Chain vs wire winches! Which one is best and why?

[Robbo479]

Looking at buying a 6 ton ryetec chain winch. Just wanting to know the advantages of having a chain rather then a wire rope. If anyone could help that would be great.

cheers tom 

[difflock]

Assuming a forestry winch?

Rabauld is the only one I am aware of.

Chain = constant pulling force, and presumably easier pulled out and easier "fought" with

But the chain will be shorter.

How do the chokers/sliders work on the chain btw?

Regards

Marcus

[LGP Eddie]

I thought the main advantage of this Winch was the fact it’s Hydraulic Driven, with the Motor acting directly onto the chain.

It means you can mount it easily on the front and rear of a Tractor with no need for the PTO.

 

Handling chain is easy, you can choke it back on itself or hook a shortening clutch on at any point.

 

I don’t know how you go on with Snatch Blocks for redirecting, but I’d assume no issues?

 

My only concern when I looked at these was access to clean the inevitable shite the chain will carry back with it when conditions are bad.

 

 

Eddie.

[jamallio96]

I thought the main advantage of this Winch was the fact it’s Hydraulic Driven, with the Motor acting directly onto the chain.
It means you can mount it easily on the front and rear of a Tractor with no need for the PTO.
 
Handling chain is easy, you can choke it back on itself or hook a shortening clutch on at any point.
 
I don’t know how you go on with Snatch Blocks for redirecting, but I’d assume no issues?
 
My only concern when I looked at these was access to clean the inevitable shite the chain will carry back with it when conditions are bad.
 
 
Eddie.

Can you maybe get a snatch block with a toothed wheel inside for the chain? Probably unnecessary but may work slightly better. And for cleaning the chain as it comes in I just envisaged a lovely DIY setup involving a nearby stream, a pressure washer and lots of duct tape :-P

[andy cobb]

No experience of chain winches but I would think it would be a hard day pulling 60 mtr of chain out through brash every 10 mins.

[LGP Eddie]

8 hours ago, jamallio96 said:

12 hours ago, LGP Eddie said:

I thought the main advantage of this Winch was the fact it’s Hydraulic Driven, with the Motor acting directly onto the chain.
It means you can mount it easily on the front and rear of a Tractor with no need for the PTO.
 
Handling chain is easy, you can choke it back on itself or hook a shortening clutch on at any point.
 
I don’t know how you go on with Snatch Blocks for redirecting, but I’d assume no issues?
 
My only concern when I looked at these was access to clean the inevitable shite the chain will carry back with it when conditions are bad.
 
 
Eddie.

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Can you maybe get a snatch block with a toothed wheel inside for the chain? Probably unnecessary but may work slightly better. And for cleaning the chain as it comes in I just envisaged a lovely DIY setup involving a nearby stream, a pressure washer and lots of duct tape ?

It’s never going to hurt anything with a decent quality ordinary block I’d have thought, just you’ll have to get a decent size for the chain to sit in properly.

 

I was more thinking of the actual box the chain lands into, this will soon get full of debris I’d expect, so worth checking you can get good access.

 

It’s hardly a ships anchor chain and will power out, so I can’t see it being much worse than fighting a normal wire rope that doesn’t power out, especially when someone has decided the cheapest rope about as good as they strain telegraph poles with would do the job nicely!

 

 

Eddie.