Kevin,

There is a HUGE difference between hooking a block and tackle to a truck and double looping a strap. Block and tackle on a winch does in effect double the pull of the winch (or triple or quadruple depending on how many loop backs) due to leverage.

Using a standard winch cable straightline pull gives the maximum weight pull the winch was rated for, say 8,000 lbs and it will pull at full speed. For hypothetical purposes, let's say it pulls the truck at 1 foot per minute.

If you loop the cable through block and tackle at a tree strap and loop it back to the truck, you are decreasing the pull speed of the winch from 1 foot per minute to 6 inches per minute. But the leverage caused by the block and tackle increases the pull strength of the winch by double it's rated pull weight before it hits stall speed.

By tripling or quadrupling the line, you can further increase pull strength but subsequently reduce speed.

One of the best examples of leverage I have found is at the local museum. They have a VW on a platform that using a series of block and tackle arrangements I can actually lift with one hand. I know for a fact on a straight line pull I couldn't lift a VW, but using leverage I obviously can because I have.

Unless you can increase leverage on a pull strap by using block and tackle, you can't increase the pull strength. It's a matter of physics. You can use a few tactics to help out the pull in some ways, but without increasing leverage, you can't increase pull. Although double looping the strap may increase the WEIGHT rating, it still will not increase the pull ability of the vehicle doing the pulling.

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Gordon "The Warmonger" White

[This message has been edited by warmonger (edited 04-11-2001).]