Self recovery winch sizing

Looking to see what you all use for self recovery winches. I love hydraulic but it limits me to just my skid steer. If i went electric i could possibly move it to a trailer etc.. That and size. I dont plan on burying the thing ( who does), but if i have a winch i dont have to get desperate and make it worse. Was looking at an 18k rated, which of course drops quickly once you wind up a full drum.

Unless you have it on a quick mount with electrical quick disconnects, I doubt that you would move it much. Every winch that I have is on a dedicated mount. All are hydraulic. Safer, less chance of starting a fire on the machine and wired with a remote control so that I can safely fell trees with them while outside of the machine and running the saw. The only thing that I would consider putting an electric winch on would be my service truck but I make it a point not to get that stuck. I did have an electric winch on an ASV many years ago. Someone stole it because it was electric and easy enough to get to. Hydraulic is dedicated an much less likely to be stolen, IMHO. Use snatch blocks and double your line to double the pull strength. Try not to pull at the rated load. Make it as easy on the winch and line as possible and your winch & line will last longer. Keep the rope and the rollers lubed every so often for best results.

AASC said: Looking to see what you all use for self recovery winches. I love hydraulic but it limits me to just my skid steer. If i went electric i could possibly move it to a trailer etc.. That and size. I dont plan on burying the thing ( who does), but if i have a winch i dont have to get desperate and make it worse. Was looking at an 18k rated, which of course drops quickly once you wind up a full drum. Click to expand... I have an 8000 LB factory installed on my 1956 Power Wagon. At rear is a ?16000? pound added. Rear winch snaps easily 1/2" steel cable. If I recall, it was rated 28000 max tensile. I suggest you avoid big winches. They break things, sometimes people. For a skid steer, one ton truck, small tractor, 10,000 LB line pull is maximum.

treemuncher said: Unless you have it on a quick mount with electrical quick disconnects, I doubt that you would move it much. Every winch that I have is on a dedicated mount. All are hydraulic. Safer, less chance of starting a fire on the machine and wired with a remote control so that I can safely fell trees with them while outside of the machine and running the saw. The only thing that I would consider putting an electric winch on would be my service truck but I make it a point not to get that stuck. I did have an electric winch on an ASV many years ago. Someone stole it because it was electric and easy enough to get to. Hydraulic is dedicated an much less likely to be stolen, IMHO. Use snatch blocks and double your line to double the pull strength. Try not to pull at the rated load. Make it as easy on the winch and line as possible and your winch & line will last longer. Keep the rope and the rollers lubed every so often for best results. Click to expand... That was my direction, mounting it on a custom winch plate to go into a 2 inch receiver on my hd bumper. It will not be permanently mounted, only when in the woods. Id rather have something, even though the mounting isn't ideal its better than nothing, and like you said i can and do have snatch blocks from our wrecker. Just wanting to see typical sizes mounted on these to make a decent choice. Would rather have too big than too little.

Odd thing about winches they cause you to go places you wouldn't ordinarily go. And that goes for the ones in high heels too.

Pretty far from "big iron" but for our "adventure van" we carry a SuperWinch Winch2Go . Synthetic line, 4000lb rating, 8000lb with included snatch block. I put Anderson connectors at the front and rear of the van, and hacked in a remote switch so I can run it from the driver seat. I can still use the "battery clips" and I have used those to get the tractor out solo. 8k is not gonna pull out a buried excavator, but for most vehicles and around the yard it is pretty handy. Here is my unboxing video, where it happily snaps its own 4k line. I got some better line on it now

Electric winches draw a gazillion amps under load, you typical skid / track has only one battery like a group 27 . You just don't have power to operate very long so if you can get out with just a helping hand , yes an electric will work. If you get STUCK and have to winch out of a mud bog or such a hydraulic will winch all day long until you run out of fuel.

Just get a bolt on hub, to fit you wheel spacing, like a spare rim and a machined spacer. Instant winch, have one for my backhoe for when I’m in the woods doing things I shouldn’t. Just need a cordless impact, I keep chains in all my machines, in ammo cans.

bmckenzie said: Electric winches draw a gazillion amps under load, you typical skid / track has only one battery like a group 27 . You just don't have power to operate very long so if you can get out with just a helping hand , yes an electric will work. If you get STUCK and have to winch out of a mud bog or such a hydraulic will winch all day long until you run out of fuel. Click to expand... I definitely thought of that after checking out the alternator output on these things, not much there! I did buy an 18 hydraulic winch. I plan on making a custom mount and just running hose up to the boom couplers if i need to use it. Even thought about making a mount with grousers on the front to use in other potential recoveries.

I've had 10,000 lb winches on my diesel pickups which have 2 batteries, unbelievable how fast it drains the them with a hard pull. When it came time to put a winch on my Jeep I found a 10-12,000 lb 2 speed Milemarker winch and plumbed it into my power steering pump, That sucker will pull forever!. The idea of just making up a set of hoses to plug into the axillary ports when needed should work awesome.

I mounted a 7000 lb Warn winch on the back end of a Cat 236B skid steer with pinned connection. It was hooked up to the batteries with forklift cable connectors and a long cable to go through the window for the operator to run machine as cable tightened. It was just put on when needed. It did the job. Simon C