Wednesday, Aug 14, 2019 at 22:25
The 'rating' is generally a load of bollocks when you look at the actual figures.
The people that sold you the winch and the bar will happily sell you a snatch block or two, so all of a sudden you can double the pulling ability and exceed the stated rating.
The stated pulling capacities of a popular winch are [lb(kg)]:
1st wrap: 9500 (4310) v 12,000 (5450)
2nd wrap: 8190 (3720) v 9800 (4450)
3rd wrap: 7060 (3200) v 8300 (3770)
4th wrap: 6080 (2760) v 7200 (3270)
This capacity is about the point that the winch stalls out. Its a rare recovery when you are down to the 1st wrap of cable on the drum and then you run the risk of the drum spinning and the cable tearing lose, so going max power in that situation is not recommended.
2 wraps of cable on a 12000lb winch and you're pretty much in the margin of error for the rating of the bar.
Most of them have the same motor, just different gearing, so the higher rated winch is slower but they both have the same footprint and fit the same bolt pattern.
Advantage is that you can get a bit more pulling power, but its slower, but not as slow as reaching for a snatch block and the extension straps that may also be required for the smaller winch.
Still, a much better option than a Tirfor.
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