If it ain't broke, reinforce it

[island45]

Last week when I did the thread about repairing my pto winch gearcase, I noticed a lot of people have the same problem with a broken housing. I decided to reinforce my repair with a fairly simple set of tabs coming off the pinion gear plates.. the bolts are in a good place to tie into to counteract the huge rotational forces that seem to snap the rear leg in the original design. Seems like you lucky sobs that have a good one might want to spend a couple hours fabbing up something like this. I used what I found laying around... Many variations will work. The winch in the photo is upside down and taken from the back (input) side. I did a variation for the front. These brackets will be almost completely hidden when installed... an ounce of prevention for the virgin ones, and an insurance policy for the repaired ones...

 

[65swb45]

That sir is not only an excellent idea, but beautiful in its simplicity. I would consider this on par with the transfer case 'saver', but more so, as PTO housings are a LOT HARDER to come by than transfer cases.

There are a couple of other guys I know that are going thru their PTO units right now. I hope they are paying attention.

Best

Mark A.

 

[lostmarbles]

Great idea.

And thank heavens you posted a photo. I thought that earlier post was refering to the PTO g/box casing that bolts to the transfer case! (I was wondering what kind of abuse a winch would be receiving to break that!)

 

[rabid]

great idea. when mines comes off for the frame swap, I plan on using your design. to you.

 

[BigRedFJ40]

Nice Job!!!!! Definatly something I wouldn't have thought of..... I will be stea;ing this idea too

 

[highlandcruzer]

Great idea man. Good job ! I'll be filing this in my "upgrades to do" list in my subscribed threads.

 

[island45]

Sheesh. I'm flattered by these responses. Lost Marbles, there were two similar winch/pto threads running simultaneously. Mine was called 'PTO winch gearcase', in which I decided to use a welding method suggested by pinhead to repair the broken housing. It contained quite a few photos. It was on 2/26. I would post a link, but don't know how. Would someone be willing to do it for me? Thanks.

 

[Robert LaDuke]

Here ya go

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/206441-pto-winch-gearcase.html

 

[lostmarbles]

Here ya go

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/206441-pto-winch-gearcase.html

Thanks for this link Robert. I think I viewed this thread only near the beginning of its life.

You've done a truly excellent job Island 45! The obviously-weak "birdsh*t welds" have been totally transformed into what looks like solid-casting (with a corresponding increase in strength).

Goes to show what a bit of thought and effort can achieve.



PS. I've added your photo to a group of them that I've collected from MUD to help me when I get around to reinstalling my winch.

 

[island45]

REALLY, I have gotten a lot of confidence to try new things from what i've seen here on this site. The build threads are amazing, and the people here have been soooo helpful when I have questions about welding or anything else cruiser related. My regular friends are great, but they don't know a split transfer case from a hole in the ground....

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Brilliant!

Brilliant!

I think it goes without saying that I'll adopt this idea, chrome the brackets, and pretend to be a hot dog.

Dan

PS-just kidding about chroming the brackets, because that'd be lame.

 

[cruiserbrett]

Hope you dont mind if I copied your great idea. My gearcase had only stripped threads in the front mount, but since the winch is going on my 72 FJ55, and I plan on using the winch from time to time I figured it was cheap insurance, nevermind piece of mind when winching. I can only imagine what would happen if for some reason the mounting ear broke off completely when under a large load... I'm picturing winching up a steep hill or something along those lines.

 

[lostmarbles]

Beautiful job.

But a shame to have to weld around all that sparkling new paint

 

[Adventure Teq]

Wow those are neato. Nice work fellas.

 

[76 PTO]

In was thinking of making a plate with the same bolt circle as the side of the housing and tieing that in from thr front and the back angle iron. It could be a bolt on afair with 2 holes to be drilled in the angle iron.

 

[island45]

Very nice job of it! My rear brackets were bolted on, but the front had less room so I welded it to the angle iron. It will still slide out for repairs. I have since swapped for another pto winch setup with just the front mounting ears busted off. I'm excited to take what I learned on this and do another for my next winters project... I'd like to to test mine out, but that's a bit tough since there isn't an engine in it yet.