Gas engine-driven "portable" winches?

[e9999]

any such thing as a worthwhile cost-effective gas engine-driven winch?
An inexpensive portable one could be neat to have around.
had a quick web look but the very few I saw seem big, heavy, and quite expensive. Not a compelling way to go it seems.
Anything OK out there?

 

[WristPin]

a guy came into my shop with this giant military truck. it had what he called a "chainsaw winch".
he started it up for me. i was impressed, but it seemed like a bad idea to install one cuz, it may become unreliable. For instance, sucking water into it, running out of fuel. this on was 4 stroke, you could tap into the trucks tank.. but electric seems more reliable. you know how difficult an old engine can be to get started out in the snow. and what are you gunna do if the pull cord breaks?
i figure you can find find one off a military truck. try www.govliquidation.com they have TONS of surplus.

 

[Steve C]

One idea that would be an adaptatoin of what the commercial crabbers around here would be this:

1. Make up a hydraulic power unit using a small horizontal shaft gas engine (biggs and stratton, honda, etc) that drives a hydraulic pump. The common type of pump is a power steering pump with internal resevour (I know I can't spell); however, a better idea would be an industrial type pump with external resevour.

2. Connect pump to hydraulic winch. Hydraulic winches are made by warn, ramsey, and others. Although I think Milemarker is the main company that markets hydraulic winches to the "off roader" market, these winches are very commonly used on tow trucks and rollbacks. These winches pull hard at a high rate of speed.

Cost- not cheap, about the same as a good electric winch setup (including extra battery, etc), but with a some thought you could make up a setup that you could move from front to back or vehicle to vehicle.

here's the warn unimog kit as an example:
http://www.warn.com/industrial/winches/series15_unimog.shtml

 

[Landpimp]

I have seen em, never used them, the ones I have seen where chainsaws with a winch, last one I saw was at Ron Jones chainsaw shop, I am sure there are uses for them, but I dont think a 4x4 is the best use.

 

[e9999]

the ones I saw on the web were milemarker hydraulic winches, with a gas engine and hydraulic pump. Quite a bit more expensive than an electric winch. Quite large too.

 

[Bogo]

Looking for other stuff I saw this and this thread looks like a good spot to mention its existance:


Woodland International Lewis Winch Chain Saw Attachment, Model# LW400MK2

For use with chain saws to pull up to 4000 lbs. on a single line pull. Comes with aircraft cable and all the adapters to fit almost any chain saw engine, including the direct connections as well as the short bar and cutterless chain. Attaches as easily as changing a chain saw bar. A 3 HP engine will create about 2000 lbs. of pulling power; a 6–7 HP engine generates up to 4000 lbs. of pulling power.

I think it would have all of the issues of being roughly inline with the cable... Looks like it is $900+ chainsaw to convert.

 

[Icantdive55]

The Lewis winch is a very well made product. I will own one some day. A friend has retrieved more than a few vehicles with his. It works great. it has it's limitations but with a little red neck injenuity many things are doable.

 

[e9999]

your typical homeowner chainsaw is probably not much more than about 3 or 4 HP I would think. that would give you only 2000lbs? Not a lot.

 

[Icantdive55]

Double it with a block. Still only 4000 but that works in a lot of situations and it's portable!

 

[Fast Eddy]

 

[roalco]

There's a number of small gas powered winches used in the arborist field, here's one, google more from there.
Pacific Arborist Supplies - North Vancouver, BC