No worries, with that in mind I'd put you down as an "occasional user" of a vehicle winch, and as such the one in your original post would be more than up for the job. In fact, I have the same budget winch, I purchased mine from Winch Solutions (Google for their own website, or eBay seller winchsol). I know of lots of others on here and elsewhere who have bought the same winch, many off the same company and generally it does a good job. Obviously, bear in mind its at the budget end of the scale.
The only cautious observation I'd made is the winch bumper has fixed loops and D shackles. Some winch bumpers don't come with them at all, but are pre-drilled with the (standardised) 36mm hole, to fit (ideally) swivelling shackles. Some come with the swivel shackles too. Mine didn't (but once again, was a bargain) and a pair of swivel shackles including mounts etc are surprisingly expensive, at around £45-50. Swivel shackles are going to be technically better than the non-swivelling ones on that bumper in the eBay ad, but I dare say the bumper is solidly enough constructed to make no difference in practice. If you need to do a pull from a significant side angle, you risk bending or fracturing the fixed mounts.
The only other thing is, you might need to buy an isolation switch and electrical connectors, probably another tenner or so and you're all sorted.
I'd say most likely a possible one off use at some time in the future, or at least I hope this to be the case. However, thanks for your info as this has helped a lot.
the problem is a catch 22. I dont need a good winch cos i dont use it much = This cheap winch ive got failed the one time ive used it.:doh:
Yet another very valid point and pretty much the reason I started the thread in the first place. I'm the kind of person who would make a point of using the winch in a non-emergency practice session a couple of times a year. Partly to keep it checked out for defects and partly to practice safe techniques for the kind of thing I'd maybe need it - I.E. a straight pull, I'd probably even test out my ideas on the actual beaches to make sure I could manage it. I wasn't sure about going down the "top end range" for what I
might one day need it or go down the mid price range and maybe suffer on reliability and functionality. I suspect I'd probably go down the mid price/functionality route. Thanks for your input and thoughts.
Ah but with enough line and pulleys it could
( and good anchor point/s before someone points it out )
I suspect the number of pulley required and length of line would make it somewhat slow and the tide would be overtaking me lol.
I'll second the Winch Solutions stuff - had one for the last 4 or five years with occasional use (ranging from pulling trees around to self-recovery on the farm).
The one I have is quite an old model but rated at 10,000lbs and never had trouble with pulling my fully-laden Series III. Didn't get the chance to see how it managed
with the 110 (not fitted at the moment).
My one comment would be (if you do get a winch) to replace the wire rope with a synthetic one. I've never personally used them so can't vouch but I'd imagine a synthetic rope would hold up much better in your situation (i.e. salty occasional use). You don't want a wire-rope snapping just when you want it.
The wire rope is one of the first things I'd replace if it came with one, as said, the cost isn't the most important factor and to honest cost simply would not come into the equation if it saved my landy from a dousing in salt water. Thanks for your thoughts. I would have been seeking advice on that when the time came.
Forest of Doom, thanks also for your thoughts. Fortunately, tomato plants are rare in highland Scotland and I'd probably have eaten it before I got stuck anyway.
Good point,
BUT, he also needs to consider that using a synthetic rope over a rocky/stoney foreshore can shred a synthetic rope on its first use if appropriate care is not taken!!
Also synthetic ropes are pretty expensive for occassional use, a wire rope can be very durable, but like most things it will need to be maintained particularly considering the harsh and corrosive environment that it will be used in.
The bad environment (salty air & water) would be my major consideration, rather than the ground conditions, but as said above, if it got my landy outta da poo, the expense would be relative.
And if its an opinion on the bumper & winch you want - then they are both jolly good vfm
I've got the bumper and its A1 with my Goldfish winch on it - my chum has the winch and he is a happy camper (well boater actually, he drags his 8mRIB in from the Solent with it...)
Thanks very much to everyone for their input, you've been busy while I been asleep.
Excellent slomofo, this is exactly what I needed. You've answered my original post. As did some of the others.
So now I have to think it all out and come to my own conclusions whether to go the way of the winch or to stay well out of the water's reach above the high tide line until I have more experience of my landy's capabilities (& mine too of course.)
The funny thing is, I drive an artic on a daily basis and the job I do involves a lot of off-road work up lanes, down tracks, across fields, flat and sloping and in all weather conditions too. What we consider to be unladen is approx 22,500kgs (empty bird cages on board) and a normal fully loaded train weight of around 35,000kgs. Add to this the occasional 3 tonne forklift mounted on the rear of the trailer (though usually removing it is the first thing we do when we go off-road especially in snow/icy conditions) and I think nothing of it. Yeah, we often slide down the wet grassy slopes side-ways, yeah, we get stuck, yeah, we sort it out and very often need help to do so. Hell, we often help others too, but the big differences are two fold. The lorry aint mine (neither is the bill) and we don't go into the salt.
Thanks guys, one and all, for your help.
Ron
