I am looking to buy a used winch to put on one of 2 tractors, the D6C 10K6516 (powershift), or my D4D 78A5667 (direct drive). Can I get any advise from the seniors which may the best suited tractor (and most available winch), considering availbility, installation & operation? Neither one would be doing a lot of serious work. I am assuming the D4 option would be all lever control, operated by the main clutch, but what would control the D6, with power shift? Is the condrol hydraulic somehow? Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks
Depends on how much pulling power you need. The D4D winch is mechanically controlled using manual levers and cable linkage. The D6C winch with powershift uses hydraulic clutches to deal with the uninterruptable pto shifting. Hydraulics are supplied from an engine mounted pump with linkage to a winch mounted control valve.
Am I thinking around the right lines if I said the D4 would have a winch capable pulling of 25-30 tons? What kind of a job to retrofit such a thing on a machine like that?
Not that difficult to install. The challenge is getting all the right controls and mounting pieces. The Hyster D4E model winch is good for 25,800 lbs pull bare drum and 12,700 lbs full drum. Also can use the D4F model and I believe the D4D Hyster will fit also but the pull is rated less, 19,200 bare drum and 9,450 full. I believe the F model is fabricated steel where the D & E models are cast steel construction. Here is a site for free Hyster winch manuals that you can search. http://www.alliedsystems.com/pubs/pubs.htm I should state that those are the rated pulls, not necessarily the maximum which would probably reach cable breaking strength if you can hold the tractor down.
D4F is fabricated, other 2 are cast steel. All are a extremely solid winch, as long as all bearings are in good condition. All are the same gearing 24-1 which is abit too fast imho. You will only pull 30000lb max. Unless you are super lucky and find a low speed one; then you will get 60000lb. have one on my D4D-78A. Of course easy option is a block to double your power. D6c uses hyster D6D/E. W6E/F winchs or cat 56, or carco F50 [make sure its off a D6] All pull basically 50k on a full drum.80k on a empty drum. powershift is much better for heavy pulls as you can ease into the load with the torque converter. Basically depends what is available though. Winch on my D4D was standard gearing till i found the low speed gearset. Was abit undernourished on some hard pulls, but i never ran out of power when i used the block. Have a D4E on my D4 and W6E on my D6. Run swaged 3/4 on 4 and swaged 7/8 on 6. Swaged rope is much stronger than standard rope.
Thanks for the information guys. I will do a bit of digging to see what is available out there, now that I have some reccomended models.
I want to point out that Carco's successor to the F-50, the model 60, is essentially the same winch but with an internal, PTO-driven hydraulic pump. The D4D 83J we have used a Hyster D4E winch. Chris