finley31
Well-known member
I'm going to be going on a job next week that will require us to hang some beam clamps, trolleys, and air hoists from some structural beams about 23' up. The access in this room is very limited and the only way up is an extension ladder. In the past we have used a block and tackle system, but it requires quite a bit of rope and gets tangled alot, so I started looking for alternatives. I came across the Warn Pullzall and it seemed like a decent solution. It was lightweight and had plenty of power for our needs, but lacked in lifting/pulling length. I had two of them shipped to our shop with intentions of making them work somehow. I thought I would share my modification with everyone here since it was tool related.
The thing thing did was hook it up and test it out to see what kind of length it actually had to begin with and how stout it was. It is advertised as having 15' of pulling capacity, but at 13-1/2' I hit the red warning section of the cable which indicates the safe end of your stroke. After that I diassembled the unit to see what I had to work with.
Next, I removed the oem cable. The quality of the drum was quite disapointing. You can see parts of it flaking off in this picture.
Then I drilled and tapped a 10-24 hole in the drum to attach my new synthetic winch line. I ordered a Rugged Ridge 3/16" x 50' winch line (P/N 15102.30) from Amazon for $59. I removed the rear sheath from the line and most of the front one as well to allow more room for line on the drum.
Here is all 50' of line spooled up not so neatly on the drum. I can get all but about the last 8" of line onto the unit. A 40' line would be more ideal, but the 50' was all I could get on such short notice.
The fairlead bolts were longer than they needed to be on the stock unit so I swapped in some shorter bolts and square nuts to ensure the line wouldnt be rubbing or getting snagged on anything.
Next came the test. This unit is rated at 1000lbs for 1 minute. We put a tow motor in neutral about 35' away and hooked it up to the pullzall. It pulled about 10' before the unit got hot and we decided to quit the test. We won't be lifting anything over 70 lbs with it, but we just wanted to get an idea of its capabilities.
Overall, it's an ok unit I guess. It definitely did not seem to be on par with most of their winches, but for light duty stuff it will probably be ok. I do like that it has a variable speed trigger, but it has alot of drift coming down from the highest speed so you have to be careful about getting close to the hook when your retrieving it. I am now also considering making a new fairlead with a teflon or aluminum guide to accomodate the synthetic line.
The thing thing did was hook it up and test it out to see what kind of length it actually had to begin with and how stout it was. It is advertised as having 15' of pulling capacity, but at 13-1/2' I hit the red warning section of the cable which indicates the safe end of your stroke. After that I diassembled the unit to see what I had to work with.
Next, I removed the oem cable. The quality of the drum was quite disapointing. You can see parts of it flaking off in this picture.
Then I drilled and tapped a 10-24 hole in the drum to attach my new synthetic winch line. I ordered a Rugged Ridge 3/16" x 50' winch line (P/N 15102.30) from Amazon for $59. I removed the rear sheath from the line and most of the front one as well to allow more room for line on the drum.
Here is all 50' of line spooled up not so neatly on the drum. I can get all but about the last 8" of line onto the unit. A 40' line would be more ideal, but the 50' was all I could get on such short notice.
The fairlead bolts were longer than they needed to be on the stock unit so I swapped in some shorter bolts and square nuts to ensure the line wouldnt be rubbing or getting snagged on anything.
Next came the test. This unit is rated at 1000lbs for 1 minute. We put a tow motor in neutral about 35' away and hooked it up to the pullzall. It pulled about 10' before the unit got hot and we decided to quit the test. We won't be lifting anything over 70 lbs with it, but we just wanted to get an idea of its capabilities.
Overall, it's an ok unit I guess. It definitely did not seem to be on par with most of their winches, but for light duty stuff it will probably be ok. I do like that it has a variable speed trigger, but it has alot of drift coming down from the highest speed so you have to be careful about getting close to the hook when your retrieving it. I am now also considering making a new fairlead with a teflon or aluminum guide to accomodate the synthetic line.