Monday, Jan 30, 2006 at 21:33
Brad,
my advice is to get a decent brand of hand winch from a reputable store. Even if you only need to use it once it has to work properly and safely.
I recently tried and broke a MudMauler and I am about to test a Magnum from ARB.
Be careful as the (real) rated capacities of some
winches are over-stated in advertising. The Mud Mauler is advertised as "pulls 4.4ton". it will not. I bought one because of this advertised 4.4tonn pull. I carried it all around
Australia and never needed it or had a chance to test it out.
Only a few weeks ago, I decided to give it a thorough test. With my lightly loaded Pathfinder in a soft mud bog hole. I used the short handle provided with the winch and the shear-pin (bolt in the handle) snapped with only medium level of exertion. I am only 75kg and the winch has a very short handle so I was surprised to snap it so easily. I have contacted the manufacturer (who was very helpful, so my gripe is not with them) I was informed that the winch is tested to provide 1.1tonne of pull (not 4.4) when a maximum load of 80kg is applied to the handle. The 4.4T is the minimum breaking strain for a static load.
This will not pull your 80 series Cruiser. I have since had a very good look at what is available.
The Turfor (French made) cable winch looks pretty good but expensive. The cable and hook look very heavy duty 1.6 tonne WLL with a good safety margin. Black Rat, Mean Green and others have cheaper copies that look reasonable well made.
The Big Haul, Magnum, Supercheap Auto and others all seem to be a copy of an alloy case winch that I have seen as a Tough Pull. All seem to be reasonable but some have better wire rope holder reels. The Big Haul I saw had a rusty handle (straight out of the box). The Tuff Pull had a neat rubber insert to keep dirt out of the inner workings of the winch and a chromed handle.
All these
winches have similar 11mm cable and a 1.6T rated hook BUT put the hook next to a bigger and stronger looking Turfor 1.6T hook and you will see the difference. One I saw had the WLL sign removed from the hook. I was told bt the sales person that it is not rated for lifting so they can not have WLL (Working Load Limit) or LC (Lifting Capacity) on it as that implies it has been tested to a standard. Even though it did have "Complies to Australian Standards" on the Super Cheap box.
The Magnum that I have from ARB does look like it is from the same manufacturer as the SuperCheap and Big Haul. It was cheaper than either, has a compliance plate with 1.6Tonne lift and 2.3T pull capacity, the handle is zinc plated and not rusty and the winch is painted a nice shade of blue. I do not intend to use the hook, and have tested that a 3.25T rated shackel will fit through the cable eye.
One last comment is that all these cable
winches have a much longer and extendable handle than the Mudmauler and I can not immagine how much extera effort that it would take to pull the same load.
I will post my test report when I have given it a good workout.
AnswerID:
151927