Hand Winch Capacities

In most recovery situations you only need to move the vehicle 1 or 2 lengths of the cable and you can drive out, but the effort involved will be massive.

As for the 1.6 tonne and a couple of snatch blocks doing the job a lot easier I would have to say yes. But you will need a couple of winch ext. straps to make up the distance lost in doubleing up the wire cable through the blocks and you will have a much reduced distance that you can pull before you have to run the cable out again.

Each turn of a block increases the capacity by + onc of the capacity of the pulling force. Put another way, if you have one turn through a block ie two lengths of pulling force the capacity is doubled - 1.6+1.6 = 3.2 tonne capacity. Passed through another block is + another 1.6 = 4.8 tonne. You loose a little bit of the advantage by any friction created at the blocks and though it would be easy going it would take forever to lever the cable through 2 blocks. The blocks have a rated capacity also.
Whats the loaded weight of your wagon ? and remember you are not lifting the whole weight, just pulling it along or up certain unknown gradients.
4wd monthly mag just did a review of hand winches in a special edition.
I'd get the best winch first, do a test pull somewhere then try one block if you think you might need it.

Jack,

We carry a 1.6t hand winch and two blocks + 20mtrs of winch strap and tree trunk protector. In all our time travelling I have had the same setup - Used the winch about 4 times, winch strap 3 times, tree truck 4 times, blocks never.

I think that a hand winch is a far better choice for general touring recovery (than the power winch) as it gives you the advantage that you can pull sideways, backwards as well as forwards. Two of my 4 winch recoveries were to pull our trailers around or back onto it's wheels once. Only twice have I used it to pull the vehicle alone and only once was that forward. Add to this the weight saving and the hand winch is a winner. Get a good unit and you will keep it for years and years - hopefully you will never need it but it is nice to know it is there.

In fact you can see what we carry here - [ View Image]or read more in the Recovery Gear Topic .

Enjoy.
Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
--------------------------
Always working, not enough travelling ;-)

I recon a hand winch is one of the best pieces of recovery gear around.

With the effort required to "unstick" yourself, you'll never want to get stuck.

A 1.6T winch should be able to be used on a heavy 4WD in almost every situation. Remember that the 1.6T is the safe working hoist load of the winch, and any winch worth buying will have a safety factor of 5. This means that the winch can very safely lift 1.6T straight up of the ground. It also means that the breaking point (the way snatch straps are rated) of the winch is 1.6 x 5 = 8T.

Also when winching you are not necessarily pulling the full weight of your 4by. It depends on the rolling friction. For example if your stuck on a flat bit of mud, just because you have lost traction and are not dug in, the rolling friction will be much less than 1.6T. However if you get stuck in it up to chasis on an incline, then the rolling friction will probably be greater than 1.6T and you should use your snatch block.

You shouldn't use more than two snatch blocks unless you really know what your doing, because the forces you are dealing with are very full on.

Where rolling friction is very low (such a train on track on the flat) a 1.6T winch is capable of pulling up to 100T!

As far as brands go personally I would either look at the oringinal Tifor or the Big Haul winch.

Hope this helps and good luck!

For the cost of a hand winch and all the accessories, go a second hand ELECTRIC winch....

Sit back and press the button and your out!

Jack
The mean green hand winch from opposite lock. It is rated at 1.6 tonnes for lifting and 2.5 tonnes for pulling.

In answer to your origional question, yes more than adequate. When you weigh up the versatility, cost, maintenance, weight over the front of your vehicle, it really is hard to go past a hand winch. I have had mine over 20 years and it has never let me down and I have used it in many instances where a vehicle mounted winch couldn't be used. At $350 for a tuff pull I reckon they work out to be nearly 10 times cheaper than an electric winch by the time you have it fitted and if you drive sensibly you may never have to use it. Even tho I have a hydraulic winch fitted I never go anywhere without my hand winch and if I had to choose only one it would definitly be the hand winch. Cheers,
Rob Berrill
Cairns Offroad Training & Tours
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Thanks for all your input and advice, folks. Sometimes you just get lucky - I got onto a "Big Haul" 1.6 tonne winch, never used, still in the box, for $200. My lucky day!!!!

Owner has just bought a brand new Landcruiser and got himself an electric winch and had no further need for this one.

Thanks again.

JackAustralia - If you don't love it, leave!!!