Recovery Gear Specs

[Jerry]

This is probably the most detailed site regarding recovery gear you will ever find. If you want to know how to do it right, look here.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/
PS Sorry if this has been posted before, but I didn't see it if it was.

 

[Antichrist]

Good article, though I didn't read it all. I wish more people were aware of all that information.
Of particular note to me was:

Avoid shock loads

Avoid impacting, jerking or swinging of load. Working Load limit will not apply in these circumstances because a shock load is generally significantly greater than the static load

When I first started off-roading many years ago, it was common knowledge, it seemed to me, that you don't use your wheels to assist the winch. This invariably leads to shock loading on the rope. Yet in the last 10 years or so it seems wheel assist has become common practice.
When winching, as in many things, patience is a virtue.

 

[JIMBO]

:REAdvRockClimber: Have you guys ever seen somebody doing a "snatch" recovery and not using a "snatch" rope ??

Yery interesting

ROFSheriffHL: JIMBO

 

[michaelgroves]

When I first started off-roading many years ago, it was common knowledge, it seemed to me, that you don't use your wheels to assist the winch. This invariably leads to shock loading on the rope. Yet in the last 10 years or so it seems wheel assist has become common practice.
When winching, as in many things, patience is a virtue.

Amen! I thought I was the only one left who thought that wheel assist was a last resort!

 

[madizell]

Wheel assist in winch recovery is an art form. As with most anything requiring coordination, it takes practice and attention to acquire any skill at it. It also takes a significant load off the winch, rope and motor both, and I have seen any number of times when unstuck would not have happened without it.

Shocking the rope, motor and gears is one of the possibilities, but is not a certainty by any means. Winching while driving can be done safely, but one needs to be aware not to overdrive the winch rope, which generally is what leads to shock on the line.

I nearly always use drive force while recovering with a winch, but I also know from years of doing it that with my comp rig, low range first gear and 1,600rpm on the throttle set will give me a wheel speed that almost but not quite matches the winch's ability to pull me along. Any shock involved is minimal at most and even under no-load, it will not overdrive the line.

 

[Antichrist]

Wheel assist in winch recovery is an art form.

Oh, I don't deny that, but there are few artists out there. The vast majority of people I see doing it shock load the winch.

 

[lovetoski]

This is probably the most detailed site regarding recovery gear you will ever find. If you want to know how to do it right, look here.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/
PS Sorry if this has been posted before, but I didn't see it if it was.

Great article Jerry - thanks for posting!!!

 

[rickc]

I read about/saw an odd invention in Australian 4WD Action magazine. It's a small drum that bolts to a wheel. You then wrap a winch cable around the drum and use the wheel drum to drive and pull at the same time. I'm not sure how it bolts to the wheel; mine have recessed studs. I'd also be concerned about the forces on the hub.

It made me wonder if anyone every used a front drive wheel to winch by wrapping a winch line around the tire and driving over it?

 

[rusty_tlc]

I read about/saw an odd invention in Australian 4WD Action magazine. It's a small drum that bolts to a wheel. You then wrap a winch cable around the drum and use the wheel drum to drive and pull at the same time. I'm not sure how it bolts to the wheel; mine have recessed studs. I'd also be concerned about the forces on the hub.

It made me wonder if anyone every used a front drive wheel to winch by wrapping a winch line around the tire and driving over it?

Those have been around for a long time they are a type of capstan winch. They only work with a locking differential since the breaking action transfers power to the opposite wheel in an open diff.

 

[Antichrist]

Those have been around for a long time they are a type of capstan winch. They only work with a locking differential since the breaking action transfers power to the opposite wheel in an open diff.

They were, I believe, also an option for Land Rovers back in the 50's. The ones you could get would work with an open diff and operated like a "normal" drum winch, not a capstan.
I'll try to scan some photos of the set-up and post.

Found it.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Geez, after reading that, I never want to use the winch! eepwall:

Makes you wonder how come they were designed with no safety factor. And also how come *more* people don't get killed all the time. I would bet that the "minimum breaking strength" of the cable are conservatively rated, which is where some safety factor is coming from.

 

[Jerry]

It is an interesting exercise to list the "working loads" of each component YOU use in your winching or snatching operations. Then concern yourself with the quality control aspect in manufacturing when you find out your shackles, hooks, bolts, etc. are made in China. Do you really trust your life to the integrity of a Chinese made winch, hook or hi-test chain?

 

[Guinness44]

There is no way, that we ever would use a winch without the syn. rope. So much safer, lighter. Its a requirment in rockcrawlcompetitions. We did some training with a steelcable, just those "sounds" are bad. Later we winched someone with a syn. rope. That made the point.

 

[Antichrist]

Geez, after reading that, I never want to use the winch! eepwall:

Makes you wonder how come they were designed with no safety factor. And also how come *more* people don't get killed all the time. I would bet that the "minimum breaking strength" of the cable are conservatively rated, which is where some safety factor is coming from.

I've been working around wire rope for over 30 years, both in heavy (as in up to hundreds of tons) lifting and winching. If you have properly maintained gear, use it properly and treat it with respect, it will do what it's supposed to do.

Do you really trust your life to the integrity of a Chinese made winch, hook or hi-test chain?

No, and I don't. I make sure I use quality gear.