STEERABLE WINCH FAIRLEAD (PLUS MORE)

[Mythicalminer]

I have a Lewis Chainsaw Winch. It holds 150 feet of small (3/16") aircraft cable good for 4,000 lb. pull (can be multiplied with snatch-blocks). The chainsaw winch is very handy as it is portable (I can carry winch & eng. one load), holds a lot of cable, and runs at any angle. However, most of the time I use the winch over and over from the same spot, and wanted a way to support the winch on a stand securely so it wouldn't flop around (most of the time the anchor point was a few feet above ground level so winch/eng. would come up off the ground and I would have to hold & balance the unit and I could see that eventually it would fall on some rocks and possibly damage the engine). I also wanted to be able to run the winch cable out straight from the winch to a block, so the incoming cable was always 90 degs. from the winch drum. (Try not to run winch cable directly to the load in case the load rolls to one side and changes cable angle onto the drum.)

So I built a lightweight foldable/portable stand with adjustable legs to mount the winch on. It works great... however, because of the 150 feet of small cable (3/16"), and the narrow (6" wide) winch drum, it was difficult to get the cable to wind onto the drum single layer all the way across before adding another layer (to hold all 150 feet of cable there are 10 or more "layers", and it's easy to build up on one side and wedge/jam the cable in the winch housing). Normally, the solution is to move the winch side-to-side to feed the cable... but, this is a hassle, and hard to do especially under heavy load.

MY SOLUTION: I made a "Steerable Fairlead" that allows me to force the cable side-to-side as it winds onto the drum using a "rudder bar".... and it works! By playing with the length of the Rudder Bar, and the length of the Front Roller Support from the pivot point, this could be upgraded for use on larger winches.

STEERABLE FAIRLEAD - LINK:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1matX10 ... sp=sharing

[Jim_Alaska]

Thanks for that information Tom, the instructions are great, well done.

[Joe.S.AK]

WOW, Tom!!!

QUITE the rig you made there - and obviously a LOT of concentrated thinking went into designing it "Just So".

For me, however, the rocks aren't the real problem - rather it's the the wheeler going over OMG terrain and ending in an OOPS kind of situation (Occurrence Of Puckering Significance). Now, you know, that manually actuated, "Good "ole Fishin' Reel" idea would work REALLY well at those intense times.

Some might remember that one story, when I get to the part where --- "... and so there I was, the wheeler was on it's side, I was cussin' like mad and then the winch jammed ...".

Nicely done, Tom, Nicely done.

- Joe -