Hydraulic or Electric Winch for 4th Gen?

[BlackWorksInc]

So I was bored and shopping around for a winch I was thinking of getting when I came across the option of a hydraulic powered winch. Did some reading up on them and I was wondering if anyone runs one on their rig or has had experience with them? They seem to have a more stable duty cycle (as electric motors do overheat after prolonged use.)

 

[gaterose]

I don't have personal experience with hydro but looked into this years ago when I bought my first winch... From what I've found there are a few pros and cons to each and most people I know went with electric because of availability.

Electric
- cheaper
- can be used in situations where the motor shouldn't be or isn't running
- hydro can be taxing on power steering pump (I'm not 100% on this)
- usually faster line speed
- light (er)

Hydro
- operates on integrated valve (no solenoid pack)
- used on military hummers (not sure if that's really a pro)
- sealed internals & no electricity (will work under water)
- typically 2 speed gearbox
- longer duty cycle


To me it seems like a hydro motor would be more reliable, but that may just be because I have burned an electric winch motor or two up.

 

[Huskey]

I've never seen such a small hydraulic system for a truck winch but its a good idea as long as the pump, motor and gears are made nice and compact and it doesn't leak over time. I suppose you would get a more powerful winch relative to the draw off the battery when compared to an electric winch, which is a nice thing.

Don't forget, hydraulic pumps overheat with heavy loads and prolonged running periods (just as easily as electric motors). Over time, the hydraulic lines, and motor caseing will cycle through hot running conditions and cold shut down conditions, and start to leak... unavoidable with hydraulics. So I would definatly make sure that all compression fittings and gaskets are easy to axcess and repair/replace.

I suppose if your not expecting to use it a huge amount (like most people) then it would work, but its also nice to go with the solid reliability of a winch like Warn.

Post a link if you have one, I'm curious about this thing...

 

[gaterose]

Huskey - As far as I know Milemarker is the only company producing one

http://milemarker.com/

And according to what I've read you have it a bit backwards about overheating, they say the hydro winches can be ran 100% all day long while warns and other electrics can overheat.

more info on electric vs hydro
http://www.4wheelparts.com/off-road/winchadvisor.aspx#electrichydraulic

 

[Huskey]

Looks like a strange system to be tapping into the power steering. I was thinking it would have an idependant heleshaw/swash plate type pump, which can overheat but would produce alot more tourque when compared to this system.

I did a little reading into this and found this Warn hydraulic winch...



This is the type of hydraulic winch that will trump any other winch as it uses an independant hydraulic motor opposed to the valve controls that rely on the steering pump as in the case of the Milemarker winch. Here there are no vlaves just a swash plate or something very close to it. There has to be a safety valve inside that would let go at around 300 bar allowing the oil inside to circulate keeping constant pressure at all times under excessive load. Thats when this type of pump is likely to overheat if abused.

Edit: safety valve is set for 206Bar/3000psi and its a 20,000lbs winch

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Interesting... I never knew that there were two different designs...

 

[Huskey]

From hat I've been reading, a "proper" hydraulic winch is used for equipment alot bigger and heavier then a 4runner. I just don't know that tapping into the steering system is such a great idea, if something does go wrong with it, you got no steering and then it really doesn't matter how stuck you are, your not getting home any time soon.

 

[VTSR5]

So I was bored and shopping around for a winch I was thinking of getting when I came across the option of a hydraulic powered winch. Did some reading up on them and I was wondering if anyone runs one on their rig or has had experience with them? They seem to have a more stable duty cycle (as electric motors do overheat after prolonged use.)

Yes, I have been running a MileMarker 12k hydraulic winch since 2007, and moved it from my Grand Cherokee to my T4R in 2012 when the Toyota was new. 27,000 miles on the T4R now, no problems from the winch or PS system. Quite a few very hard pulls on the winch over the years. Impressed with this tool, and learned a few lessons.

(1) These are very good winches. Strong, quiet, well-controlled. A little slow on a Toyota PS pump, but that's ok for my use. Probably will last forever.
(2) Install with a good inline filter. Cheap insurance.
(3) Monitor hydraulic motor temp by hand during use to decide in the long run if you need a PS cooler. If it gets too hot to touch, think about adding a PS cooler if you're going to pull like that alot.
(4) Use quality PS fluid, and change it every 2 years, or next day if you overheat. Cheap insurance.

Bottom line -- I really like my MileMarker hydraulic. It's a work horse.