quote:

Originally posted by Thanatoz:

quote:

Originally posted by -Spike-:
I wouldn't use their 'farm jack' for instance (HighLift knockoff) -Spike

LMAO, you haven't looked ontop of Mattman's truck have you.

Funny guy.. Yep.. I have a $29 HF Farm Jack.. have had it for over 3 years now... with no issues..

In fact DR had one too.. I think he sold it to gummy bob...

It does it's job on the rare occaosion I use it... In fact I've never had it stick like I've seen every now and then with the high dollar jacks.. but spary some WD40 on it and your working again..

and I'm sure some of you will reply with mine never sticks.. well good for you mine doesn't either

mine sticks like a mother... WD40 is standard tooling in my toolbox,

Yep, I have DR Farm Jack (with upgraded Pins), but haven't had to use it yet. I also have the Mile Marker 8000 and we have used it twice with no problems. I went with the Mile Marker for the price and the fact that the military uses them. I did see the one at Costco and HF and they look the same standing back but close up it appears there is some difference in material used to construct them.

how's this for harbor freight? Note the "garage" in the background.

pretty much a glorified tent, but it holds my sas stuff and keeps the rain off, and makes room in the garage so I can work on the sas.

Makes room in the garage? Maybe we could pool our resources and buy them in bulk. I could use three or four, myself.

I actually thought about getting two..... It's pretty small 16.5x8.5x7.5 high

SAND BAG.....I'm sorry...but I HAVE to ask....WTF is going on w/ your avatar???? That dude is WHACKED OUT!!!! Later...

quote:

Originally posted by Kaiser:

quote:

Originally posted by Nissan-Okie:
Some of em get pretty steamed over betting your life and rig on a HF winch.

I haven't been involved in a recovery operation yet where anyone's life was involved...

Nor have any of my recovery operations. Maybe I wasn't very clear. I think the whole life and/or rig issue isn't relevant to how most of us wheel and the types of (rare) recoveries we do. These guys I allude to are a bunch of pseudoexperts who take themselves and their opinions way to seriously. In their mind you better have a Warn or you are doomed! That's absurd if you only need a winch a coupla times a year and wheel forest service roads. Buy what you can afford. A HF winch that works is far better than no winch at all if you need to pull yourself out of a hole.

The difference for me would be I would use the HF winch when I got stuck, but try not to get stuck. If I had a big warn on the front of my rig, I'd probably drive somewhere knowing I'd *have* to use the winch, rather than going out and just getting enough stuck to need a tug.

I have "brand name" china winch..one of the main ones used over there, has worked fine so far.

I would put my hands on a harbor freight tool. Does that count?

Seriously, tho, I would put better care into "preservative" efforts w/ anything from HB.

It all rusts quicker than more expensive stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by TheDrip:
The difference for me would be I would use the HF winch when I got stuck, but try not to get stuck. If I had a big warn on the front of my rig, I'd probably drive somewhere knowing I'd *have* to use the winch, rather than going out and just getting enough stuck to need a tug.

If I spent big money on a Warn I would be proud to have a nice winch. And I, too, would probably try to get stuck so that I could use the winch. My reasoning, however, would be to justify the cost to the old lady. The truth is I take really good care of my stuff, so a HF winch would suit me just fine for what I do.
The stuck picture that I use for my sig was nasty and unexpected. It was white clay which is as slippery as ell crap. I was alone, except for my two sons and my nephew. I was about two miles out of cell phone range. We got it out with a long chain and a $20 2Ton come-along. My 10-year-old cranked the handle as I ran the truck in reverse. I would give him a break and crank all I could, then get back in the truck. We were out in 20 minutes or so.
I would love to have a HF winch!

There are some great comments on this thread... Thanks to all that posted up…

Not to change the subject -

But what about Hydraulic vs. Electric Winches?

Electric, cost a bit less, runs very well, can run in a wet environment, but heat up and draw quite a bit of current.

Hydraulic, cost a bit more, but draw far less power, and can run in very very wet conditions.

