milemarker

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Has anybody used one of these hydraulic winches: http://milemarker.com/By the way there is a great looking dodge bumper at TRUCKFARM. COM. and they seem to have teh cheapest prices on the milemarker winch.

 

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I've heard good things about the milemarker. Never owned one, but i have see a few. The only downside that i have heard people talk about is the engine has to be running. I've seen a truck stuck before that had a milemarker, but had drowned the motor. he was still stuck. that would be one advantage i can think an electric winch would have over it. On the other hand, the milemarker has an awsome duty cylce.

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Daniel McKeehan
1999 2500 QC/Short Bed/4X4 5 speed. Camper Package and of course a Cummins.

 

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My dad used to work at Braden Winch, in Broken Arrow,Okla. www.bradenwinch.com --- there's "pro's and con's" for electric and for hydraulic... here's a handful for you to sort out and decide which are potential problems and which would be "non-issues" for your situation.....
downsides first:
Hydraulic---will work best with a large reservoir/sump and a separate cooling system (how far off of "optimum" would the straight set-up be? I don't know... depends on loading. every "stuck" is different*) this point could be a "non-issue"

already stated: truck has to be running

Hydraulic could, conceivably blow your power steering pump. #ad
This could be avoided by installing a dedicated pump, and not risking the steering... haven't done the research to see if this happens much (or at all, but it's conceivable---again, probably load-dependant, and *ESID )

Electrics have, sometimes, short duty-cycles.
If you're anticipating some long, heavy pulls, this might be a problem, but if it will be just for out-of-hole, or over the hump assists, this may not,especially if transmission/FWD are engaged, and just using the winch for a small advantage, rather than full-stress pull. *ESID

Electrics sometimes even burn up! ---this is avoidable, though everyone doesn't. (here's the tips from Dad. . Feed the motor with welder cable, (the bigger the better) and as large of an amp-reserve as possible. Before you panic and say "big amps is what burns'em!" consider this... . an electric motor has a certain amount of impedance to addn'l electrical current flow when it's spinning at it's proper rpm's (they become self-governing at that point)... when the rpms are sub-optimal, the impedance drops, and the voltage forces more amps thru the system... usually this addn'l power will re-establish the proper rpms. . if the r's continue to stay too low, the excessive amps will generate motor-destroying heat. #ad

One of the things that causes this chain of events to begin is power cables that are too small. they get warm, their resistance rises, the end-volts available at the motor drops, then the impedance/rpms drops... cheap cables lead to the loss of an expensive motor. Weak batteries will do this to you, too, so 3-4 strong 12V batts might be the difference between an "out" and a burn-out

Upsides:
hydraulic, properly set up, will pull all day, in case you've got a king-of-hill assignment for a 4x4 club event

hydraulic doesn't put much strain on the charging/electrical system at all (a few amps for the solenoid valves)

electrics are convenient and don't risk your PS pump

electric can be used with the engine "off" (might be important for a deepwater situation)

electric can be repaired if necessary. . when I was a kid, Braden was a contracted manufacturer for the Warn winch (1200-series?) The motor was a starter from a Ford V8... may still be. you could keep a spare in the booniebox "just in case"... . I doubt you'd want to do the same with a PS pump

if this were a perfect world, you could just get both, use a quick-connect system for either one, and choose in accordance with the situation... . Since this is not the case, think about which type of winch your offroading is most likely to destroy, and then pick the other one... . rm

[This message has been edited by rich m (edited 01-11-2001). ]

 

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I am partial to the hydraulic winch since I work with hydraulics every day. I do agree that it is probably a good idea to get a heavy duty PS pump to take the additional load. When I first saw a MileMarker, it was on TRUCKS! on TNN. They upgraded the PS pump and the steering box along with the winch. If you are doing some serious off-roading, this is probably a good idea.

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B I G O R A N G E AMBER-FIRE (BURNT ORANGE) / BRITE SILVER 2001(. 5), 2500, SLT, Q-CAB 4x4, SWB, AUTO, 3. 55, LSD, TOWING PACKAGE
ADD-ON'S: LINE-X, 1/4" STEEL LONGHORN HITCH COVER, WESTIN NERF BARS, YELLOW-TOP OPTIMAS

 

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jwgary-hydraulic guy---it'd be cool to get a first-hand if you ever get the chance to examine/watch one. all the ad's look like milemarker would be a great one, but, if you eyeballed it and analyzed what look like weaknesses that'd count for more than what a photographer could indicate... rm

 

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Rich M,
Great post!

