Which Winch?

I think you should buy a Waeco.

Mike Harding

they'll all do the same job and you'll never use it so buy a mudmauler, small and easy to store but weigh the same.

aclick here

G'day Brad

I have purchased my handwinch and accessories from Nobles chains a Brisbane Company. Any good quality hand winch of 1600kg combined with a snatch block, tree protector, winch extension strap etc will serve you well.

I find power winches an expensive item and a maintenance headache and in some cases a very missused but mostly a underused and under maintained accessory.

I put the money I saved towards a quality set of rear draws and water tank.

Regards

Paul

I stand by what I say and I think Brad is being very realistic and sensible in his winch requirements. I have seen many people go to places they wouldn't normally dare go but because they have a winch on front they feel invincible. When you do get stuck in those places it can take a lot more than a winch to get you out. Commonsense is always the key. Yes I train people and except in exceptional circumstances ie women from the School of Distance Education in remote areas, no I dont reccommend power winches. Cheers Rob

Hey Rob, you need to think about how you are marketing yourself. Making provocative statements bang next to your branding is ot a strong positioning statement..

Cairns Off Road etc is now a place that I would steer people away from.

I think we all make a few statements on the forum we probably think with hindsight are over the top, sometimes we try a bit hard to illustrate the point. As Willem said there are good reasons to support both arguments, but if Rob used a statement that denegrates, perhaps he wishes he used different language.

Re the winches- Willem has spent a great deal of time in remote locations he can no doubt justify the cost. I can't. As for training, often the training is designed to meet the needs and suit the equipment of the client. Perhaps the only people who want or perhaps even need training in bar mounted winches are those who have them. Anyway the important bits of the training can be covered whether you have a bar mounted winch or a hand winch. Just the hands on experience may be lacking, but it isn't too hard to utilise a client's winch to help the client learn how to use his winch.

Showing a client, who doesn't have a bar mounted winch and doesn't intend to have one, how to use one is a bit like showing a LC80 driver how to use the Disco 3 descent control. So for my two bobs worth, I can see no fault with Robs training.

Interesting comments above re hand vs elec winches. For me the overriding reason to buy a hand winch was its versatility .. it can winch from both ends of the vehicle (or even from the side if needed). I dont use my hand winch much, but a couple of times, travelling alone, I've needed it to winch me backwards out of trouble - not further into it!! The best electric winch isn't much use then. Perhaps if I had the spare cash I'd have both ... but value for money the hand winch is the most complete recovery solution methinks

Brad, I have an Anchor brand hand winch (I like to call them come-a-long winches), it was part of a complete recovery kit that was the gate prize at a 4x4 gymkhana a few years back.

I like you I go out bush a lot by myself, the recovery gear is always on board. To date I've only had one occasion to use it when the tow bar caught on a rock in a steep creek embankment.

In recent times I have used the winch to remove several tree stumps, which thought they weren't going to be removed. As you can imagine in this operation all cables, straps, slings etc are very very taught, so much so that on one occasion a winch strap that was in the set up snapped (the strap was rated about 4 tonne).

If I didn't win what I currently have, I probably would have bought the Tirfor brand, as during my 20 years in the tropics the Tirfor is what we had and it never failed.

But it all comes back to the dollar.

Brad,

I hope you got as much food for thought (as well as plenty of entertainment LOL ) out of those postings as I did.

Thanks to everyone who posted. I'll probably end up in the 'infirm' category :)))))

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.