

Is the chart showing winch derating due to cable layers or cable derating due to legnth?
Less cable on the spool would mean slower winch speed but would have advantages too.

It's based on the lever principle or mechanical advantage gained by using less cable on the drum.

 

[drgreg]

Bjorn,
You are correct, the diameter increase causes a longer moment arm inturn decreasing the winch capacity.
The wire rope regaurdless of legnth maintains it's load capacity.

 

[jwaller]

I have never needed all 200ft but I always use blocks as well. I was pulling a wall last weekend and used 2 blocks. I was only about 20' away but I wanted as much pull as I could get and still stay close to the object bc I was limited in where I could park.

 

[mangus580]

I have routinely needed all the cable...

You run short really fast when you have to run it underneath the truck and out the back!!!





When pulling trees over (see 'pulling weeds' in conversations from last week or so...) I use all the cable, we pull it all the way out, and work down the row of trees bringing it back in. I prefer to be as far away as possible when working on the trees, for a safety feature (dont trust the chains attaching to the tree) and for pulling power as well (leverage on the tree, and wraps on the drum).

 

[tm america]

i'd keep as much on the drum as possible cuz if something is really stuck and is close you can use a snatch block which is a good idea on any pull since it puts less stress on the winch and keep extentions to for when things are more than 200 ft away i find i end up needing most of if when i get stuck more times than i run into a situation where i'm overloading the winch keep extra snatch blocks and extentions that are rated at least twice what your winch is rated at. dont forget that you might need to use a snatch block to change the dirrection of a pull to .and then you'll need a long cable since extentions wont pass through a snatch block

 

[tm america]

also if you need to do a heavy pull where you need more than one block even if it was just 50m ft away you use up all the cable real quick if you dont have the cable you cant use several blocks to get more leverage like we end up needing alot of the timecuz when these things get stuck they really get stuck and a 14000 pd truck with a 10000 pd winch means using at least one block to get you out safely and two or more if it's really in there i got mine of in some peat moss and ended up winching it abut a 1/4 mile i would have been in a bad place if i didnt have over 200 on my winch most times i needed all of it big trees just dont ussually grow that close to eachother

 

[Recovry4x4]

Because of my tendency to use 3 and 4 part lines, I maintain a nearly full drum of cable. On the wrecker hoist I run half the suggested amount of cable as I will probably not use the hoist for recovery.

 

[BEASTMASTER]

i keep 250 ft on the spool and 5 - 50 footers in the back, plus 100 ft of 3/8 chain, and 40 ft of 5/8 chain. but you will always be 10 ft short when you get stuck and are by you're self.

 

[IHASFIP]

I have routinely needed all the cable...

You run short really fast when you have to run it underneath the truck and out the back!!!





When pulling trees over (see 'pulling weeds' in conversations from last week or so...) I use all the cable, we pull it all the way out, and work down the row of trees bringing it back in. I prefer to be as far away as possible when working on the trees, for a safety feature (dont trust the chains attaching to the tree) and for pulling power as well (leverage on the tree, and wraps on the drum).

Have you really ran it underneath the axles to pull yourself out backwards? How did that work out???

D

 

[tm america]

ive run it underneath it works ok as long as youre not that stuck if you are stuck good it will crunch the bumper back to the winch that just happened to me last weekend

 

[cranetruck]

Try this for rearwards pulling, should use all the cable you got.

 

[IHASFIP]

That **** looks way difficult. If I am that stuck there better be a D-9 Dozer to pull me out.

D

 

[doghead]

It looks like a billiards trick shot!

 

[mangus580]

http://old.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?module=pagesetter&type=file&func=get&tid=4&fid=file&pid=1

worked good for me TM, I could see the bumper issue if you were LOADED stuck