OP
Winch Modifications
- Thread starter BobRip
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FAZTRAC
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2010
- Messages
- 62
- Location
- Flatistan and Tenn. (part time)
- Tractor
- PT 425 & john deere hydrostatic, DR Brushcutter 17 HP!!!!
Bob
I won't add to the fray on the hydraulics issue, everyone has a different way of doing that. But...you can shorten up your rear mounted rig a lot. You can take a porta band saw or torch and cut some of the male part of your receiver arrangement off and just drill another hole for the pin. Also you really don't need the angles you have welded on there if you have a good weld to your plate, or beter yet just use both of your receivers to pull on. The vast majority of the pulling stress is fore and aft. You can also weld on a single vertical female receiver directly on top of the the horizontal one above the pin and bring your winch in tight to the tractor air vents for the vertical "stored position".
Another remote control idea.... have you considered just a simple cable pendent with a three way spring centered switch on a 12 foot (or whatever distance) cable exension hooked up in parallel to your solenoid valve and joy stick control on the tractor. We use them all the time to control cranes on our boats.
Ain't it fun makin stuff ?!!!
I won't add to the fray on the hydraulics issue, everyone has a different way of doing that. But...you can shorten up your rear mounted rig a lot. You can take a porta band saw or torch and cut some of the male part of your receiver arrangement off and just drill another hole for the pin. Also you really don't need the angles you have welded on there if you have a good weld to your plate, or beter yet just use both of your receivers to pull on. The vast majority of the pulling stress is fore and aft. You can also weld on a single vertical female receiver directly on top of the the horizontal one above the pin and bring your winch in tight to the tractor air vents for the vertical "stored position".
Another remote control idea.... have you considered just a simple cable pendent with a three way spring centered switch on a 12 foot (or whatever distance) cable exension hooked up in parallel to your solenoid valve and joy stick control on the tractor. We use them all the time to control cranes on our boats.
Ain't it fun makin stuff ?!!!
OP
BobRip
Elite Member
YES.Bob
I won't add to the fray on the hydraulics issue, everyone has a different way of doing that. But...you can shorten up your rear mounted rig a lot. You can take a porta band saw or torch and cut some of the male part of your receiver arrangement off and just drill another hole for the pin. THESE RECEIVERS HAVE BEEN ADDED OVER SEVERAL YEARS AND A LOT HAS BEEN LEARNED. I WILL CONSIDER SOMETHING LIKE THIS. I EVEN CONSIDERED CUTTING A HOLE IN THE VENTS AND HAVING PART OF THE RECEIVER GO INTO THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. THIS WOULD REALLY MAKE IT SHORT.
Also you really don't need the angles you have welded on there if you have a good weld to your plate, or beter yet just use both of your receivers to pull on. I AM NOT ACTUALLY WELDED TO THE PLATE. THE ANGLES ARE BOLTED TO THE PLATE IN THE EXISTING POWER TRAC HOLES PLUS ONE I DRILLED. I WANTED TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO THE PT CONFIGURATION. HOWEVER I HAD NOT CONSIDERED THE LONG OVERHANG AT THE TIME. INSTEAD OF THE ANGLE I COULD WELD THE MALE 2 INCH RECEIVER TO A THINNER PLATE AND THEN BOLT THAT TO THE WINCH PLATE. WOULD THAT WORK? DO I NEED A THICK PLATE THERE OR WOULD 1/4 INCH DO. THIS WOULD SAVE 2 INCHES.
The vast majority of the pulling stress is fore and aft. You can also weld on a single vertical female receiver directly on top of the the horizontal one above the pin and bring your winch in tight to the tractor air vents for the vertical "stored position". I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO OPEN THE ENGINE COVER AND ADD GASOLINE WITHOUT TAKING THE WINCH OFF. THAT THING IS HEAVY.
Another remote control idea.... have you considered just a simple cable pendent with a three way spring centered switch on a 12 foot (or whatever distance) cable exension hooked up in parallel to your solenoid valve and joy stick control on the tractor. We use them all the time to control cranes on our boats. THESE ARE NOT SOLENOIDS IN THE CIRCUIT I AM USING. IF I SWITCHED TO THE PTO CIRCUIT I WOULD USE THE SWITCH THERE. I WOULD NOT HAVE DIRECTION CONTROL WITH THE WIRE, BUT I COULD STOP AND START THE WINCH AND THAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE. I THOUGH I WAS ALMOST DONE WITH THIS, BUT I WILL CONSIDER YOUR IDEAS CAREFULLY.
