So TJ since you have all the knowledge, what exactly does the BOLD area below mean? That you can use it for 45 seconds, then you have to wait 14 mins? But the rest cycle was listed as the 15 seconds? I'm slightly confused and I just grabbed the first specs I could find (HF Winch btw). Also, what would you be looking for in the gear ratio? I've seen anywhere from 150-250 ish between the couple I looked at quick
Duty Cycle Rating
5% (45 sec at Max Rated Load; 14 min, 15 sec Rest)
Gear Ratio
218:1
OK, the first part means that it has a 5% duty cycle, so, essentially, it needs to rest 95% of the time your using it to cool down...
...and, you can't pull for more than 45 seconds at a time, or it will overheat/fail.
After you do your 45 SECOND pull, you let it COOL OFF FOR FOUR MINUTES AND 15 SECONDS.
The second part means that its geared so that 218 motor RPM = ONE SPOOL RPM.
So, to translate that into performance, you'd ALSO need to know the line speeds it can pull with various weight, typically listed in a chart with say 4-5 weights from 1-2k lb up to the rated capacity of the winch.
That chart often also lists how much WEIGHT it can pull with various amounts of line on the SPOOL.
The reason that's important is that the SPOOL acts like a gear too....and when there's LOTS of line wrapped on it still, its got a larger effective diameter...so, it can have a faster line speed, but, can't pull as much weight, etc...
If the line is all played out for a long pull for example....that first wrap back onto the spool is where the most POWER is, but, the slowest SPEED, because the effective spool size as a gear is smallest....and so forth.
I don't know if this is the same Harbor freight 8k Winch, but, its specs for the one on their web site currently:
So, look at the specs for 1st wrap vs 5th wrap for example...Its an 8k winch, but its closer to a 3k winch if there's a bunch on line on the spool, and its pulling at 8 fpm with no load, and ~ 5 fpm with a full load, etc.
That means that it can drop down to less than 40% of its rated capacity under use...if you have a 5k lb rig to recover, and only ~ 3k of pulling power...well, it can be a long day.
So, for this winch,
you can only pull for 45 seconds at a time, and then you have to wait about 14 minutes or so for it to cool off enough to do ANOTHER 45 seconds of pulling.
Lets take the same 90' recovery...
You pull it for 45 seconds at 5 fpm...moving the recovery along about 3.75'.
You let it rest for about 14 minutes, and pull another 45 seconds....and go ANOTHER 3.75'.
If you simplify the math a bit, that's about 15' per hour as your effective recovery rate.
THAT means that 90' will take you about SIX HOURS.
I don't know about you, but that is too slow for me...I don't have the patience to waste a day of wheeling waiting for something like this to take 6 HOURS, instead of say 11 minutes with a real winch.
So, obviously, a winch with a 5% duty cycle can be made less expensively than one that can run for say a half hour or so w/o a break...and, if its a cheap winch, or sitting in the pine barrens over night because you couldn't leave because you were too stuck to get out w/o a winch...that you have to choose between, sure, "Slow" can be better than "No", etc.
Of course, a LOT of pulls are shorter than that, sometimes just a few foot "Boost" of of a jamb, etc...and, most pulls are not full capacity...if you are on trails with rocks, dirt/berms, etc, you might just need a little help getting up a slippery slope, etc, rather than to be hauled up a tree a la "The gobbles Must Be Crazy" , etc.
Pulling a rig up a slope (THINK RAMP) takes less force than the weight of the rig, making the pull easier, luckily.
If you only need 45 seconds to a couple of minutes at 5-8 feet per minute (~ 4' - 14'or so of light pull), you're good to go.
If you need to
Me, I'd rather have something fast enough to leave time for wheelin', strong enough to DO the recovery....and reliable enough that it won't strand me.
For comparison, at an opposite end of the scale, here are specs for a Warn 9.5xp, closer to what I think we should have as far as rated capacity:
Notice at no load, its more like 38 fpm than 8 fpm...and at a load of 8k lb, its STILL pulling at almost 9 fpm, faster than the HF winch could with zero load.
Even on the 5th wrap, its still able to pull more than twice the HF's load, and the most it drops is about to 73% of its rated capacity, not all the way down to UNDER 40% like the Harbor Freight Winch.
Its a 6 HP motor with 156:1 gearing, instead of the HF's 4.1 HP motor and 218:1 gearing.
Obviously, a higher HP motor is more expensive if its made to be reliable, and, as its stronger, it can pull the same weight faster, or, more weight slower, depending on the gearing its equipped with.
Weaker winch motors use higher (Numerical) ratios to get more mechanical advantage, at the expense of speed...like pedaling your bike up a steep hill in 1st gear instead of in 10th, etc.
That means that there's no "Right" gear ratio...higher numerical ratios mean, for a given MOTOR RPM, the winch is pulling SLOWER, and, lower numerical ratios means that for the same motor RPM, its pulling FASTER, and so forth.
If its a strong motor, a lower ratio gear is cool, as it give s faster line speed.
If its a weaker motor, you NEED a higher ratio to be ABLE to move the load...and give up the line speed to do it.
Of course, I paid about $600 for MY Warn 9.5xp when they first came out...and its never had so much as a hiccup in use....and it gets used a lot, I take a lot of people through the Pine Barrens for example, and mud bogging is a winch fest.
So, sure, not every one can afford a good winch...and not every one can afford to be stuck with a cheap winch.
Everyone has to decide for themselves what makes sense for THEM.