I've read all the posts I could find concerning hand winches, but I haven't seen anything that talks about a top-grade hand winch. Before we proceed, please, I'm not interested in the Hi-Lift type of winch/jack. I'm looking for some along the lines of of the one listed HERE.

Is this a good one as it relates to this type of winch. Harbor Freight has a 4-ton version for less than $20, but it doesn't get into specifics. I'm looking for a general-purpose hand-winch that I can use around the house and keep in the truck, just in case.

 

There's a heavy duty one called the Pow-R-Puller or Power-Puller or something like that. Big cast iron thingy and much better than the "come-along" you posted. You can find it advertised in the back of offroad magazines.

There's another type an Australian company makes, I think the company is called Black Rat, that actually pulls a standard winch cable through jaws. It's big advantage is it's not limited to the very short pulls that all come-along types are limited too.

I've use a Hi-Lift for winching and it's strong, but not so fast and suffers from a very short pull length.

The Aussie hand winch can be seen I believe if you look at the tutorials on the English site: http://www.difflock.com

 

Thanks John. I saw that Powr-Pull that you made reference to at http://maasdam-powr-pull.housefullstuff.com/

It's made by Maasdam, but I didn't see anything more than a 2-ton version. I'll have to take a look at that Aussie one. I've never seen it before.

 

Here, look at this: http://www.difflock.com/offroad/bowyer/brano.shtml

They are "Brano" hand-winches. Pretty cool. I believe there's a version by Black-Rat as well. Good luck in your search.

 

OK, I've been spending quite a bit of time tonight researching this and it looks like I'm going for "The More Power Puller", listed at http://www.wyeth-scott.com/

It's not too heavy, but appears to be very strong with good reviews. Now to decide on the 2-ton or 3-ton and length of cable.

 

I would do the heaviest and longest cable you can afford... Your truck gets heavy when stuck. They say 1.5X the weight of the vehicle for propper winch sizeing.