Electric winch?

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PTFunk
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Electric winch?

Post by PTFunk »

I've been considering getting an electric winch that I could mount to the wall of my garage and use to horizontally pull any of my cars up and over my mid-rise lift (about 5" tall when totally lowered, with ramps on either end). God forbid I should ever need this, but you never know! :-k

I was thinking of something like the WARN 885000 PullzAll, which Rob Siegel has written about using in his garage to shift cars about. Does anyone here have any experience with this one, or recommendations for another model? I'm thinking a 120VAC unit would be preferable, but I'm open to a 12VDC unit if I could figure out how to power it safely.

Paul
"Sabine": '88 M6 Royalblau/Silber
SLS delete, Wizard Cooling radiator, BavAuto Strut bar, M-Technik steering wheel, Conforti chip, Bilstein B8s / H&R Lowering Springs, BBE stainless cat-back exhaust
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Da_Hose
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by Da_Hose »

Ok young man.....

You describe exactly what I did, and exactly why I did it. My M6 is too low to roll over my mid-rise lift, so I created risers from all the wood the lift was shipped in. However, the M6 is non-running right now, and I cannot just push it up the short ramps onto those risers. My solution was to get a Harbor Frieght, 12V winch on sale, and rig it up using a patio drain opening outside the back door of the garage. With the winch anchored down by the entire patio, I can comfortably pull the M6 onto the risers with no problem.

This is the winch I bought on sale for $40 with inside track member coupon. The wireless remote is really nice, although there is a bit of lag when it starts/stops. I run it with my little emergency start up battery.
https://www.harborfreight.com/2500-lb-a ... 61840.html

I also got this mount, so that it mounts up easily wherever I want, including my RV or wagon.
https://www.harborfreight.com/hitch-rec ... 69106.html

If you want just a flat plate you can bolt to a surface, this thing is way cheap.
https://www.harborfreight.com/atvutilit ... 60522.html

Jose
1987 M6 - My dream car
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hornhospital
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by hornhospital »

What Jose said ^^^^^

That Warn winch is way overkill. You don't need to lift the car, just roll it up the ramps, which the little 2500lb Harbor Freight unit will do easily.
Ken Kanne
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Pod
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by Pod »

What a great idea! Some 30 years ago I had to get
my Corvette into the garage (up a slope). I came up with the idea of setting an anchor into the garage floor and pulling the car up with a cheap block and tackle. Took ages and totally knackered me! I don’t recall if cheap 12v winches were readily available back then - but it would have saved me an awful load of hassle 😂.
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PTFunk
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by PTFunk »

Da_Hose wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 5:27 pm Ok young man.....

You describe exactly what I did, and exactly why I did it.
Thanks for the insights, Jose. I'm not entirely clear on your anchoring method, but I'd have to come up with something suited to my garage anyway... I'm thinking a 4x4 or other stout cross-beam bolted into several wall studs, so I don't place undo stress on the studs.

I'm a big HF fan, so I'll add one of their winches to my wish list. I just bought one of their portable 12V power packs (#62453), which I believe will work like your emergency battery, if I understand correctly. Otherwise I'll have to find a dedicated 12VDC power supply that could handle the winch current.

Cheers,
Paul
"Sabine": '88 M6 Royalblau/Silber
SLS delete, Wizard Cooling radiator, BavAuto Strut bar, M-Technik steering wheel, Conforti chip, Bilstein B8s / H&R Lowering Springs, BBE stainless cat-back exhaust
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by Da_Hose »

In my case, there is a large, rectangular drain in my back patio. If I pull the drain grate, there is a large rectangular hole in the patio that points N/S from me when I stand in the back garage door. I have a piece of square tubing that fits into the drain, and the winch attaches to the tubing. The winch mount I purchased has the same kind of long tube underneath. The tube will slot down into the drain, and the winch will sit flush to the ground. Then I can run the cable through my garage back door, and connect to the car. It's just a lucky break I can make a straight line from the drain opening, to the front of a car ready to pull onto the ramps.

