Bigrackslayer
Bronze Member
Awesome build and great write up thank you for posting. I want one!! Lol
Yes, but not at "full pto speed, but rather as slow as the tractor will idle. I also only did a single wrap around the wheel because I needed to be able to release it to get the weight to drop. Was a little bit hard on ropes but it worked.
Flingwing1969,
Have you considered an old bush hog gear box? They typically have a reduction built in, are rated at a pretty good HP, and are available on the used market. (I have several out back, if you want to come to Jax). You might need to run corn grease in them rather than oil if you are turning them on their sides. A spline tooth can be purchased to fit and you can weld that to a capstan.
David from jax
You've got me confused with the original poster.... diving for the PTO is in the very first post.
My machine has no PTO at all. No shafts. All hydraulic. All powered implements are hydraulic. If I ever get a winch, it will have to be hydraulically powered.
flingwing1969 - Composite Polyester certainly does look interesting as well. Admittedly all the rope I've been testing with has been cheap rope, but the winch is so tough on all of it, I don't think I could stomach running really nice $300 rope through it.
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I had a friend suggest retired rock-climbing rope - they recommend replacing it every five years for dynamic rope (too stretchy for this though), and every ten years for static rope. I have not found a supplier for retired rope though, maybe a climbing school would know. I have about 300' remaining of a thousand feet of static rope that I used as a rescue rope when I had to inspect and video/photograph about an eight of a mile of 30" water pipe while lying on my back on a creeper. Used it for all kinds of projects over the years. That should serve me.
So, the capstan that is rough on the rope? I don't think I'd want more than one layer on the capstan due to binding issues - maybe a longer shaft would give more flexibility for number of wraps too.
How much do you think the pull on the capstan is damaging the gearbox's capstan shaft. That looks like a lot of pull on the shaft - a different sort of loading than the designer intended the original box to take. I wonder if one might design an end support for the shaft to increase longevity - maybe make the shaft extend through the capstan so a pillow-block bearing on a hinged fitting could swing down onto it and reduce the torque load on it. Maybe I'm overthinking this though - the capstan is pretty short so the loading shouldn't be too bad on the stout shaft.
flingwing1969 - Maybe I'm overthinking this though - the capstan is pretty short so the loading shouldn't be too bad on the stout shaft.
Your gearbox is obviously very stout and would take a lot of lateral torque but many that I'm finding available are a bit more delicate looking is why I ask.
Ah, good idea there. They should handle quite a bit of HP and will already have a splined PTO fitting on it. They are 90 degree so maybe on its side would be the way to go. The ones I've seen actually run the speed up, in the neighborhood of 1:1.5 (or so) but they are available new from Surplus Center for around $130 plus shipping. Thanks for the offer. While my front driveway (yes, there is a driveway under there) tells me "Yes, you can go to JAX." I don't think I'll take you up on it right now.
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I've been looking for a box similar to the one you used with the two output shafts but a single shaft is also okay. They seem to be out there, somewhere. I can order direct from China and they are inexpensive, but they want minimum orders of ten (at least on my quick non-in-depth check). I'll keep looking.
Thanks. Did your sister get hit in the fires this autumn? They hit pretty hard in Lake county.