Thread: Ox Hydraulic Winches

I've only seen them in action a couple of times, & I wan't impressed. Worked ok, but not better that an electric. Even spooling in takes forever. And at least with an electric you can hear how hard it's working, & double line it if need be. You've really gotta have experience with PTOs if you're going to avoid shear pin issues. (does the Ox have a shear pin??)

Consensus seems to be a LandRover power steering pump is adequate for power steering, but not these things as well. Unless the pull is dead ahead, turning the steering wheel will divert fluid & almost stall the winch. You really need an auxillary pump to be reliable & bulletproof in all circumstances, something like the Maxidrive one Barney referred to.

Having said all that, whenever my Warn motor fails, getting a hydraulic conversion for the hi-mount is on the cards. Fast, reliable, only $6000 all up...

Regards
Max P

$6000 all up, you could mount 5 low mounts on truck for that, 2 on the back and 3 n the front lol.

If your gonna go Hydro, you want both elecy pump and engine driven as if you just have a elecy pump you may as well buy an elecky winch.

Another advantage to a hydro pump is that you can mount a pressure guage to make sure you dont over load the winch, chassis or bullbar and when calibrated it will tell you acuratly what weight you were pulling.

Good for bragging rights.

By the way Tusker I would get in touch with Piddler before spending $6000 on your high mount converting it as he should be able to do it cheaper than that id assume if not then I would by an OX and just run a BIG pump as that is what determins your line speed on Hyrdo winches.

Yeh a bit $$$y, it's still on the wish list.

Includes the Maxidrive PTO pump, & puts a hydraulic motor theough the hi-mount gearbox.

Only heard of one conversion, but by all reports works extremely well.

Regards
Max P

Originally Posted by mcrover

If your gonna go Hydro, you want both elecy pump and engine driven as if you just have a elecy pump you may as well buy an elecky winch.

Hydraulic still has advantgaes over electric.

A hydraulic winch with an electric pump still draws a lot less current then an electric winch and doesnt need to stop and have a rest after a couple of minutes.

I had an Ox hydraulic 12000 pound on my Rodeo. It was way overkill for the application but I got it free. Just had to pay $210 for the Rodeo specific hydraulic hoses.

My Disco came with an 8000 pound Warne lowmount.

I had the Ox for around 3 or 4 years and barely used it. When I did it always worked but was the slowest thing you could imagine. However that is often a plus as if you are winching you probably need to play it slow and safe anyway.
From what I could tell the hydraulic was much lighter than an equivalent electric. I don't think I would have been able to put a 12000lb electric winch on the front of my Rodeo.

I've used my electric winch twice. Once to recover a rolled Hilux and once to pull stumps from the ground. Both times the electric winch sounded like it was working much harder. However it was rated to 4000lb less.

To add to what was said earlier the Ox does not have a shear pin. If you overload it it will just stop. It can't burn out but it must have fluid bypass valves or something. I know stuff all about hydraulics.

For someone that doesn't rate speed too highly then the hydraulic is probably the way to go with my limited use of both of them.

Originally Posted by Merv

Hydraulic still has advantgaes over electric.

A hydraulic winch with an electric pump still draws a loss let current then an electric winch and doesnt need to stop and have a rest after a couple of minutes.

This is definately a bonus with hydraulic but for the 4wd club type weekend warrior (like me) would you ever really reach the limits of your winch heat wise? When I've been involved with or seen winching you generally have to stop regularly and reassess and rejig your gear anyway.

Jesus fellas! Ya'll gone given me a think attack now!! I understand what your're saying. And not being a tech by any measure I'm sure it's not too complex but my inclination would be to run with a stanard application. I've only used a hand winch in earnest 3 times in the last few years (albeit each occassion was a pretty full-on predicament). If this is a personal guide stanard dress would probably suffice. The tech talk is good 'cause it gives options - ta.

Miker.

how much for the power pack piddler? as I have the ox winch set up with the hyd pump on the back of the transfer case