600SL
Well-known member
I got kind of sick of using cheep come-alongs to winch up disabled vehicles onto my 4 post lift. So I came up with this quick to install boat winch idea which works pretty good on the bend pak HD9 4 post lift. I'm sure a variation could be made for other lifts. In any case my biggest problem with the come-along was the lack of cable length and constant jambs of the steel cables. I used a 2' piece of 4" x 1.5" rectangular tube with a 7/8" OD 0.120 wall tube welded to the bottom of it to fit in place of the end stop on the bend pak 4 post lift. I welded a bushing on each end of the tube to accept a 3/8" bolt that mounts the winch at a single bolt hole so it can pivot left or right and self align to the cable pull direction. The system works very good but there are some changes I would make if I were to make it again. I welded the bushing on both ends so it could be used on either side, with the winch biased over to the inside.
Changes I would make:
1) I welded the round tube onto the rectangular tube biased over to the inside so the the winch better lined up with the tow hook used on Mercedes Benz. This is not necessary. Mercedes only has a tow hook on the right side sot that feature will not be used at least for the cars I work on 90% of the time. It will handle a sharper angle just fine if it were centered and a whole lot of other problems go away if its centered.
2) 1.5" height of the tube works fine to clear the floor but just barely 3" height tube would work better.
3) The 4 " width required me to bias the pin hole over to one side, 3" width would have been better.
4) Because I made in non symmetric and biased it over to one side it requires the winch to be removed and placed on the other end to use it on the other side of the lift.
5) Because I made the winch able to mount at both ends, I cannot weld on a stop to keep the whole thing from tipping backwards when the winch is unloaded. This can be bad when the lift is being lowered and the winch tips backward.
In any case after using it, I find that it works well but my original concern of having the winch more on the inside was not really a concern at all. I will handle the larger angles just fine.
So with that being said a 3" x3" rectangular tube with one mounting point for the winch welded centered on the 7/8" tube and a anti rotation stop would be the best option.
Changes I would make:
1) I welded the round tube onto the rectangular tube biased over to the inside so the the winch better lined up with the tow hook used on Mercedes Benz. This is not necessary. Mercedes only has a tow hook on the right side sot that feature will not be used at least for the cars I work on 90% of the time. It will handle a sharper angle just fine if it were centered and a whole lot of other problems go away if its centered.
2) 1.5" height of the tube works fine to clear the floor but just barely 3" height tube would work better.
3) The 4 " width required me to bias the pin hole over to one side, 3" width would have been better.
4) Because I made in non symmetric and biased it over to one side it requires the winch to be removed and placed on the other end to use it on the other side of the lift.
5) Because I made the winch able to mount at both ends, I cannot weld on a stop to keep the whole thing from tipping backwards when the winch is unloaded. This can be bad when the lift is being lowered and the winch tips backward.
In any case after using it, I find that it works well but my original concern of having the winch more on the inside was not really a concern at all. I will handle the larger angles just fine.
So with that being said a 3" x3" rectangular tube with one mounting point for the winch welded centered on the 7/8" tube and a anti rotation stop would be the best option.
