Bush Winch

Hi Myles
I haven't used this particular product , but have seen people try bush versions of the same system.

From an engineering point of view I think they are inherrently unstable and lack sufficent gearing and control to enable them to deliver a pull without a significant offset force being generated which would in many practical situations cause the vehicle to be pulled off line.

A normal winch pulls also pulls from a single point in front of car which tends to keep the car in line.

On my car I can pull the car backwards with my front mounted winch because the rope can be passed under the axles , and its true this can work if your careful, but you have a devil of a time keeping the pull direction aligned with where you wish to go.
Pulling from the rear with 2 different lines - wow , you'd have to be good and then one wheel overspins due to unequal forces.

I'd put it in the catergory of a hand winch - theoretically it can get you out of trouble but there are precious few situations in which practical experience has shown them to work.

Hi Myles,

I raised this subject in Oct last year in Thread 72957 as "Wheel Mounted Winches". You may care to look at that thread. But I have no experience of such winches, and have decided that I do not want any experience! But some other contributors to that thread had experience.

G'day Folks
Not wanting to be burnt at the stake as a believer and I freely confess to having less winch recovery experience than other posters but this concept intrigued me when I heard about it yonks ago and it still does. So here's a couple or further thoughts.

As I understand it the two main bases of doubt are directional instability and overrunning/tangling the rope due to intermittent traction.

it's worth considering that this product is designed to pull simultaneously from two opposing wheels and not just one as in previous times.To my mind that would militate against being pulled "off line".

Yes, I can see the potential problem with intermittent traction but I'm also thinking that this type of recovery would be a *very* low speed operation just like other winching so I wouldn't expect lots of overrun to occur suddenly and at an unmanageable pace.

And to balance the discussion a bit, let's bear in mind the some of the obvious virtues of the system eg, less moving parts to maintain or seize, power source and its robustness etc and compare with the known vices of the electric winch.

I've never seen a vehicle pulled out backwards by its own front mounted winch. If you guys say it can be done I defer to your experience but I would still have some concerns about increased rope load at the lower surface of the fairlead with the rope almost doubled back on itself.

Cheers
Mark

I'm going to call a spade a spade & suggest this would be one of the worst winch options available.
-The rope is vastly underrated for it's intended use.
-6 tonne is a huge pull on the steering & suspension components particularly when the wheels are turned to the side. (You would never ever consider recovering a car by tieing a strap to the axle)
-Intermittent traction would see the rope over run. The rope hub is always travelling 4 or 5 times slower than the tyre.
-Finding a tree or anchor point in a suitable direction would be rare.
-Recovering someone else is impossible.
-Fitting the hubs to a vehicle submerged in mud or water would be PITA.
-Recovery would be very time consuming.
-When winching with both drums, keeping even tension on the ropes would be impossible leading to one 3 tonne rope taking the full strain.
The reason you don't see these winches ever used other than on the internet is pretty obvious.
Cheers Craig.............