Thread: Hydraulic driven winch???

yes it is, its fairly common when doing hydraulic winchs you can get away without extra oil storage (once the system is primed) but I would reccomend other wise, a large metal finned tank to hold an extra liter or 2 would benifit from a life of oil and temp perspective.

general consensus seems to be that the stock L/R pump isn't cut out for it. Either fit a different pump, or Maxi Drive make a bolt on conversion to fit a Cross Hydraulic pump to the PTO output on the rear of the LT230 t/case.

Originally Posted by Roverray

Is it possible to put in diversion valves on the power steering to drive a winch motor. I have thought about it many times but have not done the research-- ie flow/pressure increased oil storage etc

Hydraulic winches can be hooked up to the power steering pump. No need for any diversion valves.

The popular hyd winches use fixed displacement gerator type motors (low speed high torque).

Torque, hence line pull, is proportional to system pressure and motor displacement. The motors used on popular hyd winches have a large enough displacement to be suitable for the operating pressure of most steering pumps.

Speed of the winch depends upon the motor displacement and the flow rate from the pump. As Rick said, the output of the Rover steering pump will result in slow speed.

Fitting a larger pump, oil reservoir, directional control valve and overcentre valve, is an expensive route and not necessary if you only need the winch for occasional recovery, where speed is not an issue (as it is in competitions).

The biggest issue with the low speed, is not so much when winching the vehicle over/through an obstacle, as winding the slack rope back on. The hyd winch speed hardly changes between no and maximum rope load.

By comparison, an electric winch is fastest under no load and slows down as the load increases. When an average electric winch reaches it's maximum practical load, it will be as slow (or slower) than a hyd winch powered from the steering pump.

If the load is enough to stall an electric motor, the smoke will leak out, but the hyd winch will just stop and the oil will return to the reservoir through the relief valve.

Many hyd winches have a 2 speed gearing and high speed can be used for light loads.

Another issue if using the steering pump is the winch will slow further if the vehicle steering is used while winching.

phaffle, itll do it it just wont do it fast... (which is an altogether different question) its idiots who run the engine up to full noise to spin the pump at full tilt agaisnt full load that causes the damage... High idle, maybe a tad more and some patients is the order of the day..
--edit---
bugga someones a bit quicker on the send key than me....
phaffle to rick130 (nothing personal)
and seconded to bush65
--endedit--

Thanks fellers -
slower than PTO or electric but easier than a tirfor I guess is the general belief!
anyone got the specs for Rangie pumps - early 80's ?
anyone got one setup??
Ray

Check out this review from Overlander. If gives a quick review of winches electric vs hydraulic. Pro's & Con's

http://www.overlander.com.au/equipment/index.php?id=27

Also I checked out this hydraulic winch whilst on holidays at Ballina NSW. My brothers company vehicle has this type of winch. Very impressive, although a little pricey. Out performs anything I have seen before.

http://www.bta4wd.com/category29_1.htm

Cheers

That CutSnake winch looks pretty interesting. Pity it is $4000 though. Also, if it breaks, where are you going to get it fixed? It'd be a pain to have to ship it back to Ballina any time you had a problem. Good solution to the winching problem though.

if you want to do cheap hydraulic get a second hand thomas mechanical style winch then instead of driving it back to the PTO bolt on a hyd motor with a planetry casset gearset then plumb it up.