DIY electric winch 12v for cars

Drivers who are not afraid of off-road conditions often find themselves in situations where the car is loaded or stuck. The best savior in such cases is a car winch.

There are a huge number of all kinds of winches of various types on the market for spare parts and automotive accessories, but real mechanics and craftsmen prefer to make this simple, but very irreplaceable mechanism with their own hands.

Regardless of its type, each winch has a similar design and principle of operation: the traction force is transmitted through a cable from a drum driven by an engine gearbox or the muscular power of the hands.

Electric drive. The power element is electric motors of sufficient power and a high torque value. A car starter converted to an electric motor can also be used. In order to avoid rapid discharge of the car battery, an important condition when selecting a motor for a winch is its moderate consumption of electric current.

A hydraulically driven winch has impressive traction and power, however, due to the large geometric dimensions of the units, the need for oil and a container for it, the use of this type of homemade automobile winch is not always possible.

The manual winch is distinguished from other mechanisms by its simplicity of design, however, this device requires the presence of an operator and directly depends on his physical strength. Quite often, the handle of a hand winch is made in the form of an elongated lever.

You can choose and buy factory-made car winches with efficient, high-quality and reliable mechanisms, but you should not give up the opportunity to make a car winch yourself.

First you will need a drum, ready or partially ready. A steel pipe with an internal base for a bearing and welded jaws is perfect for a homemade winch. Calculate overall dimensions based on your needs.

One of the ends must be equipped with a gear attached to the gearbox or mechanical part of the hand drive. In this case, the optimal choice of mechanism would be a worm gear, since it has a large gear ratio and is equipped with an independent braking system, which has a positive effect on its performance properties.

All components are lubricated and firmly fixed to the frame. To ensure high safety, the gearbox or starter is covered with a metal shield.

The process of installing the starter as a power unit consists of installing the base on a sheet metal platform, fixing the drum stand by welding, installing and fastening the gearbox with the input shaft facing up. Using an adapter, place the flywheel crown on the starter shaft, check the installation strength, close the starter and install the wiring.

A homemade car winch is very easy to use and most effective, although it does not have additional functions for changing the gear ratio, speed and reverse. In combination with a hoist or other devices, it can easily cope with lifting heavy loads to a height and will pull out your car stuck in the mud without any problems.

Source: www.drive2.com

Homemade winches from starters

Before setting off, any car enthusiast must make sure that he has taken everything he needs with him. But, if ordinary drivers do not need to take a lot of equipment, then off-road conquerors gather with special zeal. Any car enthusiast who prefers to drive on the most extreme and difficult sections and roads takes with him the most necessary and necessary equipment that can help and facilitate movement, as well as provide a way out of the most difficult situations.

One piece of equipment that will help the extreme motorist is a winch. An experienced driver who is ready for all the vicissitudes of a road adventure will definitely take this important device with him on the road. In difficult conditions where there is a high probability that the vehicle will end up in a ditch or get stuck in the mud, a winch will help the driver pull his vehicle out of such road obstacles.

Of course, you can purchase such a device already in the form of a ready-made device, which, of course, is good news. But, if a car enthusiast doesn’t really want to go shopping and spend money on this device, and if he has all the necessary components, he can make a winch himself.

Application area

This mechanism is intended primarily for cars and drivers who spend most of their time off-road. A powerful car with a winch can overcome many more obstacles than a similar car without this device.

No matter how versatile a car is, sooner or later it will get stuck somewhere. This is where a winch comes in handy. One end of the cable is wrapped around a large rock or several trees and the car begins to be pulled out.

Considering the condition of many roads, especially secondary ones, such a winch can be useful not only for drivers who travel a lot off-road, but also for those who often travel to villages or on vacation along dirt roads. It is for these purposes that winches are installed not only on SUVs, but also on ordinary cars.

Factory winches, which are sold in auto stores, are quite expensive. On the other hand, the simplicity of the design of this device is quite simple, which allows you to create it at home and thus significantly increase the cross-country ability of any car.

Types of homemade winches

As was written just above, there are only three types of winches. They are useful in different situations and also differ in the energy that powers the mechanism. But they are similar in one thing: the principle of operation. It consists of winding a steel cable around a drum. The drum can rotate thanks to a motor gearbox or through the use of its own forces, manually.

