THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FREE AND IS TO BE USED AS A GUIDE ONLY.

Vehicle Recovery & Plant Equipment Winching

How To Decide On Which Winch to buy:

There are a number of points to be taken into consideration before deciding on which winch to buy. 

To pull the average small car up onto a trailer or flatbed you may only need a winch with say a pulling power of 4,000 lbs., however, these smaller type winches also have small drums with thin hi-tensile type of wire ropes, usually with a maximum length of 15.2 Mt. ( 50' ) and a maximum diameter of 6.4mm., due to their construction such ropes tend to be less flexible than those of a larger diameter which are used in our semi-pro and professional range, they therefore come into the category of our "domestic / leisure range and are suitable only for light duty usage. Whilst a winch from our domestic / leisure range will work perfectly well, they do need to be treated with care and consideration if used in a commercial environment. Therefore if you are an owner / user, then such winches may be worth while considering. If however they are to be operated by your staff, then you should only consider a winch from the semi professional range or the more heavy duty professional range, as these are designed and built to withstand the riggers of commercial applications, you also have to consider Health & Safety as it is your responsibility to ensure that the equipment used is suitable for the job in hand. The larger semi professional and heavy duty professional winch range are suited for commercial and industrial winching applications.

When deciding on the pulling power you require you must take in to account that all winches are rated on the first layer of wire rope on the drum, and as you winch in and the layers of wire rope build up you can loose power of between 10% and 15% per layer of rope, so, you may start off with a winch pulling power of say 4,000 lbs. but by the time you have fully winched your load in and you now have a full drum of rope your pulling power is far from 4,000 lbs. As an example a winch with a rated line pull of 4,000 lbs.. with only a 10% reduction per layer will have a line pull of 3,600lbs. on the second layer,  3,240 lbs. on the third layer and 2,916 lbs. on the fourth layer, and 2,624 lbs on the fifth layer, etc.

Duty Cycle and Usage. You must carefully consider how hard you need your winch to work. For commercial activities such as vehicle recovery, plant & equipment loading, industrial activities, emergency services, where the winch will be expected to work hard all day every day, then you should only consider a winch from the Professional range, whilst more expensive, it will more than pay for itself over time. 

Electric or Hydraulic, which one to choose? It is often considered that even if you have hydraulics on your vehicle then you may still choose Electric, this is because if your hydraulics fail you still have your electric winch. If cost is an issue then you will usually find it cheaper to buy Electric, even if you have hydraulics via a P.T.O. ( Power Take Off ) serving other hydraulic equipment, you still have to buy the control valves, pipes and fittings.

Hydraulic winches are designed and built for the professional, and range from 8,000 lbs to 45,000 lbs line pull. Larger versions can be built to special order.

There are two winch power variants, electric and hydraulic, for both the Light Recovery & Heavy Recovery sectors: 

Electric Winch Range for light vehicle recovery:

There are two model ranges, Semi Professional, and Professional Heavy Duty, both are available in 12 volt and 24volt.

Semi Professional light / medium duty electric winches

If you are only pulling cars and light vans onto a low loader then our Talon 9.5 with a line pull of 9,500 lbs (4,309Kg.) line pull represents exceptional value for money £ for lb. For extra pulling power you should consider either the Talon 12.5 with 12,500 lbs (5,670kg) line pull or the Talon 14 with 14,500 lbs (6,350kg) line pull. or the high performance Talon 18 with 18,000 lbs. (8,165Kg.) line pull. All these are available in both 12v and 24 volt.

Professional heavy duty electric winches

The professional range starts with the Husky which is renowned as the "Industry Standard" as it has a long proven and envious track record for durability and power. It is available with a range of options in both 8,500 lb and 10,000 lb line pull models. The Husky is a true heavy duty workhorse ideal for accident recovery and high volume loading and unloading. For higher pulling power then you should consider the extra heavy duty E10P with 10,000 lbs. line pull. The E12P with 12,000 lbs. line pull. Or the E14P with 14,000 lbs line pull. The E14P is only available in 24 volt. These winches are aimed at the serious professional recovery and plant operator. All these models are built here in the UK.

( Model Reference: E = Electric. P= Planetary Drive Gearbox )

Hydraulic Winch Range for light vehicle recovery:

All our hydraulic winches come under the Professional range. There are two model ranges medium duty and heavy duty.

Medium duty hydraulic winches

Available in: 

  9,000 lb line pull, model H9W 

14,000 lb line pull, model H14W

( Model Reference: H = Hydraulic. W= Worm Drive Gearbox )

(Also see Heavy Duty range below)

Electric Winch Range for heavy vehicle recovery:

Due to the high current draw of electric winches the highest line pull possible for a heavy duty winch is 14,000 lb. 

The minimum line pull within this sector is a 12,000 lb line pull, such as the E12P or the E14P with a line pull of 14,000 lb. being the highest.

Hydraulic Winch Range for heavy vehicle recovery:

In the heavy sector the smallest hydraulic model starts with the H14P with 14,000 lb line pull, but for the serious operator the top of the range models are the H20P, H25P, H30P, H45P, with 20,000 lb., 25,000 lb., 30,000 lb., 45,000 lb., line pull respectively. 

Heavy duty hydraulic winches

Available in:

  8,000 lb. (3,268Kg.) line pull, model H8P

14,000 lb. (6,350Kg.) line pull, model H14P

20,000 lb. (9,032Kg.) ine pull, model H20P

25,000 lb. (11,340Kg.) line pull, model H25P

30,000 lb. (13,608Kg,) line pull, model H30P

45,000 lb. (20,412Kg.) line pull, model H45P

( Model Reference: H = Hydraulic. P= Planetary Drive Gearbox )

Most of the above also applies to the plant hire industry, particularly the Heavy Recovery Sector. However, serious consideration has to be applied to the application particularly when winching heavy plant with tracks over unmade ground such as building sites.

The weight of the load.

Is on free rolling wheels.

What is the gradient that it is being winched up. 

The ground surface, i.e., sand, mud, or hardcore etc. 

With the above information we can make the necessary calculations, and advise you on which winch to buy.

THIS INFORMATION IS INTENDED AS A GUIDE ONLY.

ONLY COMPETENT AND FULLY TRAINED PERSONS SHOULD OPERATE A WINCH.

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