Ain't it fun makin stuff ?!!!
FAZTRAC, you have made a lot of good suggestions. I do not like the way things hang off the back. I originally had a storage shelf on the back to hold the hand powered winch. For this reason I made the receivers longer. I will comment above to your suggestions in CAPS ABOVE. Thanks for the input.
Bob Rip I went back over the posts and see that my suggestions have already been made. If you can't let the oil recirculate and pull off the cable reel, a sylinoid is out of the question so that makes a wireless remote out of the question, and you can't do it with a hard wire set up. I take it that you can't disengage the gears in the winch to make it easier, and you can't pull the cable off and work the lever at the machine at the same time, and you have no one that can do one or the other that creates a problem, hum. Looks like there would be some means of disengaging it, but since there isn't, is there any way that you could get a large pulley and one of those winches that goes on a boat trailer that you can crank and pull the boat on put the pulley out where you want the winch cable to be pulled to, hook the boat winch up on the pt and pull off the cable and run it out to the pulley and run a rope back to the pt winch and hook it up to the winch cable. Now as you power feed the winch cable off the winch use the boat winch to pull on the pt winch cable to keep it pulled out. When you get it pulled out to where you can attach the load that you intend on pulling hook it up to the load but leave the boat winch hooked up but let it be in free wheel. Now when you pull the load to the pt you are also pulling the cable of the boat winch back out ready to pull the pt winch back out again. That might be on the Red Green show if it is still on.
Bob Rip I am confident that with some thought you will be able to figure out this, maybe something that will allow you to pull out the cable while some way remotely operating that lever that would let it power feed off. On my dust collector I rigged up cables and a knife switch so that I could remotely cut the collector on and off from each of my machines. I also have a dust collector that has a remote switch to turn it on and off although it is for controlling a higher voltage I say that it would also control a lower voltage implement. Couple that with a 12 volt pump and an air actuator to work the lever. I have seen those air actuators in Surplus Supply pretty cheap. I know that these things in and of themselves might not be your answer but it might get you going in the direction that will solve your problem hope so. I hope you get it figured out soon and like I already said I am confident you can.
Bob Rip I am confident that with some thought you will be able to figure out this, maybe something that will allow you to pull out the cable while some way remotely operating that lever that would let it power feed off. On my dust collector I rigged up cables and a knife switch so that I could remotely cut the collector on and off from each of my machines. I also have a dust collector that has a remote switch to turn it on and off although it is for controlling a higher voltage I say that it would also control a lower voltage implement. Couple that with a 12 volt pump and an air actuator to work the lever. I have seen those air actuators in Surplus Supply pretty cheap. I know that these things in and of themselves might not be your answer but it might get you going in the direction that will solve your problem hope so. I hope you get it figured out soon and like I already said I am confident you can.
FAZTRAC
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2010
- Messages
- 62
- Location
- Flatistan and Tenn. (part time)
- Tractor
- PT 425 & john deere hydrostatic, DR Brushcutter 17 HP!!!!
Bob
1/4 plate is plenty to weld your receiver to if you are only using the Pt to anchor your winch. You are not going to rip the plate in half ! Make three weld passes or pt a short collar or double plate if you are worried.
Something else you might consider is to just hook your cable on to some fixed object, or if no trees are around hook on to whatever you want to pull and just go forward with the PT and use the power of the tractor to spool off your cable. Pulling the cable by hand is not going to get it. PT company should have known better than to market a winch with no way to spool off the cable without powering it out. That is also how you get a "cats ***" tangle in the cable if there is not enough tension on the cable when powering out. Every hydraulic winch needs a clutch mechanism. Use your tractor to pull off the cable, humans are not made to spool off 3/8 cable!
1/4 plate is plenty to weld your receiver to if you are only using the Pt to anchor your winch. You are not going to rip the plate in half ! Make three weld passes or pt a short collar or double plate if you are worried.
Something else you might consider is to just hook your cable on to some fixed object, or if no trees are around hook on to whatever you want to pull and just go forward with the PT and use the power of the tractor to spool off your cable. Pulling the cable by hand is not going to get it. PT company should have known better than to market a winch with no way to spool off the cable without powering it out. That is also how you get a "cats ***" tangle in the cable if there is not enough tension on the cable when powering out. Every hydraulic winch needs a clutch mechanism. Use your tractor to pull off the cable, humans are not made to spool off 3/8 cable!
