I an looking for a hand winch capable of safely pulling my Neon onto my trailer. Does suc a winch exist? I have not found one rated for that kind of weight.
I an looking for a hand winch capable of safely pulling my Neon onto my trailer. Does suc a winch exist? I have not found one rated for that kind of weight.
if you can find one with a long enough cable, you can rig pulleys and double, triple, or quadruple it to increase the amount it can work (it will just do it slower).
Up to 3200 pounds capacity. One of these would do:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category_6970_85683+278918?cm_ven=PPC&cm_cat=I-search%20(Google%20Adwords)&cm_pla=winches&cm_ite=marine%20trailer%20hand%20winches
OR http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=543
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=5798 (should be able to get the job done, your not dead lifting the car)
just flip through here http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=winch&Submit=Go
I'll put a crank handle on it for you: winch
This style sucks It is way slow to use and it task for ever to unwind. It will take two people to use it as one person turns the crank to unwind the other has to keep tension on it. Then it is a slow task to pull a car up and the cable will not seat its self on the spool. I am not every sure about what does works.
a cheap electric unit beats and hand operates unit, atv winched with a snatch block in a double line configuation work well and aren't too tough on the bedget
WW Grainger sells a brand called Dayton. Superwinch makes it for them. They are identical except for the sticker on the cover. I've had them both apart side by side and they are the same internally. Depending on how fancy you want, a 3000LBS unit that comes with the roller fairlead, a snach block and remote starts at $340. Go to their on-line store and look at part number 1DMP5. It is a simple unit. The 4JY72 is also a good deal but you will always be pulling at the upper limit or have to double the line - and that doubles the pulling time, which doubles the run time, which doubles the battery drain. I purchased a 4000lbs unit (3VJ68) and it has been flawless. I mounted it on steel plate with handles and pin it into place when needed and used a plug to go from the trailer deck to the back of the truck.
I dearly love having a boat winch on the front of my trailers for this sort of thing. A decent hand one has two speeds and a neutral for easy deployment and use. I winch cars up all the time with mine.
There are cheap electric ones as well. Including portable ones. Not as handy as they sound though. By the time you get done unboxing things and connecting things and wiring it up, etc. You'd have been done by using the hand one.
A cable come-a-long will work, but it's probably the slowest way known to man to winch.
Beware of reduction pullies. Yes, you get more power, but you also slow things down tremendously. Don't use them if you don't have to.
Umm, are you hoisting the car into the air, or just dragging it onto the trailer?
Trailer winches are never rated for the entire weight of the payload, look at how much a boat weighs, and then how much the winches are rated for, and you'll see what I mean.
Having said that, it's great to have excess capacity if you can afford it.
Carter
Why work that hard cranking when you have this?
Look, it plugs into a cigarette lighter.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=43331
I had a crank winch break my arm when it decided to bypass the safety pawl on it's own.
Buy a great winch, not just a good one.
I gotta agree with the electric winch being the way to go. After a long day of autocross, road racing, whatever, it is real nice to just be able to hold the button and pull the car on the trailer. With the weight of the car and the angle onto the trailer, you can figure out what the pulling weight is.
erohslc wrote: Umm, are you hoisting the car into the air, or just dragging it onto the trailer? Trailer winches are never rated for the entire weight of the payload, look at how much a boat weighs, and then how much the winches are rated for, and you'll see what I mean. Having said that, it's great to have excess capacity if you can afford it. Carter
Agree. Look how easy it is to push a car but try lifting it.
I agree with the electric winch also. I have the cheap HF one that typically goes on sale for about $50. It mounts to the front of the trailer with a receiver hitch type mount and a plug on the van is used for the power supply so I can store it and not wonder if it will walk away.
All winches can pull a Neon, manual or electric. You can even do it with a lightweight ratchet strap.
You are not lifting the car, you are rolling it.
Consider: The car may weight 2000lbs, yet you can push it unassisted. Though I don't know you personally, I'm pretty sure you can't lift 2000 lbs. If you could, you wouldn't need a winch!
+1 for electric. Cheap one will be fine.
I've got a WalMart special I bought for $29.95 (now sells for more like $75). I think it's rated for 1500 lbs. I tow A LOT, and use it all the time. I've beat it to death for like 10 years, and it still serves me just fine. I've pulled my 4000 lb El Camino onto a trailer, and assisted my 6800 lb. truck out of the mud. Plus, because it is not attached directly to the trailer, I can use it for all kinds of stuff. I just hook it to a chain tied to whatever.
We took the hand winch off one of our trailers and replaced it with an electric. It's hooked up directly to the battery of the tow vehicle. Great for when you're dealing with dead cars.
But now only the truck with the special wiring can be used with that trailer. What a pain in the butt. I want our manual winch back.
This will do the job on a rolling car with no problem:
WARN Works 1700lb Capacity 12v DC Winch $124
This is the one I have: WARN Works 3700lb Capacity 12v DC Winch $399
More capacity gives you more flexibility, but it's not something you HAVE to have.
