Hydraulic vs. mechanical winches

[C_Miller]

How do  hyd. and mech. winches compare for safety, operation, maintainence, and rating?

[Russ]

I have an older Norse logging winch.I hate to guess how many thousand cord I've hauled with it. I like it better than a Farmi because the clutch is some kind of plastic disc and dosn't slip as easy when wet. I've had to rebuild it once because of bearing failure. My guess is that the elements don't effect the hydraulic winches as much. But as to safety I would hate to guess. Having a winch has got me out of alot of trouble, really !!! I use the higher pin brackets and lower it if the front end starts to lift, works like a wheelie bar. Someday I might design some kind of arch to go with it.

Rusty's Band Sawmill

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[Scott]

 PTO winches are usually quite simple from what i've seen. I would think there are more parts to have trouble with on a hydraulic winch.

[Frank_Pender]

I took a duce and a half winch that ran with a pto and places a hydraulic motor on it and run it with the pump on my Johnnie Popper, 5300 4 x 4.   In the same process I have placed a short boom above the winch at a height of 3' and hanging off is a grapple which is operated by the same system.  Not all of them can work at the same time, though.  I have placed about 150' of 5/8" line on the winch drum. It is slow but efficient and strong.