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Post by Vagabond Blues on Aug 18, 2014 17:20:10 GMT -8
Helllooooooo everyone - long time no "see"! 
I moved last year and little Gilda now has her very own garage. Unfortunately, the entrance is a bit wonky and it makes it difficult to get Gilda in and out of her cubby. Every estimate I've had to right this wrong has been $3,000+ and a friend suggested that a winch would essentially eliminate the struggle we've had getting her in and out. Anyone else tried this? She is a '61 (officially)-'62 (on the title) Shasta Compact, and I would need to take into account the weight of the gear that I keep in there. I'm anxious to give this a whirl because we have to shove her up an incline to get her into her home.
Thanks for any recommendations!
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Post by universalexports on Aug 18, 2014 18:19:53 GMT -8
when it comes to winches nothing beats a Warn winch, top rated all the way around, with winches you kind of get what you pay for, with it not being out in the elements you might get away with something cheaper, Warn winches arent cheap,but i'd bet one of their 3,000 pound ATV winches would be more than enough to pull a small trailer like that around, if this is the type of winch you are talking about, I guess you could just put a 12 volt battery on the floor and anchor the winch to something in the garage or into the concrete maybe.
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John Palmer
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Post by John Palmer on Aug 18, 2014 18:44:52 GMT -8
You will not need a very high capacity winch to tow the trailer around. The capacity can be doubled with the use of a block, which would be overkill IMO. I pull a 1700 pound race car up some ramps with a Warn 2.5 ATV winch without any problems. I also agree that Warn and Super Winch are the two brands you want to seek out. Motorcycle dealers always have extras on sale because the manufacturers load them up with promotions.
If it were me......I would mount the winch under the back of the trailer to the frame. You could power it with your onboard 12v battery that currently runs your lights, water pump, etc. The winches come standard with a 15' long remote control. Or you could upgrade to the wireless remote. Then all you would need is a single "D" ring mounted to the floor in your storage area. Hook up the winch cable to the D Ring, and just steer the front of the trailer as you use the remote to back it up.
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Post by bigbill on Aug 19, 2014 5:04:03 GMT -8
I agree with John completely, but if money is tight, for the use you are talking about a harbor Freight 2000 LB. winch will do an excellent job and can be bought on sale for around 50/60 dollars. A rolling load of 2000 lb is a much different thing than skidding 2000 lb. A friend of mine talked me in to buying a winch from Harbor Freight several years ago and now I own three of them and have never had a problem. I don't think they are the thing to buy if you are using it every day all day long but for use once a week they are fine. They have them in 110 and 12 volt which ever you want. If you mount the winch on the trailer, mount it in the center so that it pulls straight. It will allow you to steer the trailer much easier.
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Post by universalexports on Aug 19, 2014 7:08:54 GMT -8
agreed a small winch is all you really need, and if you go with a more economical winch I would take the cover off the top and spray silicone the electrical components, this is a common practice for many people, one of the major issues with cheaper winches is the electrical parts rusting from rain and water. also as mentioned it is true a block will multiply the load capacity of a winch. very true, however the block it's self offers no mechanical advantage for the winch, it just allows you to spool more cable off the winch reducing its circumference so the motor doesnt have to turn such a tall amount of cable, (better gearing basically) or what would work better in your case since you will be pulling the camper up near your hook point in the floor would be to just cut off the excess cable so you only have enough on the spool to reach your hook after your camper is backed up, kind of a single use setup but thats all you need. just be sure sure to leave at least 5 wraps of cable on the winch so you dont pull the cable out of it. (I leave 8 wraps when I'm towing far off just to be safe)
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John Palmer
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Post by John Palmer on Aug 19, 2014 8:00:18 GMT -8
......also as mentioned it is true a block will multiply the load capacity of a winch. very true, however the block it's self offers no mechanical advantage for the winch, it just allows you to spool more cable off the winch reducing its circumference so the motor doesnt have to turn such a tall amount of cable, (better gearing basically)......
I think we are confusing two different concepts.
1) I would agree that you want the least amount of cable on the spool, to have the highest leverage for pulling.
