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I need some big winch help.

4K views 28 replies 8 participants last post by  Lonesome7.3 
#1 ·
No I am not trying to get away from a fat girl. (All though they do scare me). I am trying like hell to get some good recovery equipment. I have the tow rigs now I need trailers. Once I have them, I will need some big winches to mount on them. I know very little about the big boys. I want to mount one on a 53 foot flat bed that will haul heavy trucks and equipment. I need another one to mount on a 40 foot gooseneck that will haul lighter trucks and equipment. The forty footer will be towed by my F350 and the fifty three footer by a M915. So has you can see, I need some big winches capable of dragging non running loads up on the trailer decks. Should I go hydraulic or electric? Should they have their own power source or draw from the tow vehicles’ power? What are the maintenance issues I should consider? If one breaks in the middle of a recovery what options do I have to get it running and complete the recovery? What cable and material size should I be using for these types of jobs? Where should I look at as far as buying these winches? And most importantly I need a price range. I have more questions to follow, but these are a good enough start for now.

Oh, these are my tow vehicles.
 

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#2 ·
Many of those Military trucks have hydraulic winches. It really will depend if you want PTO, Electric over Hydraulic, or Electric as their are many choices available. Chris
 
#4 ·
Most trailers I see here have a wet kit on the truck and connect to the winch on the trailer with hose, just like if it were a dump. If you want electric you will need some heavy cables to get the power back there.
 
#8 ·
If you mount it to the front of the trailer make sure it is a stout anchor point. You might try looking at some roll off bins and how their trailers are set up. Most have the winch on the truck with a PTO, but I have seen a couple with the winch on the trailer. Warn makes a 16,000# winch that is electric. That might be a good starting point for the smaller trailer. Rig up a couple of anchor points and use some snatch blocks and you may not need as big a winch as you are thinking about. Keep us posted as to how this turns out. Tulsa Winches are pretty good. I don't know if they make a hydraulic unit but it might be worth checking into.:thumbsup:usflag
 
#10 ·
DP winches ("Tulsa") are good, and have an air pressure actuated freespool, worth it's weight in gold after you've pulled the cable out under power a few times in the rain.

the hyd ones, used on 1000's of wreckers, hold up great, and hold more cable than you'd ever need, and have tensioners built onto them, keeps the cable from ratsnesting on the drum. some have 2 speeds, but you wouldn't need it for a trailer.

for your big trailer, (having run landoll trailers a bit) I'd look for a 20k or 25k winch, more than enough to drag, and will hold more than enough cable to use a snatch block for loading and unloading, also, it's big enough to snatch off the tail of the trailer to slid it (EMPTY!!) or pull yourself backwards when (not if) you get stuck. anything bigger would be a waste of $$, smaller be alot of extra work with snatch blocks.

2 points (learned the hard way) after re-engaging the freespool, rock the drum in and out 3/4 turn, this reseats the teeth in the freespool assy, and put a pressure gauge on it, avoid pulling at over 2000PSI, if that high, add a snatch block. the brass bushings in the drum and planetary don't like pulling harder than that

you could call purpose wrecker, (i think) columbus or columbia, mo. just west of st louis. they buy and overhaul used wreckers, and mount new beds on older trucks. might have an older winch for sale.

one option for power, mount a pony motor (10 hp or so) and the pump/tank on the nose of the trailer or on the tractor, then it's self contained and easy to move to another power unit
 
#13 ·
Every Warn product that I have used has been top notch. if it fits the working load you plan to throw at it Id say go for it. by buddy has a ramsey 10k on his load trail/load max goose and it works well for pulling 2 cylinder deeres up on it. so I would say the warn would be a better choice.
 
#18 ·
everytime I emailed Warn I got a reply the next buss. day and even a phone call once..I would say they will more than be willing to work with you if you have a problem. I wounldnt expect a problem with any of their stuff.
 
#17 ·
Having never broken one in the past I don't know. Based on their reputation and time in the business I would bet parts are readily avaliable. Why don't you send them an e-mail and ask about parts. Explain that this is a business venture so down time is no money time.:thumbsup:usflag
 
#22 ·
Regarding Warn parts and service, I have a small electric winch in my enclosed race car trailer The winch spent almost a week underwater during a flood. It worked for a while, then quit when the corrosion got to it. It was at least 10 years old when I decided to repair it. I disassembled it to figure out which parts needed replacing and called to check on parts availability. The parts department forwarded my call to their service department to give me tips on reassembly. When the lady in the service department learned that I would be driving there to pick up the parts (I'm just a few miles away) she had me bring it to her instead and she rebuilt it. IIRC I only paid for a couple of parts and she threw the rest in, as well as the labor.

In other words Warn had EXCELLENT customer service and support for an older unit!

Regards,
Michael Pliska
 
#28 ·
PDO is Property Disposal Office, basically the military junkyards for getting rid of old stuff. Most major bases have one.
"Newer" term is DRMO, Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office. there are some awesome deals there, yes, but they are few and far between, and there are alot of guys that make a living buying from them. Usually, they have auctions every few months. You can get on a mailing list, and get listings of major stuff up for bid and where it is. I used to be on it, along time ago. If you have a military base nearby, ask at the gate, go to it and you should be able to get all the info you need there.
 
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