Hey, Robert, please excuse my ignorance, bu what the heck is that 3-pulley thing in the front?
No ignorance whatsoever and a very valid question sir. Ok, bare with me a minute on this. Ok, about 12 Jeeps back (35 years)), I got the idea of putting winches on both ends of my Jeeps, as I learned the hard way that I very seldom wanted to winch myself
deeper into a screwup-- and I AM ALWAYS IN A SCREW UP!--DUH!
So, I mounted winches on
both ends! The rule: The winch on the front is for the other work, the one on the back is for
ME!!!!
With that said, about 25 years ago I started to also go with bigger and bigger winches, till finally I settled on 12,000 winches front and rear.
But then, since I am not all there, this still wasn't enough, since I was pulling out bigger and bigger things. About 8 Jeeps back, I pulled a CJ7 apart with 9000 pound winches, pulling a JD Combine out of the mud. That is another story, however.
So, along with the big winches, I decided to go back to my logging days and then get snatch blocks to augment the pull strength of the 12,000 winches. In that, those orange things on the front of VEX are 3, 50 ton snatch blocks used in construction, logging, oil drilling, and so on for very heavy lift-pull industries.
What this does, besides being able to hang the Jeep from a cliff or very big tree, is, to
triple the 12,000 pound winch capacity. Thus, I have 12,000 lbs. of pull. If I use one block, I now have 24,000 pounds of pull. If I use 2, it is 48,000 pounds of pull. With 3 blocks, I get 96,000 pounds of pull.
And every once upon a time, I have to pull
out really big things:
This pull amounted to 91,000 lb. as that truck had 6 yards of concrete cooking off in it, at the time of the pull.
And too, since I destroyed a Jeep 25 years ago doing this sort of thing, VEX's frame and ends are effectively lined with 1" steel plate, and thus, its heavy weight of 3 tons and more than that when the D60s are in.
So, that is what those orange things are and I store them by threading the 1/2" winch cable through them from the MM winch and then suck it up tight, and its a great way to store them, have them ready, and they are also where no one can steal them. The color is "Equipment Orange" along with the winch hooks also, so that they can be seen in the desert, jungle, snow, etc, etc, and for safety.
You can read more about this at my own forum, which is here:
Behold Jeep Forum Winches
Very valid question and hat is tipped.
Thank you,
Robert