Homemade winches for cars can be:

Hydraulic drive

A hydraulic winch is considered a more complex mechanism, as it has some additional elements, namely: a hydraulic drive, an oil tank and an oil pump. The device itself is quite bulky, so it is more difficult to assemble than other types of devices. But a hydraulic winch has two big advantages : it consumes less electricity, but at the same time has more power than other mechanisms. Typically, winches of this type are mounted on very cool SUVs, as well as on tractors and walk-behind tractors.

Electric drive

As a rule, an electric winch can be found much more often, since it is the most popular option among craftsmen who assemble these devices by hand. Such high popularity can be explained by the high efficiency and simplicity of the entire design. As a drive, you can use either an electric motor or a tractor or car generator. The generator should be connected in such a way that it subsequently works like an engine. If you use a starter in the winch device, the device itself will be more compact.

A very important requirement for an electric drive is that it must have high torque. To prevent the battery from draining too quickly, care must be taken to ensure that the electric drive does not consume too much electricity , but still operates with sufficient power. By the way, this type of homemade winch is easier to build with your own hands.

Mechanical drive

A device with this drive operates on the same operating principle as other design options for this device. The main disadvantage of a mechanical drive is its dimensions - it is quite bulky. By the way, this is the largest drive among other device options.

The main difference between a device using a mechanical drive and other options is that instead of an electric motor, direct physical action is used. That is, to put the mechanism into action, you will have to make some effort. In principle, if you use a winch of this type, then you can note its main advantage, which is that such a winch can always be used in the absence of energy sources.

Which winch to choose and how to install it on an ATV

The winch used on ATVs, over many years of use by those who like to wallow in the mud, has acquired the status of indispensability. Therefore, the idea was ripe to get to know her better. Now we will look at what types of our winches we have: WARN, T-Max. We will also conduct a lesson in a detailed description and visual demonstration of installing a winch on an ATV with a video.

In many cases, first-time drivers get into places where no help is forthcoming.
In many cases, when passing through marshy swamps, wheel wideners .
Let's imagine this situation: you are alone, somewhere far in the forest, many kilometers from home, in a deep puddle, there is no help.

The ATV has quite a lot of weight, so it’s difficult to pull it out alone. So what are you going to do? Walk for help? Or try to pull it out yourself? Where you can fuss for half a day and ultimately leave the place of drowning on foot to no avail. At this moment, the winch is your salvation. Attach one end to a tree, only to damage the tree as little as possible, because nature needs to be protected, or to something else that stands confidently in place, press the button and the job is done. She can cope with this task in no time. A winch is truly an essential accessory on an ATV. If you like to ride in deep mud, consider installing a radiator stem , which helps keep dirt out and helps cool the engine.

Product design

In order to make a homemade winch, you should first familiarize yourself with the list of main parts that are used for its manufacture. The main elements of do-it-yourself devices include the following parts:

drum with cable;
engine;
gearbox;
base (chassis).

Before you start assembling, you should prepare everything for this. To begin with, it is recommended to understand all the necessary drawings and electrical diagrams. In this matter, it is better not to rely on your memory or let all the work take its course. Then you need to prepare a workplace and all the tools that will be needed during the work process.

Preliminary preparation

Before you begin creating this device, you must have general knowledge of mechanics, be able to use repair tools and equipment, and know the operating principle and structure of this unit.

In addition, you need to initially determine:

the type of future gearbox and its version;
the gear ratio that will need to be converted and determined at the output;
indicators of dynamic loads that will affect the working parts of the device;
weight and dimensions of the future device;
installation angle;
temperature limits that will occur in the device during its operation;
switching cycle – full or variable;
intensity of operation.

Assembly technology

If a master assembles the entire structure with his own hands, then he will understand it much better than a purchased device. In addition, many car enthusiasts are inclined to believe that homemade winches are of better quality and more reliable. If you assemble such a device from a starter, then the entire procedure will take about an hour, but provided that everything necessary is prepared ahead of time.

The main working unit of the winch is a drum with a cable. If the user already has one, the work will take much less time. But not everyone is the happy owner of such a useful device. If there is no ready-made drum, you can make it yourself using a thick pipe and sheet metal with a thickness of 3 to 5 mm. The cheeks should simply be welded to the pipe on both sides. The gear is attached to one of them. This gear will subsequently receive force from the gearbox.

By the way, if there is no ready-made drum, then it can also be made from Zhiguli hubs , which have already served their purpose. This is not very difficult to do. You just need to cook them on the thin side. In order to ensure the alignment of the parts, you need to do this on a mandrel.

