Posted by: TimW
I am looking for my first winch....
If I buy an el cheapo winch for say $500 and weld up a mount/frame for the winch to sit in, with a hitch bit on it. Then, I weld/bolt a hitch receiver on the front of the vehicle chassis. For that 10% of bogs when I need someone's help.
I can do it myself forwards and backwards.
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| Rhino stuck in bog. |
Posted by: CBA
If you were stuck in a lousy position I would think it would be a MAJOR hassle lugging a 45 kg (100 lb) object out of the car and mounting it on the back or front, especially if you are up to your knees in mud or sand.
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| Lewis Winch easily rescues Rhino from muddy bog |
Some brainstorming here. Please do not try to pin me down. I am just trying to make you all think.
There are winches powered by small petrol engines.
There are winches that can be powered by chainsaws.
(I assume that everybody thinking winches already has a chainsaw in the boot, or not??). You must see, I am originally Swiss (well, Aussie since well over 10 years now), but that's why I still like Habegger manual winches which are IMO the best there are. In Switzerland we have mountains, called Alps (THE real ALPS that is).
You see, alpine farmers are very humble folks making a living and cheese out of a few dozen dairy cows. Cows eat hay that incidentally does not grow in winter. To transport hay harvested in summer on steep mountain slopes you use....... well, winches. No need to mention, there rarely is electric power availabe on alps (down to valley gravity helps, but upwards....). Hence petrol powered winches.
Yes I know, helicopters deeply hate these temporary winch setups.... there are air maps showing their locations, yet every year some helicopters or small Cessnas manage to fly into the cables and people die.... Anyway, Alpine countries like Switzerland/Germany/France/Italy and Austria have a demand for petrol/chainsaw powered winches which is met by various manufacturers.
I leave the rest to you, but let me add such chainsaw powered winches are lightweight because the alpine diary farmers have to carry them on their back up the mountains since there are no roads. And horsepower of such petrol winches is lmited, meaning it would take sort of "block & tackle" wheels to use as a 10ton 4WD recovery winch.
This is just some food for thought.... Why is there no portable chainsaw powered 4x4 recovery whinch in the Australian market? Is this maybe the magic "product" Australian 4x4 inventors are searching for?? Me personally, I do not need an electric or oil/hydraulic or petrol driven winch, if anything I am happy with a manual Habegger style winch to be used once every few years when the unexpected #### happens. But I could imagine wealthy city 4WD'ers prepared to pay good money for a lightweight chainsaw powered winch. Business opportunity knocking?
I am not crazy, am I?
Look on this page, http://www.LewisWinch.com/
Good enough for skidding logs and freeing equipment in forestry. Up to 4,000 lbs pulling power from a larger chainsaw. Its not a joke at all, and there are other makers, too.
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Posted by: TimW
I think you would find that a 4,000 lb winch wouldn't pull a camper trailer out of a bog, let alone a 5,000 lb 4wd, which when bogged that would maybe double its weight.
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Posted by: CBA
Not so according to the maker of (for example) the Lewis Winch. They explicitely name 4WD recovery among many other uses such as emergency services.
Just because it is a relatively new product, and was originally designed for logging, does not mean it is unsuitable for 4WD recovery. In the US some folks use this Lewis Winch for exactly that. The 4,000 lb straight pull become 8,000 lb using a snatch block. If geared to the right RPMs a chainsaw has serious power, won't drain a battery, and is less likely to overheat or burn out like a DC motor.
Also, do not directly compare pulling force of a bumper winch with a manual or petrol winch: since the bumper winch is 75% of the time at the wrong side of the car, you nearly always got to pull-in the rope at an angle. And that requires a LOT more pulling force, than pulling straight.
Also the winch is cheaper than the chainsaw, and it is out of the way all the time, not taking up space in the back and smelling of fuel on every bump.
- And I thought that anybody doing serious bush tracks automatically carries a chainsaw. A fallen tree across a rarely used track is far more likely than getting bogged. Only sometimes can you drive around... Seriously, if one does not bother to carry a chainsaw, one does certainly not need a winch either. The Lewis Winch is just an accessory to an existing chainsaw, you mount the winch instead of the chain bar. The chainsaw/winch is strapped around a suitable anchor, tree or rock, and used exactly as a manual winch. It just takes the hard work out of manual winching.
- There is little room in a 4x4 and also the payload is limited. If you can combine recovery equipment in a modular fashion whilst saving weight and room, its always a plus. If talking electric bumper winch, you are talking one or two cement bags, most of it far up front, you are most likely also talking a second battery and associated cost and maintenance of everything.... If talking a cradle mounted electric winch, you will have to carry that battery up the bank too....
- Bumper-mounted winches do not work well under water. Regardless if electric or hydraulic powered from the power steering oil pump. If the water is murky you may not even see how the wire is wound onto the drum.
PS: There already are an AU and a NZ dealer for the particular Lewis Winch. Hence, there must also be owners/users around, that could recommend or otherwise such gadget for 4x4 purposes? Maybe you could get a free trial winch in return for writing up a test article for a 4x4 magazine???
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Posted by: Lewis Winch
Hey, CBA. You pretty much have it right. The Lewis Winch will easily pull a fully loaded truck or ATV out of the ditch frontwards, backwards or even sideways. With one Lewis Winch Snatch Block it will pull 8,000 pounds, keep adding Snatch Blocks if you need more power.
Off roaders have been using the Lewis Winch for years and they love the power and portability.
The only thing you got wrong is that the Lewis Winch is not new ... it has been around since the early 1970s and we're making it better all the time!
Have a look at our new Lewis Winch Ground Anchor, used when there isn't an anchor point in sight.
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| Lewis Winch mounted on Ground Anchor pulls off road ATV out of trouble! |
To see great off roading pictures and watch instructional and action videos, please visit our website: http://www.LewisWinch.com/
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