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Thoughts on vehicle extraction.

G

grumpy

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A winch on my Blazer is at least a year down the road so I need an alternative. More Power Puller This thing combined with a Pull Pal looks like it could get a K-5 out of most stucks. Any one have experience with it?
Thanks,
David
 
It will work, but it sure is slow (and a lot of work!). You'll also need to carry plenty of chain and/or cable to use with it. You can only pull a few feet at a time, so using a tow strap with it is nearly useless. By the time you take out the slack in the hookup, then stretch the strap, you're near the end of travel before the truck will even start to move. With a chain you don't have the stretch to deal with so you can move further with each hookup.
 
In '80 a friend and I spent 8 hours with 2 comealongs to get a sfa conversion chevy luv back on the hard pack trail after we slid off into the deep powder on side of the trail. No one else could get within 2 miles of us, so it was all hand work as we had no winch.
 
Its a very high quality come-a-long. It is a lot better than nothing and easyer to rig than a Hi-Lift. I wouldn't not recomend it. OTOH, it is not a winch. Many people use these or other brand of high & low quality come-a-longs for recovery. I keep one that is not quite as nice in my truck even though I have a winch. My dad has 2 that he uses at work, if they are the ones I think they are. He uses them for overhead lifting and there are only a few that use cable, that are OSHA rated for overhead.
As Harry said you will need to rig it w/ chain (or cable). Make sure use high quality chain or cable w/ WLL (working load limit) higher than the tool. Double check to see that it is the WLL and not the burst strength you are looking at.
Final thought, if I didn't plan to but a winch in the next few years I would get a high end come-a-long. Either that one or the Black Rat http://www.4x4wire.com/reviews/eopwinch/
 
I'v been 4 wheeling all my life and never had a winch. Always carry a handy man, Come along, chain shovel and Axe. I'v got muddy and had to lay in the snow a few times but was always able to get me or other people out.
I know this is a sin in some 4 wheeling circles but I perfer chain/cable over pull straps. I have seen too many straps break when you need them the most.
 
One thing I forgot to add. If you go w/ the Black Rat you will need to buy a seperate snach block. Every other come-a-long I have seen comes w/ one(the pulley), but it doesn't. That is how they get such a high pull rating. Just remember that when useing a snach block or the attached pully your speed is cut in half.
 
If you have the money go for it. The prices seem halfway decent and it's always handy to have a comalong laying around to do other stuff. It would take a lot of work to get unstuck, but it would be better than nothing.
 
I've found applying the simple machine the PULLEY to winches maybe 2 or 3 times makes your force (f) equal to f=w(2^n) where W is the force of the winch and n is the number of pulleys used.

Like a block and tackle- take the cable, run it through a pulley, then attach the end to to bumper so that the pulley is the farthest point away from your truck. A hook or a cable the length of atleast half the first cable is attached. Then the hook at the end of that is hooked to the front of you truck also, with a pully with a hook or cable on it attched in the middle. It works GREAT, you can instantly turn an 8000lbs winch into a 16000, or 32000lbs winch. but i recomend you get stronger cable. It will go slower, but it will pull ANYTHING depending how many pulleys and how well you are anchored. A longer cable will also be necessar for long pulls. For instance if you took 3 pulleys, then 200ft of the winch pulling (a 400ft cable would be needed) the final pull is only 25ft. but it's worth it.
 
Just a note on your calculations. You would need 3 pullies to get to 32,000 lbs of pull if you start on the last wrap of an 8000 lb winch. Even w/ an 8274 (150 ft of cable) that might not the easyest thing to accomplish. You would be over the cables WWL and you better have some extreme tow hooks, tree savers, chain, and pullies. We all want to get the truck unstuck-but please be carefull! For those who have wheeled w/ me, that huge orange snatch block tied down in the back of my truck is only rated for 25,000 lbs. A little something to think about.
 
I would reccomend a come-a-long to nothing at all, but a hi-lift is pretty handy. It's amazing what can be accomplished with a hi-lift!!!If you can't afford a winch buy a quality come-a-long and a hi-lift and they will probably be cheaper than a more power puller.
I pulled a truck out of a creek once with a chain hoist anchored to a tree. Not sure what the hoist was rated for but probably more than a come-a-long. It was a lot of work but the only way after breaking the handles on 2 crappy come-a-longs and having every wreckerrefuse to go near it and not having any luck pulling it out with another truck.
 
each tow hook on the truck would bear no more than half the initial strength of the winch. the final force would only be placed on the last hook, and the hooks on the truck without the winch. I wouldn't recommend more than two pulley system though. and no- 2 pulleys would make 32,000.

first pulley doubles the power- to 16,000. The next pulley double it again, to 32,000. I think you know the math, but are missing exaclty what i'm saying, let me draw up a picture.
264200_48_full.jpg
 
someones got a hell of a truck to get it stuck that bad! /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif
this is kinda off the topic but,on a winch the more the cable on the drum the less it pulls right?
 
true. from a mechanical advantage standpint, but i think the botrtom layer putts a lot of pressure on the main connection between the trum and cable.
 
OK, the way you show it rigged, it would in fact be 32K. It would need a second cable though. I didn't understand your text discription. A pic is worth a 1000 words! What I thought you ment was hook hook one pully to the anchor and a 2nd to the truck and then run the cable back out to the anchor. That set up would net 24k. It would need another pulley on the anchor to get to 32k, but would use only one cable. I'm glad you posted the drawing, here's mine.
24k lbs:
T P
! ! !
! ! !
! ! !
P A

32k lbs:
T P T
! ! ! !
! ! ! !
! ! ! !
P _ P
 
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