u900 mog winch - pto or hydraulic?

[andythesquirel]

I have an old u900 406 unimog which i am considering fitting a front mounted winch. I will be using it for general pulling/ recovery. I know that hydraulic winches are preferred by most, but i am only a part timer, and so will not be using it every day.

My thoughts are that a pto winch is more likely to be best as it should be cheaper, and as it will be front mounted, and i have no ground anchor etc, i should not need the higher pulling force of a hydraulic.

I would appreciate any thoughts on the best type to fit!

All opinions welcomed.

[b101uk]

 

If you fitt a PTO winch you MUST use an overload device like a slip-clutch or spring ratchet clutch or load potentiometer to cut the engine, if you don’t do this it will rapidly overload.

 

If I take my U1600 as an e.g. 4.08:1 PTO gear ratio, that makes 400lbf * 4.08 = 1632lbf @ the PTO shaft.

 

If you useded an old FW525 PTO winch off a Land Rover, it has a 48:1 gear ratio, that would make the winch drum have a twisting force at 1ft from the drum centre of 1632lbf * 48 = 78336lbf (78336lb pull @ 1ft)

 

If it has a 3inch diameter drum, the first layer will be at a radius of 1.5inch , so using leverage if it produces 78336lbf @ 12inch (1ft), it will be 156672lb @ 6inch, 313344lb @ 3inch & 626688lb @ 1.5inch

 

Or

12inch / 1.5inch = 8 factor of multiplication of load, so 78336lb * 8 = 626688lb (284341.2kg or 284.34 tonnes)

 

NOTE: power train losses have not been accounted for!! But would be ~90% of input power/force)

 

You have been warned - the forces involved are horrendous.

[andythesquirel]

i was thinking of using a werner f64 winch, a winch designed and used on a u900 406. What extra would i require if i was to use this winch? I presumed that as it was original type equipment then just bolting it on would be ok! Was I wrong?

[b101uk]

Hi,

 

Its designed to be run direct of the Unimog PTO stub so yes just fits on, it has a set of UJ’s which can have a little air clutch # or overload device # built in to the UJ assembly that fits on the PTO stub, the little clutch it acts as the deadman device #.

 

Its worth noting there are 2 flavours of this f64 winch, one with a level winder & one without.

 

# There are then 3 sub types of this winch for each of the above,

A: Basic winch with NO overload device. (self recovery)

B: Basic winch with overload device (in UJ assembly/PTO assembly)

C: Basic winch with overload device & with deadman device (multiplate clutch air cluch/deadman)

 

The subtype A should only be used for self recovery (deboging) of the unimog.

 

Subtype B & C are for self recovery & the pulling of other objects that may cause overload, I.e. pulling out tree stumps with the unimog fixed to something to stop it from being pulled or larger stuck vehicles with the unimog fixed to something to stop it from being pulled.

[andythesquirel]

Thanks for providing some info relating to the f64. Could i just ask you to explain the level winder?

Also i appreciate the info relating to pto winches, but, what would your opinions be to fitting a hydraulic winch to the unimog?

[Jamie]

we have a PTO winch, in 540 its nice. Off the top of my head i can't remember what it is, German thats all i know.

 

well worth it. if you can try and get a butt plate as well. turns the front end of teh mog into a small skidder. and a chipper behind

 

Jamie

[andythesquirel]

we have a PTO winch, in 540 its nice. Off the top of my head i can't remember what it is, German thats all i know.

 

well worth it. if you can try and get a butt plate as well. turns the front end of teh mog into a small skidder. and a chipper behind

 

Jamie

 

Butt plate?

[niftysteve]

i had a Ramsey 8000lbs hydraulic winch fitted on my 900 it was a good winch had the benefit of being able to lower as well as pull, that is the only disadvantage with a PTO winch they usually will only pull. i now have a werner pto winch fitted great bit of kit

[b101uk]

Could i just ask you to explain the level winder?

 

its a fairlead that is driven by a scroll from side to side to lay the wire neatly on the drum which stops the bunching of the wire at the ends or centre of the drum as the scroll that drives it is driven off the drum so 1 drum revolution would be e.g. 18mm of lateral shift if the winch was designed for 18mm rope.

[b101uk]

If I was going to fit a winch to whatever it would either be PTO or hydraulic,

 

Experience tells me (regardless of vehicle/make/etc) that

 

PTO have a faster line speed BUT hydraulic is more precise.

 

For arb work hydraulic would be better due to them being more controllable & the pulls are generally not long &/or repetitive unlike forestry ware PTO is better.

 

The other advantage of hydraulic is they are easy to set up with QR’s on the front & rear or are usable via a hydraulic power-pack in remote places or long pipes off the unimog spools.