Selecting a Man Riding Winch

Bump Test on a Gas Detector

What should a good man riding winch offer is what I often get asked. For me this is fairly straight forward.

Ease of use with a shock activation connector to show if the unit has taken an impact and a slipping clutch if it is a wire rope winch. The reason for this is simple, it ensures that the operative you are recovering will not have limbs torn from them if they become entangled on retrieval. This to me has always been a basic requirement although you will be amazed at how many winches are in the market place that do not offer this protection.

Items of key importance are:

  • Quick recovery of whatever line is used to ensure easy extraction of the wearer
  • Overload protection as this ensures the safety of the wearer
  • An indication hook so that first inspection can guarantee that the unit has not taken an impact

Retrieval speed is also very important and this alters immensely from make to make.

Certain models of man riding winches can have powered recovery as an option. These powered drives are added to the external drive shaft, so offer the same protection to the user as if operated manually. Any powered recovery option must be able to overridden by the manual mechanism, in case of power failure.

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