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So, I was looking at the venrable old LU-4 I pulled out of the front end, and I got to thinking... Would I be better off spending all the cash putting bearings, seals, hydraulic drive motor, lines, switch valve, etc into the LU-4....

OR


BLASPHEMY!!! Sell it. And Go get a pair of 12K lb Warns, and put one on each end?

Will, you've been here, and done this. You ended up rocking the warn.

How come?

If you are upgrading electrics to over 100 amps your plane makes sense.

Another option would be modern Hydraulic winches on each end. They don't tax your electrical system the way an electric one would. And didn't you already build a pump for full time use, with an electric clutch. I beleive Northern tool sells one from Ramsey that would go on a Rollback wrecker. Cheaper than an electric as well IIRC.

$.02
Brett

If I were to replace the mechanical winch (which is still a very good winch) I would go with hydrauic winch over electric. All the new military trucks today have hydro winches.

Josh,

I have two 12,000 lb. Ramsey electric winches sitting in my garage. My dad had the same idea of putting a front and back winch set-up on his F-350 but he passed away before he could get all the components in place. I never saw the need for the winches so I never mounted them.
My dad purchased them from Northern Hydraulics about 10-12 years ago and they have been sitting on a shelf in my garage ever since. If you are interested I can give you a hell of a deal on them.

I don't have any mounting hardware or controls for them and as far as I know they are factory rebuilds (one for sure is - don't know about the other). They do have 1/2" cables w/ hooks and the cable guides. They are heavy as hell so if you want them we will have to work out some sort of shipping arrangement.

Kevin

Kevin, I'm going to send a PM your way. Josh

A good plus to consider with a electric winch is if you drown your engine you can still winch your way of the bogg

yeah, there are pluses and minuses on each side. Basically, it boils down to the electric being slower, and slightly more delicate, but, well maintained, it will run any time.

With hydro, or mechanical drive, as you point out, if the engine stops for some reason (like, if you drown it, or lay it on its side, which is generally when you need a winch) you're screwed.