Great to see the interest in this thread. All good questions and some interesting observations. So, since it's my winch I'll try to put a new spin on things and make some other points clear.
please excuse the spelling
Most PTO winch's (which is all this winch is) are geared so that by the very nature of the gear ratios they won't let out under load, currently as the rules stand, when using a low (4.5:1) ratio the winch will pull out under load - easily in fact, IF IT WAS NOT CONNECTED TO THE TRANSMISSION AND ENGINE!
While the engine is running, forgetting about any other brake system we are using, I have the option of winching at more or less any speed we like, from stupidly fast, to crawling, to holding position (slipping the auto) or if on a decent enough slope, coasting backwards (again slipping the auto).
All good and very easy.
To comply with rules, the simplest way, that can't be disputed is to use a rachet brake on the drum, if any thing else falls or free spool releases, the winch will still not free spin under load - THIS MAKES THIS BRAKE VERY VERY SAFE!
Comments have been made about micro switch's, reliability, fail safe, air rams etc. If we lose air pressure, break an air line, a drive shaft, the pawl is forced down into the trough of the rachet by a tension spring - you need to use a pry bar to force it off, thats why the winch is so loud working, it has 4mm of back travell to lock the drum, and then cannot be forced out by our air ram - even with no load on the drum, due to the back cut on the rachet.
To make this work
automaticly we havn't used any additional micro switches, and it can not be released manually while winching.(The way it is wired) as per the rules.
There are 2 other ways that i know of to achieve this with out using a rachet! it can be done!
Cost? The super duper steel for the rachet and pawl cost $350 and the laser cutting was $150, with me supplying a cad file of the profile I wanted cut. $70 bucks for the ram, then some wireing, and another bracket to hold the pawl.
Every one who has seen the truck will have seen the other brake drum on the winch, and yes, as some people have mentioned, it is there so that we can lower the truck on the winch brake,manually controlling it, ie this allows an additional brake system to overcome the limitations of the rachet, espesially when the winch is used as a lowering device, more like a hoist? or we can connect the transfer box to drive the wheels and winch, and use the foot brakes. (alot of the discussion seems based on the principle of driveing the wheels and winching at the same time, i don't as it's not required - except for steps prehapes, and generally not driving gives better steering control)
SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY I agree that any truck / winch combination needs to be as safe as reasonably practicle - without a cab full of cotton wool, lol.
Any winch, should hold any where (the trucks weight basically) and not be reliant on the drivers experience of weather or not it will hold.
No Winch is fast enough to pull the ground Anchour through the front window, most winch's are strong enough to put enough tension into the rope, loading it with enough potential energy to do some damage, which is as I understand it, the reason for synthetic rope. Should we ban all rope less than say 12mm because of the extra stored energy in smaller ropes?
Reliability of an auto brake? While I'm the first to admit we had problems with the winch, sigh....no other winch was assembled 7 hours before scrutenering. The auto brake system operates faultlessly, and any problem in the system, the tension spring would have locked the pawl down.
Releasing the rachet brake caused all our problems, sigh.....but now have that sorted
There is no doubt that PTO winch takes a little more practice to get the hang of, than say a hydrulic or electric, but when set up correctly they are as safe, if not safer (depending on where or how) they are braked. By far, the most winching accidents / near miss's are when a rope breaks. (mechanical failure, which will always be a factor in any type of machine)
Admitedly, I'm a bit biased, as I'm nearly sorted with a winch which complys with the existing rules, and believe that taking the
auto braking requirment out, is a step backwards in terms of safety.
I like KISS to, and from my perspective the winch braking automaticlly, is keeping it simple stupied?
Keep the rule the same?
just my opinion, thanks for reading
Cheese
)In competition have you ever been winching up a hill ,through a bog etc and had to stop and reset ,engaged free spool to run out the rope to reset while standing on the brake.Is this not dissengaging the Auto brake? .And yes my freespool will unlock while stationary under load but not while im winching it has a big grunty air ram with other mods
the two other brake methods I can think of arn't any of these either - alot of clever guys out there. We need to encourage outside the square thinking, and discourage cheque book racing, as that will kill the sport.
