The Wheel Winch!

[flyrv9]

Saw this on the Interesting Engineering site - which is a pretty cool place to see new and unusual things. I thought it might be an option for some of you depending on what wheels are being used.


Detachable Wheel Winch Helps Get Your Car Unstuck| Interesting Engineering

 

[Teephud]

Cool product!

 

[Balakay]

I can see a few drawbacks to it but overall a cool product. Would be super easy to make your own though.

 

[MisplacedTexan]

Would be super easy to make your own though.

Saw this years ago, and pretty sure the guy who started it all was just using an old busted steel rim with a flange welded on so it would bolt up to the rim on the car. I'd be curious if any kind of testing has been done to find out what kind of loads it's good for.

 

[1engineer]

Moved to proper sub forum. Nice post!

 

[Cymon]

Very cool idea!

 

[jjdbike]

Saw this years ago, and pretty sure the guy who started it all was just using an old busted steel rim with a flange welded on so it would bolt up to the rim on the car. I'd be curious if any kind of testing has been done to find out what kind of loads it's good for.

Yes this seems like a good idea to me, but I have no backround in this kind of stuff.

I too would like to see the results of some extensive testing.

I’d also like to hear the opinions of some off-road experienced mechanical minds like 1engineer.

I’ll say I’d love to hear that it is a safe & effective way to self-recover your vehicle, I’d buy it. I don’t have plans or the $$ to install an electric winch & the peace of mind knowing that I at least had that would be nice.

Thanks for posting.
JD

 

[jjdbike]

I can see a few drawbacks to it but overall a cool product. Would be super easy to make your own though.

If you don’t mind sharing, can you please discuss the drawbacks that you see?

Would it put an unsafe strain on the vehicle or mess w/ the alignment?
Although I’m guessing driving in a way or in a place that you could get stuck so you would need to be winched out in & of itself could strain the vehicle & mess w/ the alignment.
Thanks!
JD

 

[MisplacedTexan]

Bush Winches and Anchors | Vehicle recovery system

After reading around a little bit they have a 4,000 or 7,000 lbs test model. Seems legit.

 

[el_kab0ng]

Where this sort of winch has drawbacks:

1. Engine failure
2. Flooded crossings
3. Blown tire
4. Narrow trails
5. Pulling others out

 

[Brique]

Seems it would put a hell of a lot of strain on the hub, with an angle the hub wasn't designed to have stress coming from. Intuitively I'd say the spool needs to be smaller to reduce that sort of shear force.

 

[Diggo]

That's interesting

 

[Hyde802]

Pretty popular "down undah"

Dont think its too new..