Photos needed. Shed full of S**t Auction

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Tony and Ian,
Another reason for not having many layers of rope on the drum is due to "effort required". Maybe experience told them of the usual length of pull required, the more unused rope on the drum, the more effort required to wind the handle.
Each layer will increase the load on the operator, the only other option is to use some thing like a Trewhella rope grab, to clamp on the rope down its length in order to start on bottom layer.

Of course if shortage of steel wire rope then it could be the real reason.

I spent a good deal of time repair and testing all kinds of winches for the army from hand operated winches, recovery vehicles through to 30 ton winches on Caterpillars. Each layer on the drum on a vehicle winch, reduces its pulling power before the cut out trips in.

regards, Richard

Sound logic Richard but when you do the math you find this winch is geared ridiculously low for recovery work. It's permanently in low ratio, which is designed for lifting 2 tons vertically over a few feet, not pulling a one ton vehicle horizontally over 120 feet! It can be calculated that would require 1400 turns of the handle, advancing the jeep only 1" per turn. The only way this winch would be remotely practical is with the handle set at minimal length, eg. 6" or less, and wound rapidly with one hand, in the manner of cranking a motor. That's no problem as the force required is less than 20lbs, so you could keep up a steady rate of 100 rpm or more, which would get the job done in a few minutes. However I believe it would be much better with a higher ratio and the handle set longer, so you could shorten it over the easy stretches and go much faster. That said though it's a helluva lot better than no winch at all!

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Tony Wheeler

Sound logic Richard but when you do the math you find this winch is geared ridiculously low for recovery work. It's permanently in low ratio, which is designed for lifting 2 tons vertically over a few feet, not pulling a one ton vehicle horizontally over 120 feet! It can be calculated that would require 1400 turns of the handle, advancing the jeep only 1" per turn. The only way this winch would be remotely practical is with the handle set at minimal length, eg. 6" or less, and wound rapidly with one hand, in the manner of cranking a motor. That's no problem as the force required is less than 20lbs, so you could keep up a steady rate of 100 rpm or more, which would get the job done in a few minutes. However I believe it would be much better with a higher ratio and the handle set longer, so you could shorten it over the easy stretches and go much faster. That said though it's a helluva lot better than no winch at all!

Hi Tony,
If it were a longer rope on there, and thus more layers, as each layer built up it would require less turns on the handle as effective drum diameter is increasing. It gave you the incentive not to get in a situation to use the winch!

cheers Richard