Posted by Paul Cook on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 10:29PM :
In Reply to: Re: Winching question - Book Answer posted by Jerry Henry on Friday, March 25, 2005 at 11:27AM :
My answer covered early Dodges with mechanical drive winches and current Dodges with electric drive winches and was not limited to "this vehicle".
Mark's question was, "ie, could you/should you shift the truck into gear to assist the winch in self-recovery? Or does it have to be kept in nuetral??" He wanted to know if it was okay to do this with a PTO winch. My excerpt from TM 9-808 stated that shifting the truck into gear to assist the winch in self-recovery was okay.
For the sake of historical perspective, I also included content from my current POWER WAGON owner's manual which says using the wheels to assist the factory supplied, standard equipment winch is okay.
In the 1940's, Dodge chose to offer the Braden Mechanical Drive (PTO) winches as OPTIONAL equipment. Presumably, these were selected as being the best ones available at the time.
In this century, Dodge has chosen the Warn Electric Drive winches as STANDARD equipment for the POWER WAGON. It is reasonable to believe this selection was based on the choice of many serious off road enthusiasts who consider this manufacturer as producing some of the best winches available. Warn produces both electric and hydraulic drive winches.
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