Quote:
Originally Posted by speeder
Has anyone bought the Harbor Freight 12k lb. electric winch, (or any of their other ones)? I'm aware that it's built for a price, just not sure how bad it is. These winches are pricey, should I instead be looking for a good used one made in USA? I'm assuming that there are no new ones made here(?)
I know nothing about them. Does 12k lb. rating mean that it will lift 2 6k lb. PU trucks straight up into a tree at the same time? 
I need one for my car trailer, just to winch non-running project vehicles up the ramps and on. Of course I never load anything near 12k lbs. but want extra balls on this thing and it's only around $400 @ HF. The next weaker one is $300 and it's rated 7k or something.
Any advice and knowledge much appreciated!  |
the force needed to roll a car onto a trailier is given by wt of car x the sin of the ramp angle wrt the ground
for a 2500# car that goes up 12' ramps to a deck 2' above ground you need ~417#, a few guys can easily do this by pushing. Of course higher deck, shorter ramps or heavier car will need commensurately more force
the kicker is that you most need a winch when the car is no longer rolling on all 4 wheels, here you need a much bigger force/winch.
The most common size is 3500+/- 500#, some guys go as light as 1500 and others to 5000#
I'd look for rfi remote and synthetic line ~3K#+/-