I don't know if MileMarkers site is such a great sales strategy. But one thing
is for sure - you can't beat a hydraulic winch for duty cycle and low battery
drain. (Of course the engine has to be running - but if it isn't running how
long will your battery drag your truck anyway??)
I have talked to the Ramsey tech guys (very helpful) about the little 2500 lb
winch I have on my crane. They (Ramsey) use the same winch on a crane rated at
1000 lbs dead lift. I have double lined the winch with my crane and lifted
2500 lbs with it - no problem.
All of the electric and hydraulic "Pickup truck" winches such as Milemarker are
made for infrequent use - very short duty cyle - self - recovery use. They all
have very small diameter drums which is hell on wire rope. Read any decent
wire rope book and they will give you the recommended minimum bending radius
for reasonable life. The pickup winch guys throw those ratings out the window
and figure the rope will only be used for perhaps 10 full load pulls and then
discarded. Look at a military truck winch - the drum is quite large - even
for 1/2 or 5/8 cable. Most of the P/U truck winches try to use a 2" drum or so
- really way too small for repetitive use. If you talk to Ramsey and tell them
you want to buy a winch for commercial use they will tell you not to buy about
their "regular" models - no way. They have an entirely different line of
winches for commercial and repetitive use.
My little 2500 lb Ramsey winch - which is quite handy for utility winching -
requires no maintenance. So after about two years it starting making noises.
I call Ramsey and said should I attempt to disassemble and lubricate this winch
- answer - well yes, unless you want to throw it away! So much for no
maintenance. By the way, the Ramsey utility winches have the motor in the drum
which makes the drum a much larger diameter - so the cables last longer.
Dave
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
John Doherty wrote:
> Yes, MileMarker owns the site that the report was posted on.
>
> But it also clearly stated that MileMarker was the party that requested the
> test, and that it was done by an independant lab, which has a link on the
> home page. Now who owns that testing lab, and its reputation is put on the
> line. Which I don't think would be worth questioning. Labs test stuff.
> Their reputations depend on the facts.
>
> This was a test, and its results are posted on a webpage by a competitor of
> the same type product. We are left to develop our own opinions from the
> available information, and gather our own info to go along with it. Its
> called marketing.
>
> Its the same with autos, appliances, paints, everything.
>
> But, I don't see the need to criticize an individual for bringing the
> existence of that information to everybody's attention. It's all just
> information, take it or leave it, use it or ignore it. Read it or delete
> it.
>
> John
>
> ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
> To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:34 PDT