OP
BobRip
Elite Member
Bob
1/4 plate is plenty to weld your receiver to if you are only using the Pt to anchor your winch. You are not going to rip the plate in half ! Make three weld passes or pt a short collar or double plate if you are worried.
Something else you might consider is to just hook your cable on to some fixed object, or if no trees are around hook on to whatever you want to pull and just go forward with the PT and use the power of the tractor to spool off your cable. Pulling the cable by hand is not going to get it. PT company should have known better than to market a winch with no way to spool off the cable without powering it out. That is also how you get a "cats ***" tangle in the cable if there is not enough tension on the cable when powering out. Every hydraulic winch needs a clutch mechanism. Use your tractor to pull off the cable, humans are not made to spool off 3/8 cable!
I am moderately satisfied with the present setup, or as satified as I am going to get. I will probably eliminate the angle irons as you suggested. I can save 3 inches doing this and shortening the male 2 inch receiver tube.
PT definitely goofed on this design with no free wheeling. If nothing else I hope people realize the issues this winch has and will know what they are buying. I don't want to spend much more money on it as my use is limited. I have a boat winch with a male receiver welded on it. This actually works pretty well for PT recovery.
J_J
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2003
- Messages
- 18,952
- Location
- JACKSONVILLE, FL
- Tractor
- Power-Trac 1445, KUBOTA B-9200HST
Toy,
Why can he not use a hyd solenoid valve to reel in and out using a wireless transmitter. The fluid would be fed to the solenoid valve from the PTO, or QA hyd output. The solenoid valve would be controlled by the wireless remote. I see no problem at all. He switches the valve to reel out and Bob pulls the cable as he walks to the load. From the hook up point, he switches the valve to reel in, and he can monitor the load as it is reeled in.
The winch appears to be made to power in or out, with no free wheel. You just need a switchable hyd flow to the winch. QA hyd would give low speed, and PTO hyd fast speed to the solenoid valve.
Why can he not use a hyd solenoid valve to reel in and out using a wireless transmitter. The fluid would be fed to the solenoid valve from the PTO, or QA hyd output. The solenoid valve would be controlled by the wireless remote. I see no problem at all. He switches the valve to reel out and Bob pulls the cable as he walks to the load. From the hook up point, he switches the valve to reel in, and he can monitor the load as it is reeled in.
The winch appears to be made to power in or out, with no free wheel. You just need a switchable hyd flow to the winch. QA hyd would give low speed, and PTO hyd fast speed to the solenoid valve.
PILOON
Super Star Member
I hope this has not already been suggested.
At the winch inlet and outlet fittings, could not 2 'T's' be inserted with a suitably rated ball valve between the 2 lines?
A sort of manual crossover valve.
This would eliminate fluids from being forced all the way back and the only resistance would be internal fom the pump, which as mentioned gets lesser once the pump is 'broken in'.
Should make hauling the line out manually one whole lot easier.
At the winch inlet and outlet fittings, could not 2 'T's' be inserted with a suitably rated ball valve between the 2 lines?
A sort of manual crossover valve.
This would eliminate fluids from being forced all the way back and the only resistance would be internal fom the pump, which as mentioned gets lesser once the pump is 'broken in'.
Should make hauling the line out manually one whole lot easier.
J_J
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2003
- Messages
- 18,952
- Location
- JACKSONVILLE, FL
- Tractor
- Power-Trac 1445, KUBOTA B-9200HST
That has been suggested, and you can pull the cable out, but you are making the hyd motor act as a hyd pump and it is very hard to just pull the cable out. As we get older, it becomes less of an option to pull so hard on a cable.
There probably isn't anything wrong with doing that. I thought that had already been mentioned and it had been ruled out because it would be cost prohibitive because of the expense of the wireless remote. To go along with what you are suggesting if the wireless is out because of expense why not hard wire a switch with a short section of wire that would let him unwind the winch cable until he reached the end of his hard wired switch pulling the cable as he went and then going back and getting another pull on it until he had enough cable off. The solenoid would work the same just a different set up of turning it on and off. Bob wasn't talking about the solenoid being too expensive also was he? If he could find a recoiling type wire to use as the wire to the solenoid that would help him keep from getting it tangled [wire off of a hairdryer]. Bob an old hair dryer not your wife's new one, don't want to get you in trouble.
This is something that I do when I have an electrical appliance that needs tossed, I always cut the cord off and get anything else off that I might need that is still good, and then toss. I keep the stuff assorted so that if I need something it is pretty easily found if I have it. Doing this has saved me many trips to hardware stores and saved me from having to stop what I am doing and waiting to the next day because the store is closed.