I would worry about pulling on wall studs with possibly tons of weight. I'd consider drilling a couple of three point anchors into the floor to spread the load. A pipe or tube across the two anchor points should make for a strong, and easy to work with connection.

Yep, the 62453 is a newer version of the little power pack I use with my winch. Mine just has 12V, cigarette plug, and light. No compressor.

Jose
1987 M6 - My dream car
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sansouci
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by sansouci »

What if you mount the winch to the back side of the lift with a snatch block mounted to the wall to line up with the centerline of the car (or the tow loop on the passenger side)? Then you have 2x the mechanical advantage and therefore you can use a really small winch.
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Da_Hose
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by Da_Hose »

Unless the lift is a fixed 2, or 4 post model, you can't rely on it as an anchor. My car was sitting on smooth ground, and the scissor lift started moving when I tested pulling directly against it. Maybe if you tack an anchor block of some kind in front of the lift, you could rely on the weight to jam up against that anchor block and hold the lift in place. In that case, I would not use a snatch block, I would still pull directly against the car. The little 2500 lb. winch is PLENTY strong enough to pull my car onto the ramps.

Jose
1987 M6 - My dream car
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PTFunk
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by PTFunk »

Da_Hose wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:03 am Unless the lift is a fixed 2, or 4 post model, you can't rely on it as an anchor. My car was sitting on smooth ground, and the scissor lift started moving when I tested pulling directly against it.
My mid-rise lift is bolted into the floor (boy, that was fun), but I get your point about intelligent anchoring... in my case it'll probably be some hefty eyebolts (or eye nuts on studs) anchored into the floor rather than into the wall studs.
"Sabine": '88 M6 Royalblau/Silber
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by DesktopDave »

I have a a similar setup with the cheap HF 2500# winch and an Amazon emergency battery pack. I fully recommend it. I have the 12VDC version and wondered how to anchor it. I ended up using an ATV mounting bracket, bolted that into a 2" receiver 'step' plate extension. I only use it with my 4x8 trailer. It's been very useful for pulling motors onto the trailer deck in combination with HF furniture dollies. I was honestly surprised by the torque...I'll bet it'd easily haul smaller cars onto a dolly if used with a snatch block and some other upgrades.

Last winter, I had a similar problem. I had a non-operative E21 parts car delivered, complete with seized rear brakes. I planned on getting it into the garage so it could be parted out. Despite several wheel dollies and profuse sweating, the car refused to roll up the 1" step into the garage. I gave up on pushing and started using my brain.

I can't recommend this to others, but here's what I ended up doing: I rigged a one end of tow strap onto the (overhead) support beam, mounted a snatch block on the other end of the tow strap. Since the HF winch only has 50' of cable on the spool, I ran maybe 70' of 1/4" steel cable from the E21 front subframe up to the snatch block, then back under the E21, to my receiver-mounted winch. It worked out well - the load was easily moved & controlled. The slow speed & remote actuator were great advantages in this situation. I'm planning on installing a floor mounted d-ring.
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by emac »

I have a HF winch that I mount to my trailer to retrieve a broken down car. I never thought about using it for my lift.

If a car is too low for the lift I have some ramps or use a low profile jack. If the car is inoperable, I have a set of dollies that I put under each wheel. So i can roll it around the shop. I do have a winch mounted to the ceiling to lift/store the hardtop on my M3.
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Re: Electric winch?

Post by Da_Hose »

Hey emac,

I have dollies too, but the way the tires sit, the casters stick out too far to the inside, and the lift is too wide to fit in between the dollies. Combined with a car that is too low to roll onto the lift itself, that means I have to align the car, then roll it onto the ramps. Power enough to pull the car up is my only option.

I think I am going to drill a couple of threaded anchors into the garage, right in front of my tool box. That will allow me to insert a pair of eye bolts, and I can slide a piece of pipe through them. That should provide a good anchor point for my winch, and that will make it super easy to pull cars onto the lift.

Jose
1987 M6 - My dream car
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