Winches, go budget or go big?
 

So the internet is flooded with yeah racing / rc4wd / various other chinese manufactured winches in the 20-40$ range with an extremely wide range of ratings. Then you have the small scale individual / small business builders who seem to make good winches that are a bit more but have a lot of anecdotal reports about their quality, often backed up by videos on youtube.
Lastly we arrive at the big dog 100$ servos that claim up to 12lb deadlifts that are almost never in stock anywhere.


My question is this: what is a good all around winch to use when you are winching just for fun. My goal is to crawl in the spirit of competition, without actually having access to regular comps. I like the idea of setting up gates for me and my children, using winches when they are applicable, and keeping score for "fun". So I guess the big picture is to find a servo that would be competition worthy, but not in the sense that it only has to run for one competition.

Winches, go budget or go big?
 

If just for fun, or in the spirit of scale, or only bullbar mounted, I’d recommend building (or buying) a dual motor winch and running off an dedicated winch controller or Esc. YeahRacing make a dual motor winch for a reasonable price, or buy two and build your own [emoji6]
If it’s for hardcore comp truck then go inboard servo winch

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

I want to use this particular bumper:

https://www.hobbytown.com/trx4-scx10...d00215/p710196


Which type is good for that?

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Well then you definitely want to get yourself a scale winch. You should be able to find one of those ebay winches that has a look you enjoy and has enough power to be usable.



I do a lot of scale crawling and some comps. I rarely see a winch come out in a comp except to right oneself and occasionally to assist in a climb.


So that being said when I break out the winch line, which I might add that I have both front and rear, it is generally to pull a buddy up an obstacle. In that situation having a winch that hold is more important then pulling in, since you can use it as a to line. Or it is used to stop the front end front rising up and flipping the rig backwards.


In either case big holding power isnt needed. Now both my winches have big holding power on 7.4v.


I think something with moderate torque and good speed, so you can use it quickly would be more suited to gates and children.


If you do the cheapo ebay winches, there are tons of different gear ration motors for very little money. It makes it easy to get to what works the best for you. I do recommend getting one that runs on 2s so you get some extra speed. As for winch controllers a 2s esc works great for situations like yours.


When my boy was younger a separate remote for the winch was great because his hands and coordination were not ready for operating a wheel, throttle and winch at the same time.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Winches add a ton of fun when crawling - and I never thougth it would be that much fun!

I am running a cheap servo winch setup on my scx10-2, using a "Axial SCX10 II Winch Spool AXI31396" and a modified "Tower Pro MG996R" (modified potentiomenter for continous rotation).

To prevent "creep" or "drift", you can simply added a (kill-) switch to activate / deactivate the winch or you can use one of HeyOKs winch controllers.

Anyway, don´t risk damaging you rig by a "creeping" servo, this cheap servos has a lot of power!

HeyOKs electronics:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/vendo...one-place.html

Axial spool:
https://www.hobbytown.com/scx10-ii-w...i31396/p510561

Servo:
https://hobbyking.com/de_de/towerpro...20sec-55g.html

Bumper (also SSD):
https://www.hobbytown.com/scx10-ii-r...d00147/p568442


Have fun winching! "thumbsup"

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

So I am running a few similar set ups. The solar D772 for $22.00 makes a great servo winch, with 400oz at 7.4v. Heyoks winch controllers have not failed me. I am using the HV relay type and the standard for two position switches. Neither of those controllers have any noticeable creep.



In my opinion two position switches are clumsy, and are not the best choice for kids.


I really like my hacked flysky where I can use momentary switches for winch control. Being able to have that type of control over in, out, stop, go brings a new level of enjoyment for me.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

I have had zero issues with my powershift servo winch. After 2 years I am finally replacing the line. It is not scale by any means but it will wind faster and is stonger than any of the scale rc4wd/yeahracing that I have seen. The warn 8247 by rc4wd looks pretty awesome but Im not sure since I dont have any experience. I prefer a radio channel to control it instead of a spare switch as I would lose that dongle or have trouble fiddling with it.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Cheap with a dongle you can attach to a lanyard = happy kids. That's from my experience anyway [emoji106]

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

I bought a "cheapo" yeah Racing winch and it's actually worked pretty well. Good holding power, definitely not a ton of torque, but the rig I put it only weighs in at 4-1/2 lbs with a pack, so it's been fine for my needs. It was mostly in the interest of a fun scale accessory, but it has been fun to use. I utilized a HeyOK winch controller, and programmed the thumb button on my DX4C to control the winch.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Is the hacking difficult? Does it use arduino, cause I have one? Ive been thinking of getting the spektrum DX5C for 120$ off tower but the flysky is half that cost and can be more featured it seems.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Powershift seems to have a pretty decent 50$ winch, but Im not sure how I would end up mounting it to my new bumper; how did you end up mounting yours?

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Can I chime in?

For guys that run a scale winch, use it! Work it hard. If it breaks but still looks okay, keep it on your rig but hide a servo winch behind it somewhere and run the cable out through the scale winch.
You can turn an old servo into a winch without a lot of effort. There are many guides on how to do this.
Here's mine:
http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/elect...-tutorial.html

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Hey no experts allowed! :ror:

I would just add that consider approach angles because a scale winch will need a winch bumper which sticks out farther than normal bumper while a servo winch will allow you to use a low profile bumper and get a better approach angle. I see you've already selected a bumper so I'm just throwing this out there just in case. I had made a bumper for my TRX4 just like that one you've linked and I've already removed it to go with a servo winch and lower profile bumper and I'm considering changing up my Ascender which also has a scale winch and big bumper.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

I like the idea of giving a 25$ scale winch a try and running a servo winch through it when it breaks hehe. Thats a useful tip!

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

Yeah thats something I've never considered either not a bad idea.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

I mounted mine in the frame rails on the back of my battery tray. I have some of those plastic scale winches for appearance only that I've considered drilling holes into to pass the line through.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

in my group everyone want's the hundred dollar RC4WD "Warn" 8274 1/10 Scale Winch because it can free spool out.

Re: Winches, go budget or go big?
 

I have went with the cheap winches and upgraded the motors to the Locked Up RC high performance motor.

I have also used their Commando Free Spool setup on one of my rigs. "thumbsup"