Thread: Winching In and Out of a Shed

Hello All,

I would like to set up a system where vehicles I am working on can be pulled into my shed at the start of the day and then pulled out at the shed at the end of the day. I am planning on getting one of the local bobcat operators in with their widest auger and did a hole where two steel I-beams can be concreted into the ground. One steel I-beam will be at the back of the shed.

Distances
The other I-beam will be 18 metres (59 feet) away from the front of the shed and be positioned in a garden. The total distance between the two I beams will be 27 metres (88.5 feet).

Load Capacity
The vehicles to be winched in and out of the shed range from a 1940 MCP Chevrolet Holden General Service truck to a Land Rover Defender.

Operational
Remote press button operation from inside the vehicle's cabin
A 12 volt battery operated system.
Possibly something like the type of winch that gets fitted to a four wheel drive vehicle. Instead, of mounting it onto a vehicle, mounting the winch on a steel frame that is hooked to the I-beam anchor point. Then the winch hook or shackle being hooked to the vehicle.

Limitations
My lack of knowledge about powered winches. I have plenty of experience with manually operated Tirfor winches - not powered ones

Background
Yesterday afternoon, I had another vehicle become inoperable while it was parked outside of my shed. I do have a tractor and other vehicles I could use to tow the currently immobile vehicle into the shed. As things some time go, the vehicle is parked right in a direct line to the bay in the shed where I park my daily driver. The same bay is the one where I park vehicles that I am going to work on. It has not been an uncommon event where a replacement part unexpectedly needs to be ordered from overseas. In the meantime the vehicle sits snug inside my shed, while my daily driver gets parked outside in all types of weather. This is not an ideal sort of situation.

So yesterday, when the current offending vehicle dropped either its clutch master cylinder or its clutch slave cylinder it got me thinking. Wouldn't it be good if I could just hook up a winch and press a button and be able to steer the vehicle into the shed to be worked on. If things go astray and more parts are needed - to be able to ... hook up a winch and press a button and be able pull the vehicle outside of the shed and then park my daily drive inside the shed so it is outside of the weather.

Possible Layout
I do not want to hook up to any of the shed wall frames and place strain on them. Instead, one I-Beam will be located outside of the shed and be positioned very close to the edge of the shed's concrete slab. A small hole cut into the metal cladding and something like a sling located under the bottom shelf of some pallet racking. This sling will be the hitching point for one end of the winch. As mentioned previously, the other I-beam will be located in a garden. This herbaceously located I-Beam will allow the vehicle to be towed well out of the way so that there is unimpeded access to the shed.

So, given the previously provided information - where to from here?

• What sort of winch, or possibly two winches would I need?
  
• What sort of capacity would the winch need to have?
  
• What type of material winch cable would be best?
  

Oh, one last limitation - it would be a system where no cables are left laying across the ground after the vehicle has been repositioned.

A quick look online found a 12000 pounds or 5443.10844 kg capacity winch from Kings for a four wheel drive that is on sale and has a $200 Australian dollar discount! However, I do not know if this winch has adequate capacity to move the dead weight of a 30 CWT Chevrolet/Holdens General Service truck? So, I do not want to swoop on the deal and get left with something not capable of doing the intended job.

Would the 12000 pounds 5443.10844 kg winch be capable of the job or is it too under-capacity. If it is not up for the job - what capacity should I be looking for?

One good thing is that the length of cable shown in the advertisement for the winch was identified as 26 metres of synthetic rope. One question answered!

I just remembered a scene in the movie The Gods Must be Crazy where the driver gets distracted while winching a little short wheel base Series 1 Land Rover. The next thing the Land Rover is off the ground and moving up in the air to the tree branch the winch was hooked up to! ... Just found it on YouTube accessed 28th of May 2023 from,Land Rover Stuck In The Tree Scene From The Gods Must Be Crazy - YouTube


Hopefully, I have included enough information for more winch-learned people to work off. If you need more information please let me know. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to access your insight. The door for constructive suggestions is now opened!

Kind regards
Lionel

My thought upon reading this was also that you just need a rigid towing bar, I made one decades ago to bring a dead toyota home from the bush and it has been very useful for just this sort of thing- but you do need two people and a second vehicle so I can see why you aren't happy with this solution.
Any 4wd winch will be sufficient for your job unless you have a very steep approach to the shed; usually in use they are pulling a vehicle that is either heavily bogged or on steep terrain. A used 8000lb winch is probably cheap to acquire these days as all the cool kids want bigger numbers. Also as mentioned above, an anchor point affixed to your slab with masonry anchors will easily suffice; I have moved my metal lathe around in my shed by winching off the base of the shed columns- the lathe weighs around 2 tonnes and was sliding on a sheet of plywood- far more lateral load than a vehicle on wheels!
How will you power the winch?