After a near mishap, I am breathing a little earlier. So I was going to use the winch to get the car on the trailer. I had my wife running the controls and I was watching for anything dragging. I was behind the car when all of the sudden......SNAP!!!!!! The car shoots off the trailer and my fat ass jumps out of the way. I ran next to the car to try and slow it down when I was faced with a split second dilema; how do I slow the car down? This being a roadster is the ONLY thing that saved it!!! I jumped over the door and slammed the car in PARK. I know what it does mechanically, however, I didn't give a fuck. I wasn't about to dig the car out of the ditch behind my house. All seems OK. Below is the winch. Broken Hardware. The FHCS were broached too far and there was virtually no material to hold them together. Luckily everything turned out OK. This is a HF brand and before I get blasted about what shit they make, save it! I use FHCS at work in dies all the time. Unfortunately, this is a common problem. If you use one of these or any other brand, please consider the following remedy. Here is the broken version.
I removed the broken hardware and bored out the mounts to 3/8-16 studs. These also go thru the plates to it is much stronger. Hopefully I can save someone elses Hot Rod.
My first thought was that the cable snapped. I grew up around boats and know what kind of damage a taunt line that snaps can do... Glad to hear there were no injuries or damage. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
Exactly what I was thinking at first. I thought maybe the cabel snagged on something and snapped. The hardware made me wonder until I looked into the situation. I have chased many broken FHCS out of dies and presses at work.
I have a HF 9000 lb winch. On my ramp truck. The hook broke in half while I was loading a Chevy pickup. I can still feel that 1/2 hook and cable whizzing past my ear..
Im surprised any body uses flat heads any more.I know they have their uses but their not all that strong.They need to get their strength from a perfect fit between the head and the countersink which is not that easy to do.We avoid them in the tooling we build if at all possible.
Having multiple eyes watching sure helps and I do remember when I had a cable snap and had to unload my truck back into the paint shop I was picking it up from to have the new windshield replaced again and have the good and top repainted that was 2 says old
I've never had a problem loading a pro-built flatbed wrecker using a winch, those are over-built. Anything else you have to be careful with. Replacing cheesy hardware is numero uno. Safety of everyone in the area is very important. If I had 30' of cable out, I'd have everyone stand behind something or far enough away. Having extra hands around helps in case one gets away from you. Bob
What rating did that winch have? Never really thought about that weak spot in FHCS. but I can see where it is and how weak it is now that you have pointed it out!
Glad you and the car are OK but I do not recommend this... first impulse is to grab or hold the car... which is what a guy up the street did... He is no longer with us. Car rolls back, just get the fuck out of the way. Re broken hooks or cables, that's why I like the winches with a long control cable or wireless so you can stand out of the way....
Glad you're okay and your roadster is too! I have the same HF 2000 lbs winch and have used mine with a snatch block to load over a dozen cars that weigh way more than your roadster. I've made the thing groan quite a bit, but it still gets the job done. The one thing I did do was replace all the cheap mounting hardware with grade 8 stuff. I just upgraded to a 6000 lbs winch as I feel a little safer with the much thicker rope and higher pull rating. I still stand out of the way of the rope when winching (remote control has a 4 ft whip) and make sure that there isn't anything too close behind the trailer if the car somehow comes loose and heads off on its own.
Warn 9500i on a cradle ( multi use 4x, trailer, front of Dually etc) has never let me down, rated for way more than I need and I ALWAYS throw a heavy coat or an axle strap folded and linked to the cable when in use. I have seen too many people in the woods and sand dunes out here injured from a broken, under rated winch accident. Even when using a come-a-long, weight the line with something so it drops if it or the winch breaks.
Thanks for the heads up and lucky you did not get hurt. I am going to check my 9000 lb rated 'Hecho in China' winch hardware now and in future I will think to use several tow straps linked together and attached to the trailer as a double indemnity....
Glad you,your wife and the car are ok,,now throw that cheap Harbor Freight crap in the trash,,,lesson learned! HRP
IIRC, flush head counter sunk, refers to fastener head. Not the same as a real bolt head. See last pic in post #1.
whenever we roll something up a trailer, we follow a few rules: never work alone. put someone in the car if possible. if you cant put someone in the car, put chocks behind the wheels and move them up with the car. work safe.
that sounds like a good idea. anytime i do anything I try to think of what could go wrong and then do something about it to prevent it. the other day there was a thread where a guy put jackstands under the rear end, then undid the leaf springs from the rear and was suprised when the car fell. he did not think about what could go wrong before he started
Well, I use a Harbor Freight winch just about every day I have a 9000 pound model mounted to my trailer wood deck then thru a metal mounting plate welded across the frame that I had added to the trailer when it was built I use a wireless remote control to load and unload I have not had any problems with the HF winches ..... Jim
Never stand behind or near ANYTHING being winched. Old but smart safety rule. Not a practice, a RULE.
Did the threads start right at the point where the head broke off ? A flush head counter sunk bolt that has threads all the way to the start of the countersunk taper of the head will have that weak point. It"s from the termination of the threads and is known as notch effect. A counter sunk bolt that has some solid shank shoulder before the threads start would not have the same weakness.
I always hook a strap on the car and on the trailer, I used to use chocks and found out my 67 Impala ran over my 4x4 chocks with ease. And that was a newly re-chromed back bumper...Ouch!
if you buy the 15-20 foot remote leads you can drive the car while winching it onto the trailer. then if something breaks you just press the brake if you have them.
Cable breaks are dangerous too! ALWAYS lay a furniture pad, floor mats, or something large over the cable....if the cable breaks, the furniture pad will slow down the cable. Winches are dangerous when something breaks. If you dont have another person to sit in the car, you can use a tow strap to tie the car to the trailer...if the car gets loose, the strap keeps the car from rolling away down the street.
Snapped cable was the first thing I thought of as well. When we lived in Louisville back in the mid '70s, a tow truck driver was killed--decapitated--when a cable snapped as he was trying to winch a car up an embankment on Watterson Expressway.
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