When choosing a gearbox for a device, many professional craftsmen recommend taking gearboxes that are used in trolleybuses to open and close doors. If the user is able to obtain such a gearbox, then it is recommended to use it. But if there is no such device, then you need to make the winch differently, that is, using a starter. It is recommended to use a special starter equipped with a planetary gearbox. Such a starter is more compact and lighter , which will subsequently be a positive factor.

Homemade winches are usually attached to the front bumpers of cars. But car enthusiasts also use portable versions of such devices. They are placed in the trunk and taken out if their use is needed in a certain situation. In principle, in any case, you should make the winch as compact as possible. Bulky devices can cause some inconvenience later on, making them more difficult to use.

Tips for assembly and operation

When assembling a homemade winch, you should pay close attention to all the details. This will avoid possible unpleasant consequences that may occur due to poor quality design.
Under no circumstances should you force the assembly process. As they say, if you hurry, you will make people laugh. It’s better to spend an extra hour to get everything right than to reap the fruits of your haste later.
You need to pay attention to the switching and installation of electrical wiring. It is recommended to secure the winch control panel away from rotating parts. This will reduce the risk of injury that may subsequently occur due to negligence or hasty actions.

It is believed that homemade winches are less safe than their factory counterparts. In addition, they are in no way suitable for lifting loads. This is due to the fact that such devices do not have a stopper. But one of the main advantages of homemade winches is the fact that if assembled correctly, they can last even longer than factory-assembled winches.

Homemade winches made from starters are more compact, so when choosing an option before assembly, it is better to opt for these devices. The advantages of such winches will be noticed by the user immediately upon use.

Source: stanok.guru

Do-it-yourself winch from a starter: drawings, photos of production

Homemade winch from a starter: drawings of an electric winch, photo of making a homemade product with your own hands.

To make a homemade winch, the author used a starter from a VAZ 21015. The engine from a car starter is designed for short-term operation and quickly overheats, but is quite suitable for making an electric winch.

We will also need a reduction gearbox from a hammer drill; you can find a gearbox at a flea market; in this homemade product, the author took a gearbox from an old Soviet-made drill with a gear ratio of 1 x 20.

The motor shaft needs to be connected to the gearbox shaft; this can be done using an adapter coupling and cotter pins, or simply weld them together.

Assembled into a single body.

Now we will make a drum for the winch from a piece of metal tube and sheet metal 3 mm thick.

What is traction force

One of the key parameters to consider when choosing a winch is the pulling force. The maximum weight of the load that can be torn off the surface depends on it. With each roll of the drum, the winch force decreases.

Thrust is measured in pounds (and is designated on winches as lbs), 1 pound = 0.45 kg. The force depends on a number of features: the diameter of the drum, the number of wound turns, the power of the electric motor, and the gear ratio.

It is not always necessary to choose the most powerful and fastest winch: the more powerful the mechanism, the more difficult it is to handle. Beginners can harm their equipment and even their health - there are often cases when a broken cable or broken hook causes injury.

Types of winches

Depending on the situation, you can use different types of winches, which differ in the energies driving the mechanism. The principle of operation in this case is the same - the steel cable is wound on a drum, which can be rotated manually or through an engine gearbox. Both factory and homemade winches from the starter can be manual, hydraulic or electric.

The action of a mechanical or manual winch is based on the force of the motor. In terms of reliability, this option has no equal. However, those who like to relax in off-road conditions are not particularly fond of such a mechanism due to its large dimensions. If such a winch is initially provided in the vehicle, the driver will feel as protected as possible, but will not choose this option when installing the mechanism on his own. Despite the fact that a DIY hand winch will be powerful, it takes up too much space in the car.
Electric options are the most popular among SUV drivers. The drum is rotated by an electric motor powered by a car battery. When working with such mechanisms, it is important to monitor the battery charge and leave enough battery life to get home. These winches are practical and are designed to lift loads weighing up to 4 tons. It is the electric option that is most often chosen if you do the winching yourself.
The design of a hydraulic winch is the most complex due to additional elements in the form of an oil pump, an oil tank and a hydraulic drive. Assembling such a mechanism yourself is more difficult than others, and the winch turns out to be too bulky. Nevertheless, this option also has advantages, including minimal energy consumption combined with high power. The feasibility of using hydraulic winches is observed when operating walk-behind tractors, tractors or SUVs.