Thoughts?

Here's are some point I found on the Inet... Check them out...

Sorry… found it on a Hummer page…

I don't know what the governor type has to do with batteries shorting out. Water is a poor conductor of electricity at low voltage. It would take quite a long time to drain a 12V battery by submerging it in water.

A lot has been said about how long an electric winch can pull without the engine running. This is actually a little more complicated than just how long 'till the battery runs out. The amount of battery drain created by an electric winch depends upon how hard the winch is pulling. Even at full capacity of the winch, it will still take several minutes for the batteries to fail. The concern here is that at full capacity, most electric winches only pull about a foot or two per minute. In most situations, a full capacity pull is not required, regardless of whether the engine is running or not. Also, the Hummer alternator puts out a little over 100 amps maximum. This is not enough to run an electric winch at full capacity. (About 600 amps at full load.) Because of this, it is not possible to run the electric winch continuously at full capacity. You can completely drain the batteries even with the engine on. You will have to let the system "rest" from time to time. This allows the winch motor and wiring to cool, and the alternator to re-charge the batteries. It is possible to make electric motors that will pull that hard without overheating, but they are very large and quite expensive. And, since the vehicle electric system cannot operate it for too long anyway, what would be the point.

Other information about electric vs. hydraulic winches:

Pull effort has much more effect on line speed for electric winches than it does for hydraulic.

At lower pull efforts (such as re-spooling the cable after use), the electric winch runs much faster. (Two speeds helps, but they make two-speed electric winches too.)

Electric winches can be readily moved from the front of the truck to the rear. ("Readily" means that it is easy to hook up. The electric is much heavier than the hydraulic.) The extra lines and fittings for the hydraulic are tougher to install (to the rear) than the electric cables, and a little messy to use.

There are reasons that you may not want a movable-mount type winch (of either type). For instance, how much side-pull will the winch mount withstand?

Charles Piper posted recently that he was able to pull his Hummer a long distance (80 feet, if I remember correctly) with his electric winch. The motor was not running because of oil starvation of the engine. He could not have pulled it 80 feet straight up, or through deep mud, but that was not where he was stuck. (The Hummer was on it's side, not the wheels, BTW.)

My overall analysis goes something like this:

Try not to get stuck where a maximum pull is needed.
Try not to get stuck where the engine will not run.
Especially, try not to do both at the same time.
If you get stuck, and your engine is running, either winch will probably get you out. The more stuck you are, the faster the hydraulic works compared to the electric. If you have to pull a long way, or very hard, the hydraulic will probably get you out sooner.

If you get stuck, and your engine is not running, the electric will work much faster than the hydraulic. It may or may not work long enough to get you out, but the hydraulic will not work at all.

If you have a failure in the hydraulic system, you could lose your power steering and brakes. (Carry extra fluid.)

If you have a failure in the electric system, you could drain your batteries, and possibly start a fire (brush, not vehicle fire).

If I used the winch a lot, I would get the hydraulic. It will last longer under heavy usage. (Mostly because it does not heat up very much.) It can also be used without having to "rest" the system. This is refered to as "continuous duty" (vs. "intermitant duty"). (All 12V electric winches that I have seen are intermitant duty only. Read the book and see.)

A combination of prudence, and having multiple (preferably winch equiped) vehicles is the best combination of all.

Here is a little more information about my off-road experiences. I have averaged about 20 trips per year for the last 15 years. (Three in the Hummer, the rest in my Jeeps.) In all that time, I have probably averaged 2 or 3 "winchings" per year. Most of those (about 3/4) were winching someone or something else rather than pulling myself. (Your mileage may vary...)

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I've always liked the concept of the hydraulic winches, it makes more sense. But using a winch cause you got stupid and tried to ford a river in the rainy season would be probably one of the more common reasons in AZ. I know I wish I had one when I got stupid. What I really want to see is a hydraulic (or even electric) winch is with a manual crank. So if you can't run your vechicle you can always hook up a handle like the ol' Model Ts and crank your way out.