Hydraulic Winches, Pros/Cons?

[BELMONT148]

What do you guys know about hydraulic winches? Tell me about them, from what I have read I really like them. I just want to know what I am getting in to.

I am looking at a MM Hi10500.

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[Capt. Jim]

If you put your vehicle on its' side or top, your winch is useless because you can't run your motor to drive your hydraulic pump.

 

[BELMONT148]

How do those guys in rock crawling comps keep running when on there side and upside down that flip back over with just their tires spinning?

Jeremy

 

[Capt. Jim]

After putting fuel injection in my truck, it continued to run after I rolled over until I shut the ignition off. The problem is the engine cannot pump oil after a certain roll or attitude is exceeded. Some of them put extra deep oil sumps in to maximize the radical positions they put their trucks into.

 

[informationjunky]

If you put your vehicle on its' side or top, your winch is useless because you can't run your motor to drive your hydraulic pump.

or when your motor wont start and your the leed truck blocking the trail on a ride on top of a mountain......I'm just guessing on this one, it really didn't happen to me.

 

[BELMONT148]

All of my winching experience with Warn electric winches has been that a battery that is not being charged will die in minutes under a heavy load winching. To me if the engine isn't running they are all up s*** creek unless they can get out of the way in a hurry, which I have never seen any electric winch get in a hurry.

And the 8274 is out of the question, we are talking about sub- $1000 electric winches vs. a hydraulic winch.

There's got to be a reason the military uses them.

Jeremy

 

[Capt. Jim]

There's got to be a reason the military uses them.

They don't do rock crawling.

I have 2 Optima redtops in my truck and an 8274. Numerous times I have winched myself back up on all 4 feet without the engine running. Once you are upright, you can restart the engine.

If you decide to go with the MM winch, put a big Cadillac pump on your truck as well as a big over-sized resevoir. Some guys have changed out the pulley on the pump for a smaller diameter to get more revs out of the pump. Lastly, a locking or friction hand throttle is nice to keep your engine RPM's up without having to be in the truck and stepping on the gas pedal.

 

[BELMONT148]

My options are a smittybilt XRC 8,000 lb electric or a MM Hi10500 hydraulic.

Which would you prefer?

Jeremy

 

[dohcdelsol93]

you can do like the serious rock crawlers do...dry sump oil pick up system. You can run in any position but you will need a fuel injection system if you have a carb.

and from my experience the reason the military would use a hydro winch over electric is reliability especially in the elements.

 

[Capt. Jim]

I would probably go with the electric one and have two batteries. (I have a habit of getting inverted now and then...)

The MM winch also requires a pump/resevoir install that will add up to more money and that can make the electric one and extra battery cheaper than the MM.

I am assuming this is going on the 40 in your sig line with the 350. Do you have room for another belt-driven accessory on the front of the engine?

I have a good friend who installed a MM winch on his truck years ago and I recall he wasn't too happy with it and was forever modifying his pump/resevoir setup.

Good luck with your choice and keep us posted.

Jim

 

[Southeast Overland]

If it was me I'd keep it simple with the electric winch - maybe add a dual battery set-up.

 

[BELMONT148]

I was under the impression from MM that all I had to do was install this in line with my current P-series saginaw pump and my AGR steering box. I was going to add a cooler for more fluid and to keep the temps down.

Are you saying that I need a dedicated pump just to run the hydraulic winch? That is not what's advertised as the proper install, but it sounds like the stock pump might not be enough. Keep in mind that some rigs run hydro brakes and steering off the same pump, then I would see the need for a larger or dedicated pump. But according to MM even the small stock Toyota pumps put out the required PSI to run the winch at capacity.

All this is coming up because I found a new MM winch with all the hoses, snatch block, straps, and mounting plate for $500.

I can buy the XRC from 4WP's and make a plate and buy a second battery for the same price. Sounds like that might be the better option to have 2 batteries anyway.

I have just heard good things for both sides, and wanted to know what was good for our area and wheeling. The dual battery will probably save me more than the winch anyways.

Thanks for the help, I needed to make a decision because if I went the hydraulic route, there is no point in doing it later as I need to hook up my PS hoses now. The electric/dual battery setup can be a winter project. I just needed to make a decision one way or the other.

Now to keep an eye out for another 8274 like the deal I found for JP. PS hoses will be hooked up tonight along with the driveshafts and throttle cable.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[Carp]

If it was me I'd keep it simple with the electric winch - maybe add a dual battery set-up.

I agree. If your battery dies, at least you can trade batteries with a buddy on the trail or even run your winch from their battery through cables. Hard to build hydraulic pressure with someone else's rig.

 

[BELMONT148]

Gotcha, gotcha. No sense in being the oddball out.

Winch and dual battery system will be a Christmas present and winter install.

Now I will go ahead and spend that $500 on dual fuel cans and rack, CO2 tank and mount, Hi-lift recovery kit, tow strap, and Currie EZ-Deflator.

All that plus my spare tire, plug kit, and tow chains should be most of the recovery/safety gear I need.

Any other things I am forgetting?

Jeremy

 

[ClemsonCruiser]

For offroading stick with eletric for sure.... since 99% of your winch useage will be short lived recovery situations. The only area where a Hydraulic or PTO for that matter really makes sense is in continued long duration winching situations, say for hours on end(thus why the military uses them). That is where a hydraulic/PTO is really going to shine over an electric..... as electrics really don't like long winching sessions

My 40 had a ramsey PTO on it when I first got it and it was essentially useless on the trail as whenever I really needed it I was usually in such a steep angle that my carb./engine wouldn't run. But say around the yard it was perfect for dragging logs and would work all day long with out a compliant.

just my 2cents

 

[BMThiker]

you can bet they didn't use an electric winch for this recovery


The back story on this is that they found a Russian t-34 tank in a German lake 50 years after WWII. The tank had been captured by the Germans (hence the German markings), but it was practically in mint condition when they pulled it from this boggy lake.