By Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d) on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 08:26 am: Edit

Please (again) excuse my ignorance in this field. How do you control a PTO winch? And do you have to put tranny in neutral to top it? Is there any external hand control or something?

Thx,
Dean

By Mike Rupp (Mike_Rupp) on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 07:07 pm: Edit

The PTO for the Milemarker is used to power a hydraulic pump to power the winch. You have to have the transfer case in neutral and the transmission in gear. I believe that there is a hand cable to engage the PTO, but I could be wrong.

You don't have to have a PTO system to operate the winch, though. You can just use the power steering pump, although you wont have the full rated capacity of the winch; it will also be slower than the PTO system. I'm currently just using the PS pump - it's really slow. There is a high gear for spooling in, which helps.

By Dean Brown (Deanbrown3d) on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 07:13 pm: Edit

Mike,

THanks. So you can't have it in gear and drive-while-you-winch?

Dean

By p m on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 08:19 pm: Edit

if you use P/S pump, you can.

BTW, has anyone ever replaced the P/S pump with the AGR pump, or even stock Chevy pump? The rangie's p/s inability to turn the wheels drove me nuts last time. One wheel against a little mound of loose dirt, and that's it.

peter

By Kyle on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 08:26 pm: Edit

You can use the PTO and drive at the same time.. Its just wrong not too.

Kyle

By Mike Rupp (Mike_Rupp) on Wednesday, October 17, 2001 - 09:52 pm: Edit

Peter,

I'm going through that right now. I ordered a 1850 psi ZF pump to replace the stock pump. I'll have to include a relief valve between the winch and steering box to not blow the seals in the box.
Also, I'm going to replace my current motor on the winch with a smaller capacity. This will give me a ~9500 lb. winch that is faster than normal.

I'm looking forward to getting the new pump soon so I can get it installed and then try to get stuck good so I can report back with the results.

Kyle, I'm not that familiar with the PTO. Let's say that your hung up on something and your tires are going to spin. If you have the PTO engaged, tranny in D, transfer case in low or high, will the PTO be spinning if the tcase isn't?
Wouldn't it be better to just leave the tcase in neutral and just let the winch pull you out / over?

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 10:04 am: Edit

No , most times you need some help with the tires to get them up and out of the ruts they have made. If they arent helping at all you just keep digging into real estate. You ofcourse cant go spinning them violently as this does nothing..

Kyle

By p m on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 11:30 am: Edit

Mike,

where did you order the pump?

peter

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 12:36 pm: Edit

As in all things it really depends on the situation. If you are in snow/mud/sand helping can simply cause the ruts to get longer instead of pulling you out and on top, but ledges would be good candidates for this. Again, not all above applies, and it depends on the exact situation. Of course if Im winching someone else, I tell them not to help, cause more often than not, they fuck it up and yank the cable, or do other weird shit.

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 12:40 pm: Edit

Thats incorrect Michael. You want them to give throttle to the point right before the tires break traction. If you wanna slide them sideways a bit or something you will have them hold the brake but you defineately want the truck to climb up out of what its in...

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 01:10 pm: Edit

But what it's in, is gunk and the tires simply chew the gunk wall down without any hope of climbing out.

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 01:13 pm: Edit

Nope , not if you are using the winch and the throttle together just right. Unless its more water then solid...


Kyle

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:16 pm: Edit

Yeah, that's the thing. If you control yourself and use real finesses that does the trick, but depending on the consistency of the slop, this can lead to digging trenches. It's just when you say helping, people get the impression they have to "really help". It's that magical place were only enough torque is getting to the wheels without any hint of wheelspin, and certainly no slack on the cable.

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:23 pm: Edit

Yeah , its hard to relay that to someone that you are recovering..


Kyle

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:26 pm: Edit

Sure is, the guy's tend to get exited...
But also, this kind of stuff is not talked about very much, so I enjoy good discussion like these, you can alway's learn a bit here and there.

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:32 pm: Edit

No , the fact is that the bad info out there is atleast three times greater then the amount of good info on recovery...


Kyle

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:38 pm: Edit

Damn,

I smell a new section: Recovery

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:43 pm: Edit

We cant put in a new section for anything that comes along but its a decent topic and if there is enough interest then we can do that... so people should speak up..


Kyle

By Ron on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 02:46 pm: Edit

eh,

I never get stuck hehehehehe

Ron

Kidding

By Discosaurus (Discosaurus) on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 03:07 pm: Edit

...and if you do, your winch breaks right away.

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 03:09 pm: Edit

ouch , that was harsh.......lol


Kyle

By Ron on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 03:10 pm: Edit

Yup

Ron

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 03:15 pm: Edit

Anybody here ever have to build a bridge in order to cross a deep river/ravine?

Michel

By Ron on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 03:16 pm: Edit

Yes.

Ron

By Andrew Vick (Afv) on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 03:21 pm: Edit

Ron:

Was it like the Craftsman ad where the guy built a bridge, complete with side rails and roof? This may belong under that converter conversation, i.e. how many yellow tops would it take?

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 04:23 pm: Edit

Any details Ron? It's nice to actually hear about this stuff.

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 04:34 pm: Edit

Hmmm , there is a problem with the whole bridge thing. You have to think about the "What ifs". Whats the worst that can happen if you just point the Disco at the bottom of the ravine and bail in , then winch out. Whats the worst that can happen if one side of your brige fails? I am all for bailing in and winching out...

Kyle

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 04:46 pm: Edit

Yaeah me too, except in my case the bail in was 12' of water but only 10' accross. Though decision, and damn nerve racking when crosing that fringen thing. Of course it's always 2 in the morning after a 12 hour day in moskito infested swamps when these things come up.

Michel

By Kyle on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 04:49 pm: Edit

WEll one the damn nose gets far enough acrost you are all good..... If you can get the nose about 3/4 the way acrost if it failed you could still winc out...

Kyle

By michel on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 05:04 pm: Edit

lol,

I though about that, but damn, it's a straight wall down, the passenger wheel drops straight down to the frame, that's it. No real other alternative in crossing this thing....you could always go back I supposed.

Michel

By Ron on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 05:40 pm: Edit

Details,

Ah the one I built was not very big. More like a ditch than a river

We built a couple bridges over nothing at Tom's house. Those were fun but litterally on the ground.

Best advise I can give is dig the logs in at the bases at the ends and, if possible use non-round/strait logs (they roll less easily). and strap the logs together as good as possible. But I have no experience with this when it was actually needed sooooooo take it with a grain of salt. Actually I am with Kyle on this one. of course my luck my winch would break

By Mike Rupp (Mike_Rupp) on Thursday, October 18, 2001 - 06:19 pm: Edit

Peter,

I ordered the winch from http://www.4x4winches.com/. I stress ordered; I haven't received it yet. They aren't exactly quick.

Mike