The Car Winch: A Multi-Purpose Tool for Rural Areas

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The fact that a 60-pound device can move 100 times its weight with ease is strong testimony to the potential of gear reduction.
The fact that a 60-pound device can move 100 times its weight with ease is strong testimony to the potential of gear reduction.
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Diagram 1: Spur gears.
Diagram 1: Spur gears.
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Diagram 2: Vehicle winch.
Diagram 2: Vehicle winch.
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Diagram 3: Worm gear drive.
Diagram 3: Worm gear drive.
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Diagram 5: Planetary gears.
Diagram 5: Planetary gears.
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Diagram 6: Initial pulling.
Diagram 6: Initial pulling.
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Diagram 4: Cycloidal gearing.
Diagram 4: Cycloidal gearing.
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Diagram 8: Off-center pulling.
Diagram 8: Off-center pulling.
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Diagram 10: Double the capacity.
Diagram 10: Double the capacity.
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Diagram 7: Freeing a vehicle.
Diagram 7: Freeing a vehicle.
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Diagram 9: Anchoring to a tree.
Diagram 9: Anchoring to a tree.

Help for the rural driver’s winch-hunt. A car winch not only pulls your vehicle out of trouble but has many other uses.

The Car Winch: A Multi-Purpose Tool for Rural Areas

Somehow, it’s always easier to get yourself into a hole than out of one. One backcountry wit, having spent most of his life waiting for the state to pave his road, passed the remainder wondering why people were so eager to get off of it. His observation regarding off-road motoring was capsulized in one sentence: “Four-wheel drive will get you into trouble, but it takes a winch to get you out.”

A winch? That distinctly all-business rigging that squats on the front of pickup trucks? You bet. Because even if gathering firewood is the extent of your off-roading–or even if your rural existence is limited to weekends in the woods–a winch, carefully tailored to your needs and to the vehicle you drive, may be the most useful country companion you can have pulling for you.

Forget the transmission-driven monsters of a generation ago. Today’s electric winches are compact, convenient and unobtrusive. Some can even be hidden completely behind the original factory bumpers. But before we get into what they are, let’s look at what they can do.

  • Published on Mar 1, 1988
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