come along

[frumpy]

This is one of the things on my "to get" list and I received a gift card for Canadian Tire. They don't have to great of a selection, the biggest one they have is 4,000lbs (for $30). Should I pick it up or is that too under powered (for a pretty close to stock jeep liberty)

 

[Northern Explorer]

I can only vouch for the one I have. post #50

 

[Mr. Leary]

$30 isn't enough. That one will probably suck. You have to be careful, as not all come-a-longs are created equal. Generally you get what you pay for with these, so look for one with 3 to 4 ton capacity upwards of $100 and you probably have a winner. They have some decent ones at Tractor Supply, but you may have to special order them.

 

[hillbillyjake]

wyeth-scott. more power puller

 

[michaelgroves]

IMO, good quality is more important than capacity. Bear in mind that all the pulling effort comes from the work that the operator is doing, so it doesn't matter how much of the mechanical advantage comes from the length of the lever, versus the Come-along mechanism, versus snatch-blocks.

The advantages of buying a smaller come-along and extra rigging are numerous:

1. More manageable
2. Lighter and easier to pack
3. More versatile (only use the extra rigging when needed, rig in different ways, etc.)
4. Probaby cheaper, and rigging will out-last the come-along.

The other thing to watch for is what the ratings mean. Often the "2-ton" (or whatever) rating is some meaningless "horizontal pull rating", where they assume you are using it to pull some sort of rolling load (instead of being the ultimate amount of tension the device can exert on the line). It will also already factor in a snatch-block, if one is included.

 

[frumpy]

Good points, I should mention that its for last resort only. I have a receiver mounted (rear only, but mounted in a completely portable set up with deep cycle battery) winch so the come-along would be a when all else fails