pto winch pro's and con's

[eedgell]

Found a pto winch the other day for free if I want it. It is all complete with drive shaftes, and pto. Damn guy bought a 80' 1 ton srw with 60 front running for $1000.00 bucks, and does'nt want the winch. Are pto winches more of the way to go, bang for the buck, or are electric's better? If so why?

[Stocker]

Electrics are fine for occasional limited use, but if you use it often, or for extended pulls, or very heavy use... I'd prefer a pto. It's heavier and more work to install, but you can pretty much use it all day if you need to. I'm not sure but I think they are also faster than electric winches...

[89 crew]

but speed of a pto winch is based by the gear ratio. So it depends on how it is setup on what it can do. If you install a pto winch right, lube it occasionally, it will last as long as the truck or longer. Pto winches should also have more power than a electric winch. If you want to modify the pto winch a bit it can also be made hydraulic powered.

[1969 GMC]

one big downside is that pto winches, duh, will only work with the engine running. this could potentially be a bad thing if you are into heavy wheeling.

other than that, pto winches never overheat or stall out like electrics do. how many hp is your engine? that will tell you how many hp your winch is

also, run it off of your transfer case if at all possible...that way you can use the transmission as a gear box for the winch...if you have an sm465, you have a 4 speed winch with power in (reverse)...if its mounted to the tranny, it will have to be reversible to have power in, and rely on engine rpm instead of gears.

i have a divorced transfer case with a pto that i got for free, and if i can find a pto winch, its going in my gmc.

[pumpkin]

My first choice is hydraulic, second is pto. I do wheel pretty hard, so with pto I'ld just have another set ot diveshafts and u joints to mess up. I ru hydraulic, and always hear, "if you stop running , your winch wont work". My argument to that is, if your engine is not running, your winch is'nt going to get you home. So you probably need a tow.

[special-K]

I always hear that about ptos only being good when engine`s running.But,it would be a pretty bad and rare situation to get stuck and the engine goes out at the same time,unless you`re in water.Then,an electric winch wouldn`t do you any good.A truck doesn`t need to be running to use an electric winch.But,for how long before you kill the battery.Cross your fingers on that.
That`s just my opinion.I like a 4spd 300hp winch the best.It`s really cool to drive the winch with your go pedal`shift,and steer with your hands.If your truck isn`t able to run you`re going to need someone to haul you out anyway once you`re out of the hole.I wouldn`t turn away any winch away,espesially for free.But I prefer good old pto.Maybe it`s the farmboy in me.With an electric you need a killer charging system and in tip top shape.If you rarely use it,you either have to keep right on top of it for just in case.If you`re not right up on system being full output,chances are the one time you need it you may not have much winch as you need(especially with motor not running)A maintainence issue you won`t have w/pto,which has nearly no maintainence.Even when the electric winch gets the unrunning truck out,is there enough battery to start the motor and drive out.

[eedgell]

I agree with you Special-K. The way this thing is mounted, it looks pretty tight to the exhaust with the drive shaft. That would be the only down side of a pto. That is, keeping things out of the drive shaft. It is an off breed to me. The name started with a "B" Bransen maybe? I dont know. Ramsey is the only one I have been around in the pto configuration.

[special-K]

Braden

[89 crew]

My personal favorite is a pto winch that has a hydraulic motor turning it.The down side of it is, It does add more weight to the truck, and It costs more to install. The advantage to it is variable speed by gas peddle, and valve, forward and reverse quick direction change. it is a lot easier to route hydraulic hoses around a truck. If the winch doesn't move as fast as you want increase gpm of pump.

[79oldj]

A good advantage is it will run underwater but if your winch is very far under you probaply have bigger problems than a stuck truck. I personally like a pto for the reliability of it with no electronics. They also have a ton of pulling power compared to most electric setups.

[LawMan02]

PTO is the way to go. I haven't used mine often but when you need it, it's a hoss. Get the winch and if you decided you don't want it, sell it to me. lol

[eedgell]

Originally Posted by special-K

Braden

What do you know about braden winches? Good, bad, still in business?

[1969 GMC]

Originally Posted by eedgell

What do you know about braden winches? Good, bad, still in business?

