What winch are you using on your car trailer?

[YY1]

 

[33 IMP]

I recently moved my Opel from ca, to AZ. on my nice low flatbed trailer. 2700 lbs, maybe, hoping for less.
Almost new (but out of warrantee, of course) 9 ton HF winch with brand new battery at 12.6 volts, with a trickle charge attached ,couldn't get the Opel up. I had to chain my auxiliary 2500 HF to the truck, and another battery and use both at the same time to get it on. (I have complaints about the new 2500 too) (and yes, the opel was in neutral, with 40lbs of air in the fronts, and 25lbs in the drag radials)
The 9 ton works great, .....as long as it doesn't actually have to pull something.

 

[33 IMP]

Harbor Freight had this:

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That just seems unusually cheap.
Tractor Supply Company had this, I posted it earlier:

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Then for almost double, they had this:

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I’m conflicted. I rarely ever default to the cheapest of anything but at the same time, I wonder how often I’d use whatever I buy. I try to consider where else I might use the winch to justify the expense.
I’m thinking that if a winch craps out on me on a retrieval, I could fall back to the Come Along.
Still, if I have some cash not set aside for anything else, why not step up?

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Another thing nice about a winch, you can lower a car with no brakes off the trailer slowly, and under control. Can't do that with a comealong.
Of those you posted, I would buy the $400 6 ton, but with a steel rope. Greg, you could probably get by with the 5000 HF, IF you have better luck with HF than I have. (Buy the extended warrantee, keep the reciept)

 

[YY1]

You should see me, getting things off the car dolly.

A couple 4x4 to chock the back wheels, another about 4 feet away to stop a jump and roll, and another 12-16 feet away for a double safety.

 

[Kern Dog]

I’ve engaged in similar hijinks.
I’ve put tires a few feet behind cars to stop the car from rolling away.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Harbor Freight had this:

View attachment 1643303

View attachment 1643304

View attachment 1643305

That just seems unusually cheap.
Tractor Supply Company had this, I posted it earlier:

View attachment 1643306

View attachment 1643307

Then for almost double, they had this:

View attachment 1643308

View attachment 1643309

I’m conflicted. I rarely ever default to the cheapest of anything but at the same time, I wonder how often I’d use whatever I buy. I try to consider where else I might use the winch to justify the expense.
I’m thinking that if a winch craps out on me on a retrieval, I could fall back to the Come Along.
Still, if I have some cash not set aside for anything else, why not step up?

View attachment 1643312

Go to the step higher HF unit, the 9k one, money well spent. I use mine a lot, never had an issue with it but I also do not abuse it and make sure the wire spools evenly. It's best to go bigger than you think you'd need as the winch lasts longer.

 

[GTXDAN]

Harbor Freight had this:

View attachment 1643303

View attachment 1643304

View attachment 1643305

That just seems unusually cheap.
Tractor Supply Company had this, I posted it earlier:

View attachment 1643306

View attachment 1643307

Then for almost double, they had this:

View attachment 1643308

View attachment 1643309

I’m conflicted. I rarely ever default to the cheapest of anything but at the same time, I wonder how often I’d use whatever I buy. I try to consider where else I might use the winch to justify the expense.
I’m thinking that if a winch craps out on me on a retrieval, I could fall back to the Come Along.
Still, if I have some cash not set aside for anything else, why not step up?

View attachment 1643312

That winch that is on sale to inside track club members will be on sale to everyone starting Fri

 

[DeltaV]

 

[j-c-c-62]

Definitely not a 55 and up Trailer Park resident.

 

[Angleiron2]

I have a Super winch S9500 on my trailer, I have had it maybe 10 years, it’s out in the weather year round, never failed me, I have hauled probably 200 cars that needed to be winched on. Buy a cheap remote too you won’t regret it. I also have a warn 24 volt portable winch, I can use to drag them off or pull them sideways to straighten them out. I have winched on cars with multiple flats tire and locked up wheels

 

[1KoolBee]

I put this in my enclosed trailer:

Champion 3000-lb. ATV/UTV Winch Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AX19UMU?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Works fine.

 

[stillrunners]

For over a decade, I had the harbor freight "marine" winch.

It was almost perfect. It stayed outside and held up well. Biggest issue was contacts on remote switch cable connection, which I ended up replacing.

When that finally died, I replaced to with the smallest "2500 pound" hf which was 50 bucks at the time.

Two issues with that-
1- it's too fast!
2- the wireless remote failed after a year, and I had to hard wire it and still haven't fabricated a reversing switch network.

But it effortlessly pulls any car I've tried up onto my car dolly, or across the yard and up into a shop bay.

I did fabricate heavy "C" clips and shackle type attachment points so it can be removable.

Yep - first saw that HF $50 winch in action when I bought a complete roller and the guy offered to deliver - it's what he had and over the last 15 yrs or so I've had mostly good ones and a few bad ones that only work 1 or 2 to 3 times. Some I've abused the hell out of. The current one just moved my 1956 Savoy with a Dodge little Red Ram in it. They do fuse a little as the car comes up ;ike they all do but fits my purpose.

 

[QuickBpBp]

Hey KD just be careful while you are winching stuff with that set-up you have now. I always throw a few old towels over the cable as one time I saw one snap years ago and almost messed up a guy when the cable came back at him. When they snap they go flying both ways.

 

[YY1]

I use anti-slip backed bath mats.

Not much heavier than towels to carry, but a LOT heavier for the wire to fling around or off.

 

[Stumper]

Has anyone used one of the heavy gear hand crank winch on a trailer? They have them up to 3500lb. My trailer sits in the weather all the time.

 

[j-c-c-62]

I use anti-slip backed bath mats.

Not much heavier than towels to carry, but a LOT heavier for the wire to fling around or off.

It's not just added weight here, the broken cable is moving very fast at the very end, conservation of energy, ala cracking the bull whip, the towels, etc provide additional wind drag, which is velocity squared?, and anything with surface area increases the cables area in magnitudes, and reduces the potential harm by greatly reducing cable velocity upon breaking. The added weight mainly uses gravity to keep the extra aero drag item in contact with the broken moving cable.

 

[dadsbee]

If one Renton wasn't enough...

 

[Kern Dog]

 

[YY1]

It's not just added weight here, the broken cable is moving very fast at the very end, conservation of energy, ala cracking the bull whip, the towels, etc provide additional wind drag, which is velocity squared?, and anything with surface area increases the cables area in magnitudes, and reduces the potential harm by greatly reducing cable velocity upon breaking. The added weight mainly uses gravity to keep the extra aero drag item in contact with the broken moving cable.

They also don't slip off the cable nearly as easily as a towel because the anti-slip backing resists.....slipping.

 

[j-c-c-62]

They also don't slip off the cable nearly as easily as a towel because the anti-slip backing resists.....slipping.

1. You know this how exactly?
2. I submit, the added hung safety item rarely if ever slips off a broken cable, mainly because the broken cable when it "snaps', almost never moves in a straight-line promoting slippage but actually "curls" and grabs whatever is hung from it, since the hung piece becomes a mass and aero discontinuity in the uniform cable when moving in recoil upon breakage.