Could a tractor power one of the ATV style winches

[Highbeam]

I see. The dirtbikes only use a 35 watt headlight and an 8 watt tail. These ATVs are really becoming more like little jeeps every day.

4-5 guys to lift up a 20 foot wall? Is it all sheeted with windows? No sense in risking something that heavy falling on your head.

 

[jim_wilson]

I was figuring with most of these walls I would have at least two or three people available - that probably isn't enough manpower however to lift them. Having the winch would make the difference between getting the wall up and not getting it up. I also will have some trusses that wont weigh much but will need to be pulled up. The position I will be able to put the tractor in makes this almost a straight pull so again I was thinking the winch would make quick work of that. I have seen how heavy loads off the front of the tractor can make the rear end light - I was mostly thinking of the boompole on the FEL as a way of extending the lift height higher up than the FEL will reach - I have some beams I have to lift and boompole sticking pretty much straight up would give me the height that I need.

 

[v8dave]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( . . . Basically what I was intending on doing with this is making a mount that would fit into the Quick Hitch on my 3pt hitch and then have a electrical quick disconnect for the power. I am pretty sure high amp alternator on the BX23 puts out 40amps - how much does the usual ATV alternator put out? . . . )</font>

There is a safety issue in long runs of unprotected high capacity wiring. Here are a few things to consider.

The alternator isn't going to run the winch, only recharge the battery. A high capacity alternator will be quicker in recharging the battery. The battery is going to do the work.

You might think about doubling up on the battery. That is put another battery in the rear of the tractor, possibly as part of the winch set up. Run lines to charge the second battery--not run the winch. Make some more bracketry to carry the battery.

To run a winch (at 100+ amps) you need wiring the size of car's starter wiring from the battery to your disconnect location and then to the winch. Frankly that size wiring from the battery to the back of the tractor is just looking for trouble. There is no convenient (read small) way to fuse a line of that capacity. Pinching the line to the frame and grounding the hot wire is going to happen sometime on a tractor. It'll be a guaranteed disaster if the line isn't fused. If you choose to run heavy lines the length of the tractor please be sure to work the fuses into the line near the battery.

With a separate battery, you only need wire size to support recharging the battery. You can get in line fuse holders for 30 amp fuses readily. A number 8 wire should handle 30 amps and can be routed inside the frame (for protection) easier than starter wiring. Run a ground wire from the battery too, don't use the frame for currents that large. Tie-wrap the wire securely, vibration chafing can be a real problem on a tractor.

Of course you could place the quick disconnect at the front of the tractor (near the battery). Then run temporary long jumpers from the winch to the QD. But, that carries the danger of a pinch ground too, but at least it wouldn't be there all the time. Still not the best choice though.

 

[jim_wilson]

I was thinking pretty much the same thing. When I have the 3pt on my BX23 I always put the Speeco Quick hitch on because I have all my implements setup for the quick hitch. I could weld together a setup for the winch that would mount the winch, a toolbox, and a battery box that would drop right into the quick hitch. I already planned to run some wiring to the rear of the tractor (protected by the corrugated wiring loom and carefully protected up in the frame of the tractor) so I could have electrical back there for extra lights on the backhoe, electric motor on the snowblower deflector, etc. After looking quite a bit at the wiring on the BX I have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to add extra electrical to it is to get something like the Optima battery that has both the top post and side connections and hook the original wiring up to the top post and the addon wiring to the side posts. This way no OEM wiring needs to get cut up. This would of course leave me with an extra battery - which gives me the extra battery for the winch. I can get large capacity fuses or circuit breakers from Waytek Wiring Supplies - they have pretty much everything you would need for a project like this.

 

[bczoom]

Jim,

Are those Optima batteries the deep cycle type?

If you're going to put in a 2nd battery near the back to run the winch, I would think a good sized (800-1000 cca) deep-cycle marine battery would take care of a good amount of winching before needing charged. At the end of the day, just plug it into a charger. No wiring necessary.

Brian

 

[jim_wilson]

According to the Optima website they make a whole range of batteries - with some deep cycle models. If I have a chance this weekend I am going to go take a look at some of the local auto parts stores and see if they have them in stock.

 

[Cactus]

I use to have my 10,000 Warn Winch on my JD 4400. It would pull the amps down fairly fast depending on how much and how long you pulled, but if you were patient you could get the job done.The only reason I took it off was it had to go when I had the loader installed.

 

[Keith_B]

Jim, you can rent jacks to lift the walls at a lot of rental places.

Wall jacks at Amazon.com

Here are some comments on the wall jacks

 

[SnowRidge]

<font color="blue"> With a separate battery, you only need wire size to support recharging the battery. You can get in line fuse holders for 30 amp fuses readily. A number 8 wire should handle 30 amps and can be routed inside the frame (for protection) easier than starter wiring. Run a ground wire from the battery too, don't use the frame for currents that large. Tie-wrap the wire securely, vibration chafing can be a real problem on a tractor. </font>

A separate battery connected with recharge only wiring needs a battery isolator to prevent it and the primary battery from trying to share starting and winch loads on that number 8 wire, which they will do. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

A battery isolator requires an adjustable regulator, which probably isn't even available for the engine, to compensate for the voltage drop across the isolator. That in turn will increase the voltage across the starting battery, which will overcharge it. That means the starter motor requires its own isolator as well, which is why most isolators are double units that come with three terminals instead of two. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Of course it's possible the engine alternator is already overcharging the battery, which seems to often be the case with power equipment. If that is the case, no special regulator would be needed, and the existing battery might have a longer useful life, as long as it didn't see the winch loads for which it was never designed. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Or he could install a battery switch instead of isolators, but it has to be a shorting type, or the alternator diodes will blow when it is operated with the engine running. If it has an off position, it must be avoided at all costs with the engine running--unless it also switches the alternator excitation current. Then it's OK. Switches of this type are available at most of the better marine supply stores. Of course, everything still have to be wired and fused correctly, etc., and we are back to the possibility of accidently trying to start the engine on the number 8 wire, which means that has to be changed back to battery cable, unless a switch and isolator were installed. Now wait just a minute...... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

My advice is to forget the winch battery in the rear. It's altogether too complicated to do correctly for a one time application like this. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif