Accessories-Winches

Winches are wonderful devices; they have the ability of moving something many times our size and weight with a mere twist of the handle or push of a button. For boat trailers they are a must-to get the boat out of the water and let it slide in slowly. Four wheelers use them to get out of ditches and other trouble. Just about any vehicle can be easily pulled onto a trailer bed. Other types of trailer cargo may also find their loading simplified with a winch. 

Hand crank styles have been around for many years. These winches are usually sold separately from the cable, hook and clamps as shown in Figure 5.13. The logic here is that each person’s requirement may change the length and diameter of cable needed. Capacities of these products. range from 600-lbs to 3700-lbs. Be sure your winch cable has the capacity to match the winch’s or make sure your load stays below the limit. Electric winches are fairly new to the scene. Operation is off the tow vehicle’s 12-volt battery. Heavy duty wire, switches, installation instruc- tions and even the cable and hook are usually all part of the package. Capacities range from 1500-lbs to 5000-lbs. Although Superwinch® is a well known brand, several other companies provide well made power winches. 

To give you an idea of a winch’s capacity, the chart in Figure 5.14 was prepared. The change in capacity of the load being hoisted with respect to the angle of incline is listed. This chart is applicable only to free rolling vehicles or boats riding over rollers. A damaged or wrecked auto will create a lot of resistance as it’s metal scrapes and gouges its path. The ease of moving non-rolling cargoes depends on the coefficient of friction between the two surfaces. As you can see, from Figure 5.14, though, the ability of the winch to pull decreases as the angle increases.