I am pretty sure they are still in bidness. I went to Sam Winer motors (cool place) last summer to look around, and they had them in stock. I have a PTO on my divorced NP201 transfer case that was made by Braden. I'm pretty sure they were OE equipment on the M37 Dodge trucks. Seem to be fairly bulletproof.

[roger0080]

LawMan02 what's the mfg and model number of that pto on the transfer case?

Also, is that factory red on your truck, looks nice (post a few pics of it too (or start a new thread!)

[K20chevy]

That is THE nicest long bed stepside I´ve seen! I love that truck! Abssolutely perfect! If I ever get my hands on a long bed stepside K20 or K2500, that is what it´ll look like!
How do the swampers run on road, very bad or tolerable?

Originally Posted by LawMan02

PTO is the way to go. I haven't used mine often but when you need it, it's a hoss. Get the winch and if you decided you don't want it, sell it to me. lol

[doubleclucker]

Been running PTO winches for years-Powered directly from a Chelsea duel output PTO mounted on my np205 . I have 10 power-in speeds and 2 power-out reverse speeds.
Only install these if ; you want to become the winch King of all your friends and their friends and their friends...

[special-K]

Originally Posted by eedgell

Found a pto winch the other day for free if I want it. It is all complete with drive shaftes, and pto. Damn guy bought a 80' 1 ton srw with 60 front running for $1000.00 bucks, and does'nt want the winch. Are pto winches more of the way to go, bang for the buck, or are electric's better? If so why?

One thing's for sure,a free PTO winch has it all over on any other,looking at it from your wallet.

[Redcap]

Originally Posted by pumpkin

My first choice is hydraulic, second is pto. I do wheel pretty hard, so with pto I'ld just have another set ot diveshafts and u joints to mess up. I ru hydraulic, and always hear, "if you stop running , your winch wont work". My argument to that is, if your engine is not running, your winch is'nt going to get you home. So you probably need a tow.

I agree completely.

[jeffahart]

I'm in a bit of a disagreement on order of choice.

Along with FM20-22 in glove box;
Hydraulic, Electric, Bessy the Mule in the bed with tackle, lot's of blocks and rope, PTO!

For a wrecker;
PTO, Bessy the Mule with tackle, other ideas, hydraulic.

I use hydraulic on my trucks, used Mile Marker on the rig below that I sold last year.

But to the question.
I have to say I feel like the PTO is tempting for my 70 K20 because they are Tuff and cool for sure.

What I don't like, is all the moving parts.


jeff

[OrrieG]

I grew up in the 50's and 60's with CJ and M38 jeeps with pto winches. The old man would not have an electric. I used it a lot to get me out of sticky situations, fording streams when I dropped into a hole and pulling out others. If I remember right all the rigs with winches when I was in the Army were PTO too.

[61K10]

This came on my 61k10 and it is going back on with new rope and drive shaft. runs off the sm420.

[Old Truck Man]

I suppose winches are another of the things that I collect use hoard? I prefer a PTO over a electric. And in some places a hand winch is better. Here are pictures of mine.

[Old Truck Man]

Heres more pictures. In addition I have a variety of PTO,s. My 1944 TD14A international bulldozer had a cable winch hthat operates the blade and another extra spool that could be used for pulling stuff or operate a pull pan used the move dirt. A winch is a handy thing. I drove a rollback truck it was equipped with a hydraulic motor to power the winch. I was commonly sent to retrieve non running equiptment that was burned . things like log skidders. That hydraulic winch would stall out. so we installed as a auxaullary a Bebee Bros hand winch like the one I have Pictured. When using a snatch block It would out pull the hydraulic winch.

[DWilbur]

Hands down the PTO will out perform any electric winch. if you loose power as in your engine stops running your done. Electric winches don't last long after the engine dies as ther is nothing to keep the battery going. I had 8,000 lbs electric winch running on 2 12 volt batteries and it would last about 1 minute after the engine died. so bottom line loose your main sorse of power it don't matter what winch you have your not goning far. stick with the PTO you will have new friend by end of the trail.

[V30 mongo]

It is true, most PTO driven winches will make any electric unit look like a little toy junk. But most, if not all, newer trucks do not have PTO capabilities. So, an electric winch is the only option. The manufactures seem to be making trucks that are really doctored up cars. They sell well, so until the customer starts to demand "REAL" trucks again, this is the way it is....