2) Block and Tackles have been used on sailing ships for centuries to raise the heavy sails because "they work". They work on the principle of "increasing the travel of the pull", at the trade off of "decreasing the amount of movement" (ease of pull).
A Block and Tackle application would have no benefit for the OP, because it would just get tangled in a horizontal position.
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Post by universalexports on Aug 19, 2014 9:00:05 GMT -8
True, but in your your 1st post you only mentioned the use of a block (snatch block) which is nothing more than a wheel with a hook that you run the cable through and back to the vehicle or stationary object to get more cable off the winch. think we are talking about 2 different things.
with a block and tackle (wheel with different sized pulleys to give a mechanical advantage) she could use that and actually pull it in by hand, I have an old one of those I use to hoist engines out of vehicles by hand.
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Post by bigbill on Aug 19, 2014 12:19:22 GMT -8
I'm not certain from your explanations what you are saying but a single snatch block with the cable ran from the winch through the snatch block that is fastened to the load then back to the winch anchor point will slow the rate of retrieval by half and increase the pulling power by 2. When you get into a block and tackle you keep on increasing the pulling power by the same principal unless you mix pulley sizes then you can increase or decrease the power ratio per double by the difference in pulley diameter. The more mechanical advantage you have the slower the retrieval, but the less effort to pull the same load.
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Post by universalexports on Aug 19, 2014 13:32:18 GMT -8
so with that, all you would need would be snatch block anchored to the floor, the winch under the camper and a place to hook the line back to the camper under it somewhere? or vise versa with the winch mounted in the garage, (I think I would prefer that way)so all you need to do to the camper was rig up a place to connect a snatch block.
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Post by bigbill on Aug 20, 2014 5:19:15 GMT -8
I my opinion I would mount the winch in the garage. The main reason is that if it was mounted under the trailer I believe it would get knocked off going in or out of a driveway and if it was mounted on top of the rear bumper I think it would look bad plus be very easy to steal. Also if mounting in garage I would probably spring for a 110 volt winch rather than mess with batteries. The only problem with a garage mount is that it would take two people to put trailer away because the remote control cable wouldn't be long enough. I do think there is a wireless remote available but I have no experience with it. Also a second option would would be to add more wire to the original remote cord.
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John Palmer
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Hi, From a vintage trailer guy located in Santa Ana, CA. It's good to see lots of activity here.
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Post by John Palmer on Aug 20, 2014 7:21:38 GMT -8
Or............to add more drama (LOL) to the Winch Crisis,...........How about this?
Just mount a "hand crank winch" on the frame tongue like you use on a small boat trailer (less than $40 bucks total cost). Run the rope back under the travel trailer, under the axle and through a pulley mounted securely inside the garage, then attach to the rear of the trailer frame with a eye bolt. You have the option of just connecting to the garage mount (no pulley) if your driveway is not too steep. Or you can use the 2X pulley reduction is the pull is too hard.
I pulled 1700# the race car up ramps, onto the car trailer using this method for ten years without any reduction using "just a hand crank winch".
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Post by bigbill on Aug 20, 2014 16:24:44 GMT -8
That is a very good suggestion John, CHEAP, can be done by one person. I also winched things by hand for years but when Harbor Freight got electric winches down into the $50/60 range I got lazy. I am drawing up plans for a ham radio tower that will use a hand winch at this time but I don't plan on putting it up and down every day.
Another thing you can do if you have a lawn tractor is put a hitch on the front and use it to put trailer in garage.
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Post by Vagabond Blues on Aug 21, 2014 17:55:21 GMT -8
I really appreciate everyone's replies - thanks so much! 
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SusieQ
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Post by SusieQ on Aug 22, 2014 11:07:23 GMT -8
I really appreciate everyone's replies - thanks so much! Update us on what you decide. I have a Master Lock brand 12v/hand crank winch which I really like ( when my husband doesn't borrow it.) It can be mounted or fitted on a trailer ball. I actually bought it for those times that my teardrop gets stuck in the sand so I could winch it up to my tow vehicle. I once turned my teardrop sideways by hand in a camp site and let one wheel slip off the pad and had a heck of a time getting it back on the pad by hand, thus the winch purchase. All I really wanted or needed was a hand crank type like boats have but this one has come in handy. |
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