Advice wanted on HAND winch / come-a-long purchase

[ebinmaine 67,484]

 

I need to pick up a couple of medium duty hand winches or come alongs and I was wondering what you folks use.

My specific usage would be for assistance in pulling trees over that have hung up partially standing, moving a dead tractor once in awhile, possibly pulling one up onto a trailer or truck.

 

Do you use a chain winch or cable winch?

Do you use a different method?

 

 

Do you recommend for or against any particular brand?

 

Thoughts comments questions suggestions appreciated.

 

[ri702bill 8,319]

Eric - I have had my cable style come-along since the mid 1980's. Wore out the pressed 2 piece swivel hook pulley, made a solid one with a bronze bearing - no more issues. Look for one that has a decent sized release lever - all too often, you will be using this with gloves on... Also take a look at the wire itself - construction, number of strands, coated or not .....

[ri702bill 8,319]

The only complaint with these is that you have to lift / pull a half a click of the ratchet to be able to release it - you never want to get into a situation where you cannot.

And - once under tension, this device can be dangerous with all that stored up energy. When moving rocks, I always put a moving quilt over the cables - if it slips, it reduces the chance of the pulley flying back at you...

[SylvanLakeWH 25,557]

Here’s mine in action… garage sale Craftsman. Works well.

 

 

I’d echo @ri702bill comment above about blanket or weight on cable… I always drape a heavy blanket over cable / tow strap, close to attachment point of object being moved. If it lets loose it will drop the sling shot rapidly to ground instead of my head…

 

 

[peter lena 8,625]

@ebinmaine   used a regular  wooden block / tackle , hooked up to the horse , doing the pulling to move heavy rock  . was getting nowhere  trying to move a  heavy stone / traction issue . had my dozer blade on , just got an angular move / break  on the stone , then went to heavy nylon strap , to block and tackle ,  horse  power  rope pull , moved it with ease !  once   I  started the move , it went from blade to tackle , back and forth , went from frustration to , rock slide , just kept changing my  pull / push point . wish I  had  D9 ! PETE

[Pullstart 62,851]

Chain or cable?  Typically a chain type (chain fall) is more for vertical pulls, lifting, etc.  the cable ones I’ve seen are for pulling,  if you get two come alongs that are similar, you can twin stick a heavy pull.  Fresh out of high school, I earned $1,100 in one week outside of my job by buying scrap cars, loading them onto my boss’ deck over gooseneck and scrapping them during the day before going into work at night.  Two come alongs made easy work of pulling cars and trucks with super flat tires up that high trailer…

[Rob J. 1,942]

Cable for pulling and chain for lifting. 

[ri702bill 8,319]

I have a chain fall that I got used in the 1970's. It is the type that only has one chain - and a looong one at that. The same chain you lift with is recirculated to the side you tug on. Most newer ones have 2 dedicated chains. This one works fine, but the excess chain always seems to get caught on things - best used by 2 people...

[oliver2-44 9,746]

Cable for pulling, stretched lots of barbed wire with one in my younger day.

 

[pfrederi 17,739]

Beats hand winching...8,000lbs and have a snatchblock to make 16,000

 

 

[ri702bill 8,319]

19 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

8,000lbs and have a snatchblock to make 16,000

6x6 Deuce and a half??? I see from your signature that it might be a M37 Dodge - Powerwagon.

Edited September 6, 2022 by ri702bill

[pfrederi 17,739]

23 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

6x6 Deuce and a half??? I see from your signature that it might be a M37 Dodge - Powerwagon.

1953 M-37

[The Freightliner Guy 1,327]

Sweet truck wouldn’t recommend the sand  dunes much to much wheel hop from the vids I’ve seen 

[ebinmaine 67,484]

37 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

Beats hand winching...8,000lbs and have a snatchblock to make 16,000

 

 

 

 

Love the idea but it's just a hair too big for our trail system.  

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,557]

1 minute ago, ebinmaine said:

 

 

Love the idea but it's just a hair too big for our trail system.  

 

Easy peasy… Get a bigger chainsaw… 

[ebinmaine 67,484]

2 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Easy peasy… Get a bigger chainsaw… 

 

I should clarify that. I don't mind cutting wider pathways. It's the bridge or two that would be restrictive by size.

[ri702bill 8,319]

32 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

 

I should clarify that. I don't mind cutting wider pathways. It's the bridge or two that would be restrictive by size.

Next project!!.... after Colossus takes the first spin.

[ebinmaine 67,484]

17 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

Next project!!.... after Colossus takes the first spin.

Yeah we'll have to do something fairly soon because we have a piece of machinery being added to the fleet soon that I think is gonna be too heavy for the existing bridge which is getting just a tad soft. 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,557]

We did one of these in Michigan back in the 50’s… it’s held up pretty good… get Trina on it… 

 

Should hold Colossus…

 

[ebinmaine 67,484]

6 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Should hold Colossus

Meh. 

I dunno...

Might be close... 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

4 hours ago, Pullstart said:

Typically a chain type (chain fall) is more for vertical pulls, lifting, etc.  the cable ones I’ve seen are for pulling

 

3 hours ago, Rob J. said:

Cable for pulling and chain for lifting. 

 

WELP... as someone who has massive experience with both cable and chain type pullers... I must disagree.

 

Here is the deal... chain type will make it MUCH easier to pull heavy loads due to particular gearing in those devices. Cable type pullers will be much harder on you physically than the chain style.

 

Having said that... I own both, use them regularly for moving debris, stumps, trees, etc. I have used both the chain and cable style for stretching fence, posts, etc...

 

I personally gravitate towards the chain type BEFORE I go to the cable type.

 

There is no reason not to use the chain style for pulling. (and when I say chain style, I mean one such as this):

 

 

EDIT:

 

One thing to note, the cable style will pull the load FASTER (but harder on your body)... the chain style will pull the load SLOWER (but with minimal effort)

 

Don

 

 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Snoopy11

[pfrederi 17,739]

1 hour ago, ebinmaine said:

 

I should clarify that. I don't mind cutting wider pathways. It's the bridge or two that would be restrictive by size.

 

 

I have a fording kit.  M-37s don't need no stinking bridges...

 

Can do 42" depth without putting the kit on...

Edited September 6, 2022 by pfrederi

[SylvanLakeWH 25,557]

1 minute ago, pfrederi said:

 

 

I have a fording kit.  M-37s don't need no stinking bridges...

Outstanding! Only remaining question - Is it adaptable to Colossus? 

[ebinmaine 67,484]

Not doubting anybody's knowledge here. I'm certainly not the expert. I'm just wondering if somebody can clarify why it is that we do horizontal movement with a cable and vertical movement with a chain?

 

 

[Snoopy11 5,714]

Just now, ebinmaine said:

why it is that we do horizontal movement with a cable and vertical movement with a chain?

Thought number 1:

 

NOBODY wants to try to lift any objects with a cable style puller... so for lifting objects... chain style is the ticket. That is like... the most obvious but necessary statement that we can make on the topic of puller types.

 

BUT... that is NOT to say that chain style can't also PULL because they can, do, and do better than cable style for heavy objects !

 

Don