Has any one had this problem and solved it in this way?

I have a 16 foot car carrier trailer with a slant at the rear and removable ramps. I mounted a Superwinch S3500 electric winch on a tall mount that clears the trailer rail. The anticipated car loads was in the neighborhood of 6,000. Today I loaded my truck weighs a tad over 8,000lbs. Naturally, I used to single pulley block attached to the front of the truck and led the cable end hook back to the winch mount keeping the cable as close to parallel as possible.There was no cable drag (rubbing on anything) The winch strained quite a bit hauling up the ramps and I had to stop to let the motor cool three times. Eventually, I got the truck on.

Now, it appears a more powerful winch would have been a better choice but this is the one I have. The pulley block is a Superwinch 8,000 lb. If I went with a larger diameter pulley block, say one rated at 20,000 - 22,000 would that produce enough mechanical advantage to make the winch work less hard?

I thought about fabricating a double pulley block that attaches to the vehicle being loaded with another single block at the winch mount (4:1 advantage) but the winch drum cannot accomodate all the extra cable needed.I figure that would require about 80 feet of cable assuming the 16 foot trailer length plus four to five feet of ramp.

Any thoughts? Has anyone had this experience?

 

The diameter of the pulley block would not affect the power to load the vehicle. You are correct, the only way to reduce the load would be to add another pulley.

 

I will work on that. The double pully blco does not have to be attached to the load directly;i.e. there could be a chain linking the two (double block and vehicle to be loaded). That would enable me to use the 50 of cable to thread through more blocks. The chain could be removed and the double block attached directly when the load vechicle is mostly on the trailer. It is just the ramp part that is the problem. This means stopping the winch, getting into the vehicle to set the brake and re-attaching to the front but that does not seem to hard to do, just a little more time consuming.

I wonder if I could find a double block ready made with enough capacity. none of the 4X4 winch manufaturers offer one but there must be an industrial supplier that makes one small enough but rated at 8,000 lbs.

Thanks for the verification.

 

I found a couple of suppliers with double blocks. Grainger has one thatweighs 22 pounds!I found a single block that I can easily make into a double.

Howwever, there is not enough winch cable to do a 4:1 pulley system. So, what about this?

1. cable runs from winch through a single block on the truck and back to the winch base pulley block.
2. The cable then run back to the truck with the cable end hook attached to the truck next to the pulley block.

The winch would then draw cable though two pulleys (one at each end, with three lengths of line). Does this provide a 3:1 advantage? Or does nothing at all?

Thanks again.

 

How steep are your ramps? and do they sit flush with the ground? We have a 16ft equipment trailer that has a higher deck, steep ramps, and the ramps have a 4in lip at the ground. It really strains even our 8K winch's.

Maybe look into making it as easy as possible to roll the truck up the ramps to take as much load off the winch as possible. Maybe longer ramps.

Doubling up the winch line is the best way to get more pulling power without going to a bigger winch.

 

I pulled several trucks up onto my trailer with a 1700lb Warn winch and single block. It took a while, but did the job. I was running an Optima blue top deep cycle battery, no charging circuit but I'd run the trickle charger on it at home.
Your issue may be in the power supply to the winch- What are you running for a trailer battery, and what size cables?

 

If your ramps are the "ladder" type like mine you can try putting a 2x10 on top for a smooth rolling surface. I would NOT drive up these though.

 

remember, every block will reduce speed, too.

a second block will not go to a 4:1 advantage, but will result in 3:1.

 

Please keep the working limit for the line in mind. As I found out (by reading thankfully), doubling the line will double the winch rating, but the line may not be rated for that amount of weight.

I'd hate to hear someone got hurt due to an overloaded winch line snapping.

 

That depends...

if the line attaches to the vehicle to be moved more than once, you can divide the load by the number of runs to the vehicle.

 

I have a 20ft flatbed car hauler and I haul several extremely low drag cars and street cars in general. Now I am not pulling the kind of weight you are but I run the rear duals of the truck up onto automotive ramps like you would use to change oil in the car in an effort to get the trailer to "tilt" somewhat so I dont get the cars hung up coming on or off the trailer.

I use a 3500 lb warn winch on my trailer. This may or may not help with your beaver tail on your trailer. Just a tip I figured out hauling drag cars, Modifieds and Dirt late models.