Home Made Winch

   / Home Made Winch #1  

Toffy

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Apr 25, 2009
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Has anybody built a home made winch. I would like to build one as I don't have the battery power for an electric.
I have an old three speed transmission out of a Dodge. I was thinking about coupling this to the pto. However I'm not sure of what to do for a clutch. Also any Ideas for a fairly large drum as I want it to use a large rope rather than cable.
Of course it is for cleaning up large deadfall.
Your thoughts Please!:)
 
   / Home Made Winch #3  
I used to see lots of homemade winch hay stacking boom trucks.

Power went from a transmission PTO to a transmission (or a couple of chain sprockets) to a shortened rear end. The axle had brakes intact on one side and a rope or cable spool in place of the opposite wheel. The driveshaft ran all the time. To lift the bale, the brake was applied, causing the opposite axle to turn and lift the bale. When the brake was released, the weight at the hook pulled the line back out.

I've also seen small differentials used for PTO powered Jeep winches. These could be reversed with the Jeep transmission, unlike other PTO's.

Bruce
 
   / Home Made Winch #4  
these winches are made out of old wheel gear boxes off of a center pivot sprinkler, I think these are Lockwood boxes, and I have made them out of valley boxes, and even new boxes are not that badly priced, there 50 to 52 to one, in reduction, some have a shaft that extends the wheel disk, and that makes it easy to slip a piece of tube I used a pieces of DMO (I think that is the name, expensive but very good fit, and I took a second box that was damaged and took the Axel and reversed it and use that for my drum,

the draw back of this is no free wheeling, I have made them with a extended shaft and then a tube over the top, and used a hitch pin so the drum could free wheel,

I currently power these with a 1/2 electric drill so I would feel the pull, my son has one I made with a Hydraulic motor and I had one PTO driven off a truck both of these have pulled a 1/2 steel cable into into, in a odd situation, but any way they can make a good winch, and plan to add some Hydraulic motors on this set. (they can be separated, there just bolted together I had a situation I needed two cables that were independent,)
 

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   / Home Made Winch
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Thx For the ideas. If I do this project I'm going to look at useing a Hyd motor driveing a transmission. Which would drive a differential. Chain drive to the drum. I would probably make the drum out of a pipe with flanges at each end. Still in the planning stage. With hydraulics driving the input it would make it easy to free wheel and change gears for power or speed.
 
   / Home Made Winch #6  
I have an idea that it would be simpler to add 1 or 2 deep discharge batteries in a box and go to a $300 8000lb winch on the 3pth.
I have used capstan winches with heavy rope to pull loads and for one person, electric cable winches are much easier...
 
   / Home Made Winch
  • Thread Starter
#8  
As far as adding batteries, I have a lot of things with motors and battery. Use them once in a while,battery dead, out of gas. Carb gummed up.
I'd rather have every thing run off hydraulics. Just as quick couplers.
Brad that winch is nice. I might look into that.
 
   / Home Made Winch #9  
Has anybody built a home made winch. I would like to build one as I don't have the battery power for an electric.
I have an old three speed transmission out of a Dodge. I was thinking about coupling this to the pto. However I'm not sure of what to do for a clutch. Also any Ideas for a fairly large drum as I want it to use a large rope rather than cable.
Of course it is for cleaning up large deadfall.
Your thoughts Please!:)

My thought is that ROPE can be G'daweful elastic, it also abrades a lot quicker than cable.

My '03 Chev truck has the PTO set up, if you can find a wreck you might be able to pick parts.
As I recall the Allison trans has it, but it isn't available/accessible on the trucks with the usual tin box bed. Mine is, because it is a chassis/cab (unfinished vehicle when bought).
There is about a $40 short wire harness that clips into the dash and enables the cruise control to act as PTO speed regulator, the whole thing resume, bump up, bump down, etc.

You could probably find similar set ups from Ford, Dodge, etc on almost anything over say 1 ton trucks.

For a drum... I suppose steel pipe, short lengths of well casing may be available as cut offs (scrap) from a local well driller.
 
   / Home Made Winch #10  
Some of the old pulp wood cutters made winches from the rear end of cars/trucks. PTO power was added at the drive shaft. Drum was a wheel rim. Clutch was was engaged by applying the brake on the drum opposite the cable drum/rim. The ones I observed were very fast and had no power out. Worked great for what they were using them for. They were bulky, but I suppose one could cut a rear-end down .
 
 
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