What to look for when choosing

Selected for the cubic capacity of the ATV:

up to 400 cubic meters - a 2000 lbs winch is suitable;
500-600 cubes – 2500-3000 lbs
700-800 cubic meters - at least 2500, and better - 3000-3500 lbs;
“liter” ATV or all-terrain vehicle SSV - from 3000 lbs.

Rope material

Steel

– cheap and simple. Requires working with gloves and cannot be repaired. If handled improperly, it may cause injury.

Synthetic

– requires maintenance, but is easy to use. It does not “shoot”, and if the cable is damaged or torn, it can be braided on the spot.

Most experts believe that the choice of material should be based on personal preference: some riders eventually lean toward steel, others toward synthetics.

Stage-by-stage execution of work

Below are detailed instructions on how to make a winch with your own hands using a Zhiguli starter. The choice of this starter is due to the fact that it is as compact as possible and has a high degree of reliability. An additional advantage is the ability to purchase it for almost nothing on any spontaneous automobile market.

The power contacts of the retractor relay can be left if the load on the winch is significant. The bendix mechanism, in turn, must be removed along with the cone housing.
Since the mechanism in this case is low-power and compact, there is no need to create a gearbox from a flywheel gear. Just pick up a knot from a large drill. The gearbox must be a reduction gearbox.
Separate the Bendix housing from the winch and locally mate the gearbox shaft with the corresponding part of the starter motor. This can be done either by creating a transition coupling with cotter pins or by classical electric welding.
There is no need to install dampers as they will break anyway.
The use of a planetary gearbox will allow you to increase the gear ratio if necessary.
Use an appropriately sized pipe to cover the space between the motor and gearbox so that the operator is protected from rotating elements.
The motor housing and gearbox must be securely connected, but not with simple threaded rods.
Make a drum from a cut of sheet iron a couple of millimeters thick and a steel pipe with a diameter of 1.2 cm. Weld round jaws to the pipe and drill a coaxial hole for the power shaft in the center of each side part.
The power shaft must have a standard pair of working gears, otherwise it will be problematic to pair the main sprocket with the output of the gearbox.
Securely weld all the elements together on the channel frame. Backlashes are unacceptable.
Make the side walls from sheet iron up to 5 mm thick. Thickness less than 3 mm will not work.
Using powerful bearings with podiums, secure the drum. This stage is one of the most critical. Weld the podiums to the side walls.
The gearbox should be fixed on the frame so that its gear clings to the power gear on the drum shaft. Between the walls there should be a leash for the cable - an eyelet.
Connect the electric motor from the starter to the gearbox and give the winch a presentable appearance - clean the seams, remove rust and cover the surface with paint.

Recommendations for use

The long service life of a homemade winch directly depends on compliance with the following conditions:

high-quality bearing lubrication;
reliable fixation of the mechanism on the foundation;
installation of chain pairs in one plane;
checking parts before starting;
monitor the load and do not exceed the permissible limits;
control the movement of cargo;
do not touch the cable if it is under load;
watch the turns as the cable wraps around the drum.

In this article we will talk about how to make an electric winch from a starter with your own hands. A manual winch is much easier to make, but its use is not as effective as an electric one. We select all the necessary parts, study the instructions, and try to repeat everything in our garage. The garage must have a 12 V power source. Because using a car battery will not provide you with constant energy. It is enough for 2-3 minutes of operation of such a winch.

Making a winch from a starter with your own hands

First we need to decide what we want from the winch. It is mainly needed for lifting various loads. If the winch is in the garage, then basically it is the engine, gearbox, various components and assemblies, up to lifting the car itself. Based on this, we will need a suspended, perhaps even movable, structure. Let's try to make a winch with our own hands from scrap materials.

To make such a winch, we will use a gear starter for VAZ family cars. It is worth considering that such a starter is not designed for long-term operation, and may overheat due to such use. The VAZ starter is quite powerful, and is most suitable for making an electric winch. To make a homemade winch from a starter with your own hands, we will need:

Starter (any VAZ 2101 – 07 starter).
Reduction gear (in this case, we use a gearbox from an old Soviet hammer drill).
Transition coupling - needed to connect the starter and gearbox.
Drum for winding cable.
Shaft with gear for rotating the drum and bearings.
Corner for making a spatial box for an electric winch.
Some sheet metal to create a protective casing.

