I need some big winch help.

[LonesomeTriZ]

No I am not trying to get away from a fat girl. (All though they do scare me). I am trying like hell to get some good recovery equipment. I have the tow rigs now I need trailers. Once I have them, I will need some big winches to mount on them. I know very little about the big boys. I want to mount one on a 53 foot flat bed that will haul heavy trucks and equipment. I need another one to mount on a 40 foot gooseneck that will haul lighter trucks and equipment. The forty footer will be towed by my F350 and the fifty three footer by a M915. So has you can see, I need some big winches capable of dragging non running loads up on the trailer decks. Should I go hydraulic or electric? Should they have their own power source or draw from the tow vehicles’ power? What are the maintenance issues I should consider? If one breaks in the middle of a recovery what options do I have to get it running and complete the recovery? What cable and material size should I be using for these types of jobs? Where should I look at as far as buying these winches? And most importantly I need a price range. I have more questions to follow, but these are a good enough start for now.

Oh, these are my tow vehicles.

[racerxxx]

Lonesome,

On the 915 I'd go hydraulic and see if you can get a wet line for it. My buddy who has a trucking business, has wet lines on his trucks, he never knows what he's gonna be pulling. Some trans have a block off plate marked PTO.The pump would run off that. I would assume you can find access to a hyd. winch??

BTW are those 22.5 on the 350, I love that look!

Racerxxx

[LonesomeTriZ]

Thanks. I would like to learn more about that system.

Yep, 22.5's.

[racerxxx]

Basically, you mount a PTO off the trans which will inturn drive a hydraulic pump, that pump has lines that come off of it and go to you hydraulic device, like a winch, boom, walking floor(moving floor boards unload without tilting to dump--very cool!). I'm sure any local truck place would have the parts or even a truck junkyard too. You just have to verify that your trans has the option to mount a PTO.

http://www.wetlinekits.com/

Google wet line kit

[LonesomeTriZ]

Thanks. That set up is going to be easier that I thought it would be.

[phreakboy]

wet line is definetly the way to go, hydro winches will pull a lot longer with a lot less strain, look into Landoll trailers. These are basically heavy equipment recovery trailers and you can see more into the winch factors, also look into tow411.com and you can see more pics of the trailers in use.

[brapp]

check out the log skidder winches i know thier goot for 10k or so draging prooibly evel a bit mor eand runa round 3-5 grand. and can usualy hold upwards of 200plus feet of 1 inch steel cable.

[jason85atc250r]

warn makes a 12,000 and a 15,000 pound winch you can mount it on a F350. what stuff do you plan on hauling. they should be plenty if you are hauling regular trucks.

[LonesomeTriZ]

Tow411 looks awsome, thanks for the link.

I plan on hauling what ever I am paid to haul. Plus, I want to get into buying and selling equipment.

[LonesomeTriZ]

Thoughts and opinions on this winch for the smaller trailer

http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/165ti_winch.shtml

[phreakboy]

Tow411 looks awsome, thanks for the link.

No problem, the winch that you posted below is a pretty nice winch, I did not see a price though. Also one thing to keep in mind is when they advertise fast line speeds. That basically means that it will be more wear and tear on the winch thus wearing it out faster than a slower pulling winch. I would also invest in a really good "snatch-Block" from a reputable source like awdirect.com, they will double your pulling power or allow you to change the angle of pull, but a cheap one will end up hurting someone.

[LonesomeTriZ]

That is good advice.

The 16.5 sells for $1259. I have a chance to buy a used one for $800 plus shipping. I am assuming that is a good price.

[phreakboy]

That is definitely not a bad price, but when buying a used winch you always need to be weary of how it was used/abused. You want to make sure that the brake holds and you want to make sure that on a hard pull it does not kick out and free spool itself. However generally winch's are easy to take a part with a little common sense and parts usually are not hard to get your hands on. You also want to make sure that the cable isn't frayed at all or kinked due to being poorly wound. So as long as you are planning on going over it and just making sure it is good condition before you put it into actual service than buying used is fine and that is a good price. Just remember winch failures can often be catastrophic either to people or vehicles.

[LonesomeTriZ]

Thanks. You brought up some good points.