Landcruiser pto winch on a safari

[Chewy69a]

Hey has anyone put a landcruiser PTO winch on a safari?

I have a Safari and its got the stock pto drive on it etc but no winch. I'm looking at putting a landcruiser winch on the front as I hear they are a bit more durable and they are certainly more common.

A few Q's that hopefully someone can assist with...

Is the pto driveshaft on the same side? (I know safari is on the passengers)
Do the driveshafts rotate the same way or will the winch go backwards?
Is there any difference in ratios?

Any advice appreciated...

[fweddy]

Is the pto driveshaft on the same side? (I know safari is on the passengers)

Landcruiser is also on passenger side

That's one of three questions and the only one I can answer!

[mudlva]

nissans have a straight forward reverse system so it will depend on which direction you engage the lever

i think off hand LC winchs are around 36/38 to 1 ratio
dont know about the nissans

[Sadam_Husain]

Theres plenty of Saf winches around that sell for 300-350 bucks so thats a pretty easy bolt up option

A few Q's that hopefully someone can assist with...

Is the pto driveshaft on the same side? (I know safari is on the passengers)

driveshaft is on the same side

Do the driveshafts rotate the same way or will the winch go backwards?

this is the one to confuse you, pto shafts rotate in opersite directions but both winches turn in the same direction, cruiser winches spool the rope from the top of the drum and saf winches spool from the bottom so the cruiser winch will be running in reverse and you'll be spooling the cable off the bottom of the drum the same as a Saf winch putting everything back in the right direction ie: put your pto in forward and it'll winch forward and stick it in reverse and it'll spool the cable back out. That wont make any differnce to the cruiser winch theres no strength difference whichever way your driving it

the short version of that is shove the cruiser winch on and spool the rope on the bottom of the drum the same as a Saf winch and it'll all work

Is there any difference in ratios?

they both have almost identical size 33T bronse gears so winch ratios are the same, the cruiser ones have a wee bit more meat on the teeth but there isnt much in it




I wouldnt really say the cruiser winches would be much more durable if anything than a Saf winch, the worm drives are near identical. The cruiser winchs have a steel drum which dosent crack and break like the Saf ones when you bunch too much cable and loading onto the side of the drum but thats just part of winching smart and being aware of whats going on with the cable and what sort of angles/lengths/cable diameter your pulling on and how things are spooling up. The Saf winches use a 8mm shear pin on the winch and the cruisers use a 4mm pin that lasts about 2 seconds before they need replacing, you cant really drill them out any further without changing to a bigger coupling. You'd probably be ok using the Saf coupling on the end of your PTO shaft and redrilling the shaft on the cruiser winch to 8mm, I think the winch shaft diameters are the same or pretty close.

The pic below shows the difference in the shearpin sizes on the couplings (top Saf and bottom cruiser), there isnt enough meat on the cruiser couplings to drill them any bigger without weakening them and they can explode easy enough as they are





If it was me mate I'd just throw a Saf winch on it and be aware that you can risk busting the drum if your not keeping an eye on how the cables spooling onto the drum and putting too much side load on it, I've got a standard unmodified Saf winch on my cruiser, its been reliable and I've been pretty happy with its performance

[Crash bandicoot]

Any considered changing out that yoke for one from a tractor P.T.O shaft? with a shear bolt?

[Chewy69a]

Thanks all that have replied, Sadam that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

The main problem with the safari winches is certainly the alloy drum but I think I can conquer that by running the synthetic / dyneema type rope and perhaps running a narrow alloy fairlead so it doesn't load up the side of the drum.

I think the other thing that has given the Nissan winches a bad name amongst a few of my mates is the fact that people run the wrong oil, I know that they need the proper 600w stuff as I've seen guys run standard 80/90 gear oil and they last about two bogs before they start sounding gnarly!

Oh and Crash Bandicoot's tractor pto yolk looks like a sweet idea too.

[Sadam_Husain]

The only other thing I've found is the rope size, 30-35m of 10mm spools up nicely on the drum and allows a bit of uneven layering and bunching up without much of a problem, I had a bad run on my last 10mm rope it broke about 6 times in the first 17 or 18 winches I did with it so I brought a 12.5mm amsteel rope but the max I can get spooled onto the drum if its layered evenly is about 23m so I end up with the remaining 10m wound off on the horns, it means every time I winch I have to spool most of the rope off the drum and anchor off something 30m away and I cant do any long pulls without having to reset every 10-15m and I cant winch right up close to anything also winching on any angles bunches the rope up badly on the side of the drum within a few metres, definately need to go to a modified larger capacity drum if you want to use a rope over 10mm

[crazyclark31]

i ran a cruiser winch on my safari. The yoke just slid on the pto shaft(was a tight fit). Drilled the hole out to take a 8mm ht bolt and never had any issues. It is bigger across the mounting hole meaning it will stick out further . Can be sorted by moving everything back closer to the radiator.

found the free spool lever was easier to set up for in cab release which was the main reason i changed.

[mudlva]

Any considered changing out that yoke for one from a tractor P.T.O shaft? with a shear bolt?

mate that looks like the business ah

[mudtroll]

To answer your first question, yes, I bought a landcruiser winch that was set up with Nissan PTO & drive shafts.

I think as previously said you'd prob better off just running a nissan winch, I havent broken a drum yet, set up the hawse opening so it's narrower than the drum so cable dosen't bunch on the sides.

I've got 40m of Dynex Dux 75 ( thin diameter for it's strenght) easily on my winch & with the way it's set up could have got 50m on it.

I have a Nissan winch for sale if your interested

[Crash bandicoot]

Any considered changing out that yoke for one from a tractor P.T.O shaft? with a shear bolt?

mate that looks like the business ah

yeah they come in all sizes too so shouldn't be too much of an issue to find one to fit, even a second hand one from "farmer joe".

I prefer electric winches as ive never owned a 4x4 as big as a saf or cruiser.

[Chewy69a]

found the free spool lever was easier to set up for in cab release which was the main reason i changed.

Yeah a friend has that setup on his truck which is simple to do with the basic lever style cruiser freespool.

The safari hub type freespool can be a pest when its 4am and your fingers are frozen stiff and even gayer when the thing is underwater.

I'm currently running a Runva 24v winch with synthetic rope which is nice and fast, its been great but I don't rate the nissan alternators in fact I've had three of them shit themselves in only four years and it seems to be every time I use the winch. at $600 for a 70 amp alternator and $400 worth of batteries I've decided to go for a pto...

Anyone looking for a 24 volt winch thats had bugger all use?