They both come with wired "remote's" and they both "freewheel" when you're unwinding them, so you can run them out their full length very quickly then just flip a switch to engage the drive and use the remote to pull it up. With the 30' lead on the remote, I can actually sit in the car and steer it onto the trailer if I needed too!
I also have a Gel cell deep cycle marine battery in a weather box on the front of my trailer that's wired in to my electrical hookup with my trailer lights so it gets charged every time it's hooked to the tow vehicle and powers my emergency electric brakes in the event the truck and trailer become "separated"! It provides some good power when it's not connected to the trailer as well. I've actually used my "trailer" to jump start friends and other people at the track!
Cheers, WW
My little portable winch came with Alligator clips to hook onto the battery.
The cables are not quite long enough to reach my tow trailer, so I use my jumper cables as "extenders".
Works with any tow vehicle, in any location. Rides in my toolbox at all times.
rl48mini wrote: I agree with the electric winch also. I have the cheap HF one that typically goes on sale for about $50. It mounts to the front of the trailer with a receiver hitch type mount and a plug on the van is used for the power supply so I can store it and not wonder if it will walk away.
This is what I use too. They are great....a little slow, but worth the 50 bucks and can handle more weight than you'd think.
A guy showed up to haul off a non-running-but-rolling "back 40" car (he was going to use it for a derby car) and had a "$50 WalMart special" (it was a big, clumsy looking thing encased in plastic) that he swore by...Until he started using it to pull the Crown Vic onto his trailer. Once it loaded up, coming up the ramps, it would pull about a foot and then would go into thermal shutdown. Wait around a few minutes and try it again. Another few inches and "click"...shutdown again. He also had lots of trouble with getting it to lock and unlock and reverse direction and all that.
It probably took about 45 minutes by the time he set up the winch, cables, extenders...got the thing to release so he could unspool it...fought with it while it did its thermal overload dance about a dozen times...and finally got it up on the trailer.
It might be versitile, but I wasn't impressed.
Clem, who has almost zero experience with winches.
ClemSparks wrote: A guy showed up to haul off a non-running-but-rolling "back 40" car (he was going to use it for a derby car) and had a "$50 WalMart special" (it was a big, clumsy looking thing encased in plastic) that he swore by...Until he started using it to pull the Crown Vic onto his trailer. Once it loaded up, coming up the ramps, it would pull about a foot and then would go into thermal shutdown. Wait around a few minutes and try it again. Another few inches and "click"...shutdown again. He also had lots of trouble with getting it to lock and unlock and reverse direction and all that. It probably took about 45 minutes by the time he set up the winch, cables, extenders...got the thing to release so he could unspool it...fought with it while it did its thermal overload dance about a dozen times...and finally got it up on the trailer. It might be versitile, but I wasn't impressed. Clem, who has almost zero experience with winches.
I've had 2 or 3 of the 50 dollar HF specials over the years. I had the same experience as above with one of them and the other two were great, so I guess it's hit and miss. With the good ones I've loaded a 3/4 ton 4x4 diesel Dodge, 74 Pontiac Grandville, several Cherokees, couple of Trans Ams, Datsun 260Z, 65 Riviera, some Chevy trucks, several light imports, etc. I've loaded a lot of cars with these things and for the price they are great. I wish I had taken the one bad one and exchanged it as opposed to burning it out and tossing it. Eventually I'll mount a decent 8k winch to my trailer, but for now the cheap ones are serving me well.
I've used both a hand winch and a power winch. GO ELECTRIC. Jeg has a cheap unit now for around $89!! Most important thing with any electric winch is having a neutral. Lots of the lower cost units are power in and out only. Takes time and waste battery power to power out.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Superwinch/846/1220210/10002/-1
44dwarf
I don't think that the hand winch over electric should even be considered. Here's why:
Senario #1 I've been leading the race for most of the time then WHAM into a bunch of tires and my weekend is done. Now I've got to pull that car up onto my trailer. I'm hot, tired and cranky. The wife is telling me that this racing thing has got to end. My "friends" are telling me I need to learn how to drive. That manual winch worked really well when the tires pointed straight and the car rolled. Now one tire is flat and points left, the other inflated, but pointing right. Ever tried to drag 2300lbs with a bunch of people watching?
Senario #2 "Honest dear - I can't pass up this deal. It's too good. I'm sure I won't have a problem getting that (insert larger and heavier car then you have) onto that trailer. I have a winch - yah, I know it's only good to 2500lbs and that I only paid $50, but I'm sure it will be fine......
Get something that will work for when you use the trailer to haul the minivan to the dump.
Cotton wrote:rl48mini wrote: I agree with the electric winch also. I have the cheap HF one....This is what I use too. They are great....a little slow, but worth the 50 bucks and can handle more weight than you'd think.
I use this one too. I put a battery on the trailer when I'm needing to load a dead car. For $50 you can't go wrong.
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