A couple of other Pros and Cons I've pondered,

1) The hydraulic weighs quite a bit less, and I think is more compact.

2) A hydraulic leak, on our Rams, takes out not only the steering but also the brakes.

Not many "easy" choices in the upgrade arena, are there? #ad

 

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*taking a humble bow*---thank you, thank you/// brakes, too, huh... . got one word for that! #ad
EEK!

 

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Great info folks. Ideally you would have both - and probably on two different vehicles. Does anybody know if it's possible to install get an auxillary pump set up on our rigs. That darn serpentine belt - 2001 - looks like a challenge. A larger PS pump may be the answer - but do you have to worry about the line pressure for the PS unit? I was looking at installing an electrical pump, with it's own reservoir. That would cost at least $400-$500. With a switch you would always have fluid. Also some quick disconnects would allow you to move the winch front to back. However this would usually require you to use the trailer connection for the winch, if you go with a portable version, is rather weak and I'm told it should only be used for pulling straight ahead - or back.

Man you can sure spend a lot of bucks on these items in a hurry. But as we all know, there's nothing easier in the world than spending a lot of money!

 

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I read this idea/info at another site. Instead of using the PS pump to supply hyd fluid for the winch, use a pto driven hyd pump. I know that my transmission (6spd) has a pto port on it already, I'm not sure about the transfer case for you automatic owners. Another thought is that by using quick disconnect fittings you could use the winch on either front or rear of truck, just make the hyd lines long enough. You could make a hyd resevoir any size/shape to fit under the truck.

AL

 

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Metal Tech beat me 2 it. I have always liked the PTO winch that my Dad had so I thought it would be great to throw one on the Ram and found that a mechanical winch is very hard to find these days so why not go Hydraulic like the Milemarker or Ramsey (commerical grade) and run it off a pto powered pump. There is plenty of room for a small reservoir and you can run an oil cooler just about anywhere. This would be a winch you could work all day if you wanted to. Slap it on up front with a couple of quick connect hose connections so you don't have to worry about it while at your favorite resturant.
As the others have said "engine has to be running" but most of my winching is not for recovery of myself but others and for pulling logs.

 

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I own a MileMarker hydraulic winch, but I don't use it on the truck... yet. It is currently used occasionally on my farm tractor, using tractor hydraulics for pulling logs. I am very happy with it.

I hope to set it up for use on my truck with a PTO supplying pressure and using the MileMarker solenoid controls and wireless remote control. PTO's are found on the six-speed transmission and on the 241HD transfer case. My understanding is that the 241 transfer case (not HD) does not have PTO capability.

The winch came mounted on a plate that will fit into a receiver hitch. I have plumbed it with standard New Holland tractor hydraulic quick-disconnect fittings. The hydraulic power is controlled from the tractor for now, but if I get the wireless remote, I will probably re-do the set up for tractor use to allow me to operate the winch without being in the tractor seat.

If I can ever justify the expense of the truck installation, I intend to write it up and see if Robert wants to publish the data in TDR.

Loren


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2000 Quad Cab, 4x4, short bed, six-speed: U. S. Gear exhaust brake, MileMarker Select Drive viscous coupling, Velvet-Ride spring shackles, Painless Wiring circuit box, Optima yellow-top batteries, Super-Glide 5th wheel hitch, Reese folding ball gooseneck hitch, Drawtite front hitch receiver, Tekonsha Sentinel brake controller, Westin nerf bars, Clarion sound system
1995 Standard Cab, 4x4, long bed, automatic: Firestone Ride-Rite air springs, torque converter lock-up switch, 4" cat-back exhaust, Reese 20K 5th wheel hitch, Reese gooseneck hitch, Hayes Micro Control trailer brake controller, 100 gallon bed-mounted fuel tank with 12 volt electric pump & fill nozzle, Swiss Cap fiberglass cap

 

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lots of good info here guys!!and all is very true,If I were installing a winch on my rig it would be a braden with a pto off the transmission or transfer case. I would not mess with under the hood however the concept is great,I just think you would end up with problems somehow.
just my $02 Kevin #ad