Dear Jeepers,
i have been using winches from the time Arka has fitted one on his jeep, well it was Arka & Patrick who have thought me how to use the winch to the core,
In any of the events, where i am there i take the winching responsibility,
As for the safety it is mandatory & that the safety aspects are understood before winching any of the jeeps,
My experience in winching is quite vast, & the best was that i have winched out 92 jeeps using one machine non stop in one of the major events, well it sounds stupid 92 jeeps, well we had no choice to use one machine,
The best way to reduce the load on a winch is by using the Snatch block, this the best way to give more life to the winch,
At times high lift is help less & the only help is a winch,
Not many consider a winch important, but trust me that's the best resource you can have,
Anything below 8000 lbs is some thing which i will not suggest at all,
Warn are the best when it comes to the initial pulling & are fast, but they fail when it has to pull continuously, the Ramsey are slow initially & get little fast after a while & will work non stop, some of you might disagree,
US army uses a mile marker( hydraulic) in their humvee, they were earlier fitted with Warn winch & they discontinued for this reason, couldn't last in the desert & would over heat.
The most important is the battery & the alternator, because this is the most important feature in your jeep which actually gives life to the winch,
In one of the recce for MGE, one the jeeps rope was unwound to the end, and this guy winds the rope in the wrong direction, and i reach the next day for the another round of recce and start using the winch & i still remember telling them that wind is in the wrong direction, and when we were recovering one one of the jeeps i could see the rope rubbing the against the top of the fair lead i could see the rope cutting through the metal plate, & it even damaged the rope,
the reason i have mentioned this is that without a proper knowledge one will surely spoil the winch,
Finally if you ever see a winch fitted on a jeep which is covered/ shinning & not used at all is the most dangerous winch, because it might not function when required,
A winch should be used at least once a week, you need to unwind half & wind it back, this way the winch is always clean & fresh, if the water has entered wait for 10 minutes & then start using it this way the water in side will evaporate,
The cables on a reputed winch are strong & will last you long, it's up to how one uses it & how you service the rope,
A good quality winch will last you very long with out any issues, it will cost you any where between 50 -55 K for an 8000 lbs,
that's all for now,
Till then take care & best regards
Vinay thomas
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spitfire Ok get the message, but you can use pulleys along with a 1.5 times rated winch. One Mr Newton let us, the merry folk know why and how.
How? what? look here the guru's themselves -> http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-of...post-here.html
PS: Never could click any pictures (the ultimate requirement to let people know "i have done offroading"). Cameras and the assorted stuff used to cost more then what i needed to service my Jeep for a year or two. So instead got a Jeep and never clicked any pics.
PSS: One piece of advise. If somebody has so many questions about a winch, my advice could be stay away from one. Its not as simple as it looks. You can get injured really really bad. Stick to the simpler recovery tactics first before getting into winching.
PSSS: I am out of here and over to the gurus. |