So...I was at work this morning milking cows, and I was walking by the silo room, and I realized something that I should have a long time ago. There's a winch at the bottom of every silo that's used to raise/lower the silo unloader that could potentially be hooked up to a power take off on my truck and mounted on my front bumper. Does anybody here have any info on these winches? I googled the term "silo unloader winch", and that didn't get me much, but I have to think they have to be pretty strong to hande that big silo unloader. They don't have any clutches of anything like that-just a hand crank, so that means you would need a reversible pto, but hey, if I can find one for cheap, I might just try it. What do you guys think?

 

Seems like booty fab in my opinion.

 

Anybody else?-that actually knows something about these?

 

wouldn't it really just be easier to get a winch designed for a truck?

 

I dont know a thing about them but...

anything can be made to work with the right amount of information fabrication skill and most often $$$. If its a PTO drive winch and you have a NP205 transfer case and can get access to a PTO output then Id imagine it would just be a factor of mounting it and connecting a drive shaft.

Since I dont know squat about them...
how big is it? and what its the rated line of pull? A 5000lb winch would be useless and anything bigger than 15000lb would pretty much be overkill on a factory or moderately built truck. Ive seen big warn 15000lb winches do more damage to the front frame horns of a new SD than they were worth. The combination of the winches power and the "sucksion" of thick mud was more than the frame could stand.

Food for thought

 

'Doesn't look like enough beef for me. Can't be rated for more than a few thousand pounds tops, at least I wouldn't think.

 

Oh hell no!

Man seriously? what were you thinking?



I guess the talk about PTO completely threw me off of it being "hand cranked"

 

you kidding? just cause something is easier doesn't mean you should take that route. Might as well have a shop install my lifts, motors, etc.. in my trucks cause that would be easier.

 

How about instead of easier, more cost effective, safer, more reliable?

 

How do you know it's more cost effective, safer, and reliable. Sorry just wantin some facts.

 

Ok, cost effective: He said if he could get one for cheap. Whats cheap? Then you have to have some sort of pto on your truck. If it doesn't have provisions for a pto, then you have to get a t case or transmission that does. $$$ Then, since these winches don't have a provision for a reverse, or a free spool, you have to have a driveline rotation setup so that he could spool it out. You also have to have the pto shafts made, and all of the fab work to install it.
Reliable: It's way undersized for a truck, so it's going to break if you do a hard pull with it. That's ^ alot of crap to break. It will only work if your truck is running (not broken down) and if you didn't burn the clutch out trying to get unstuck.

 

Cool! Thanks for actually stating facts. I just hate it when people tell someone to do something else cause it's easier. Thats stupid.

 

No problem. Easier isn't always the best method, but some things it just makes sense to go with something because it's easier/less costly.

 

Doesnt harbor freight sell 8000lb mile marker knockoffs for about $300?

Cheapest and easiest by far.

 

Alright-I looked some more, and couldn't find any kind of ratings on them, so I guess we're SOL there, but I talked to a guy, and I think I might be able to get my hands on one for 50 bucks or so. And just for the record, yes, I already have a transmission and transfer case that have pto ports, and I really don't beat the crap out of my truck off-road, so it probably won't see any real heavy use anyway-just nice to have for those times when you end up in a tight spot, and a little help is all you need. As for making shafts and fab-work, I really don't see that being a big deal. And if it breaks?-then I'm out 50(plus maybe a little for materials for shaft/mounting) bucks, and I got a pto to do with as I please.