How Strong "come along" do I need

Spent the morning watching funny YouTube clips of people smashing their vehicle in the snow and thought...I should get a "come along" winch before I do this. I believe my truck is about 4700lbs but being stuck in snow/mud comes with suction-like resistance. How strong are the ones you are using?

Would this be plenty?

 

i beleive the actual number is 1.5x more. But double is always a safe bet.

Go with a 10k and your good to go

 

That looks like a decent one. I've pulled out trucks with smaller come alongs (late night trip to Walmart in a semi emergency) Also remember that a pulley will double your pull power

 

Thank you! Order placed. If you're in the ditch, ill stop!

 

Pulley - good call!

 

I bought the same Tekton last week

 

The come along works well where you can use it but the cable is really short and gets really really short when you double line it. Just remember you will need an anchor strap, a recovery strap/snatch'em strap, a couple of clevises and some extra lengths cable that are eye spliced. Cant anchor to the snow so you need to be able to reach something solid to tie to. Remember to bring a long handled shovel. Nothing worse than digging out from under a truck with a short shovel. Last time I got stuck playing in the snow the warm diff melted the snow and then the melted snow refroze and held the diff with a large ice anchor. We had to dig this out before the truck would move. Nothing like a bunch of naive So Cal guys playing in the snow.

 

Just a note on come along pull ratings. There is no standard. Some really bad ones are rated based on pulling the weight across a frictionless floor. At best they are rated at pulling along a horizontal surface with no safety margin. Most of them are made of stamped metal, even the gears, and are prone to jamming under heavy stress. Read the warnings on the boxes and they all state NOT to use them for lifting (because they are not built to any standard). That being said, some are better than others and they are certainly better than standing around looking at your stuck truck. Most will get you out of an average problem and even a cheaper one can get you unstuck from a small problem or snow issue. Just be sure you don't over-estimate what you are getting.

FYI if you read the manual for the 5546 the "safe working load" is half the claimed capacity, or 2 tons, and again that not even based on any standard.

If you really want something built to a standard (something that I would trust as much as a true winch) you need to get something rated as a hoist (like a Coffing Little Mule or a Lug All). Because they are intended to lift things over peoples heads they are rated using standards with a huge safety margin (4-5x if I recall correctly). A 1 ton hoist will have more true capacity than a 4 ton come along and will be much less likely to jam under load. They are industrial equipment made of cast or machined parts so they are expensive but you can often find them on ebay for less than half of normal price.

Again, nothing wrong with the cheaper Chinese stamped steel models as long as you know what you are getting.

 

Hence my set of recovery gear. Coffing industrial hoist, Amsteel winch cable extension, tree straps, recovery strap, D rings, trailer hitch adapter for rings for rear recovery, extra snatch block. Also added a true recovery point to the front of the truck.

 

Wow - excellent tips DPGREEN. That hitch adaptor is very smart. Ill look for one. Ill also poke around on here to learn about upgrading the front pull hook (wasn't aware it was weak).

I managed to put a hold on my order as I do more research. DP - you put some warranted worry in my current plan. I spend more on things I only need to buy once. This will work for all future vehicles I own. What do you figure you have spend on what we see in that photo?

 

That's the exact one I use. The only time I have used it was to pinch the frame of my jeep wrangler to fit new engine mounts...don't ask.

 

10K. Those are the most dangerous recovery tools out there.

 

Also consider that a Hi-Lift jack can be used as a puller for short distances, and depending on your gear maybe just enough to take up the stretch in your straps.

 

I have heard that when using a steel cable to hang a towel over it in case it breaks. I just carry a 30' 2" strap. As long as I have some decent ground the strap has not failed me yet. I pulled out a 65 HP Ford tractor buried to the axle with it and my F150. It took several jerks and damn near tore my tow hook off the frame but the strap did fine.

 

If it does break you can still be seriously injured or killed, even with a deadening blanket. Would you run a winch with your face right next to the fairlead? Because that's essentially what you're doing.

 

The hoist was $195 new which was a killer deal on ebay as it is normally well over 400. The Amsteel Blue rope was 75. The other items all together were around 120. Regardless of whether you decide to go industrial strength with the come along, you still need all the other stuff.

I also debated for a long time between getting a relatively well rated stamped steel version or something more capable like the one I got. What pushed me over the edge was looking at the build quality in person.

The off road has a real tow hook in the front. The loops on the front of the SR, SR5 and Sport versions are tie down loops for shipping - they assume you won't take it off road. I replaced mine with one of these...

https://www.bpfabricating.com/products/tacoma-recovery-tow-hook

 

These pullers are pretty well regarded. Much longer cable than most come alongs.

https://www.wyeth-scott.com/

 

I had to use the hook on the front to pull my truck out of 4 inches of mud stuck, and didn't fail. Can you link to a post that says that it's weak?
Edit nevermind I have the offroad

 

Very nice. I like that they have a version with synthetic rope.

 

While I cannot fault your logic for some of the cheap Chinese come-alongs, OSHA says that my hoist is fine for holding a 4000 pound object overhead and walking beneath it with no risk of failure with a 4-5x safety margin. It has a safety mechanism that prevents it from being overloaded with more tension than it can handle. Chances of my industrial hoist failing catastrophically absent user error are fairly close to zero, although certainly not zero. Of course, people can always find a way to screw anything up with their creativity (including a remotely operated electric winch).

Don't get me wrong; a remotely operated winch is preferable and gives added security (if used properly). I just don't see my particular setup being the death trap that you describe as long as I engage the safety mechanism between my ears.