Our homemade winch from a starter is designed to lift loads up to 300 kg. If you use chain hoists, the load capacity will double. Of course, there are no such heavy loads in the garage, but using a block/pulley hoist will reduce the speed of lifting the load, thereby reducing the load on the starter motor and extending the service life of the brushes in the electric motor.

Step-by-step instructions for making an electric winch from a starter

When all the necessary parts have been collected, you can start inventing. Of course, no one will reinvent the bicycle, but we have to think a little. And so, we have all the necessary parts, drawings, diagrams, some wires, bolts and the desire - we can start making a winch from a starter with our own hands.

STEP 1: starter . Let's disassemble the starter. To make a winch, you do not need a retractor electromagnetic relay. We remove it immediately and move on to disassembling the engine itself. Remove the starter front cover and the starter drive (Bendix). While the starter is disassembled into parts, it can be serviced. Replace or lubricate bearings and replace brushes. We assemble the starter in the reverse order, only without the front cover and bendix.

STEP 2: gearbox . We prepare a reduction gearbox for a homemade winch with our own hands. It's also worth servicing. We clean and lubricate the entire mechanism. In principle, there is no need to do any other manipulations with it. We leave it alone and go to make an adapter coupling in order to make friends between our gearbox and the starter motor.

STEP 3: connect the gearbox and starter . To make a winch from a starter, you need to “make friends” between the gear shaft of the gearbox and the starter shaft. You can connect two gear shafts using an adapter coupling or simply weld one shaft to the second (which is what we did).

STEP 4: Protective cover . In order to close the space between the gearbox and the starter, we need to make a protective casing. To do this, you need to find a pipe of suitable diameter. Let us recall that the diameter of the starter 2101 is 82.5 mm. We take a pipe (in our case it is a hot-rolled pipe, 83 mm in diameter), cut off the required piece of pipe. Let's try it on the starter and gearbox. The starter motor has a smooth edge, and the edge of the reduction gear has characteristic protrusions. We make corresponding grooves in the pipe. After this, we get a single body of a homemade winch from the starter.

Well, we have made a connection between the gearbox and the starter motor, all that remains is to make a drum for winding the steel cable and a drive from the gearbox to the drum. For this task, we need to select a suitable gear wheel and shaft. We go in search of all this stuff, and again to the garage. After all, an electric winch will not make itself!

Installing a winch with a detailed video on an ATV

Let's look at the example of WARN. Unwrap it from the packaging. The platform is attached to the quad frame, and the winch is directly attached to it. It is necessary to disassemble the front of the ATV and install a platform.

After reading at the end of the post, I advise you to watch the video about the step-by-step installation, where everything is clearly depicted and shown down to the smallest detail. What modifications are needed during installation?

Where do we start?

Remove the front protection. The platform itself is attached to the frame in different ways; some screw it on, others weld it. Each method has its pros and cons. Installing the platform with bolts allows you to return the ATV to the factory state; when you weld it, then nothing will be factory, one might say - forever.

So, the installation of the winch itself requires convenience; before work, let’s jack up the ATV and begin installing the platform. Remove the front trim. The platform is partially attached to the original fasteners, and partially to the frame with special clamps, which should be included in the kit. We unscrew the original bolts from the bumper - there will be one of the mounting points for the platform. We attach the platform with a bolt and begin baiting according to the instructions. If all the fasteners fit, we begin to stretch it.

The most important thing is to make sure that the clamps stretch without distortion, so we tighten the nuts one by one. The platform is installed and stretched. It's time to install the quinoa itself. Be careful, it is heavy, it can fall and crush your fingers, so you need to be careful.

The instructions ask to install on different bolts. Some are 20 centimeters, others are 25. We take 25 and screw them through the brackets to the lower mount. Please note that the brackets can be of different sizes. This is surprising, because the copy is not made in Russia))), but unfortunately it is a fact. Therefore, in such cases, you will have to either unbend the bracket or drill it out so that the holes fit the mount.

Is everything okay? Now you can pull it. The procedure is not very convenient, but doable. We pass the cable through the “lips”. When using the cable, we have it at different angles. These lips allow us to keep the cable alive with the help of rollers, freeing it from friction on the parts of the all-terrain vehicle. Of course, over time, these rollers wear out, wrinkle and stop rolling. But it won't affect performance much. Next, screw the lips to the fastener. So, the installation of the winch is almost complete. For those who don’t understand, open the video.