Posted by John Eickhof on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 4:00PM :
In Reply to: Re: INTERESTING BRADEN WINCH INFO.... posted by Ken See on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 7:13AM :
PER-LAYER ratings have always been the factor in any winch use or design. Most people never take these 'downratings' into consideration, that is why failures occur. The Braden ratings as well as rating I have from Tulsa winch are based on solid factors, they are rated on the first layer of rope, additional layers downrate the winch proportionately, also Braden and Tulse openly admit their ratings are based on 50% of actual breaking point! Thus the 6,000lb rating on the MU2 is for a 200% safety factor, thus the winch probably will not fly apart untill a pull of 12,000lbs or more is achieved, thus obviously voiding any guarantee! When winching it is always best to use enough rope to get to the first layer, thus when pulling yourself or another mired vehicle out you will have the maximum pull at the start when it is most needed, use of one or two snatch blocks not only relieves some pull but will use up that extr 100 feet or so of rope you have on the drum! Also remember that when used a snatch block not only increases winch capacity by splitting the load, but it also DERATES the capacity slightly by being in the pull line!