[TowerTalk] Fulton 2500 winch single or dual speed?

Thu Apr 3 16:50:51 EDT 2014

Hi Rick, et al,

Owing to the high angles at which the worm and spur gear are cut and 
caused to mesh in a self-locking worm gear set, a fair amount of 
friction is inevitable.  And 'yes' they have to mesh at something close 
to 90 degrees to keep the spur gear from inadvertently turning the worm 
gear.

I went back to Dutton-Lainson's web site and looked at the instruction 
set for the WG2000 40:1 worm gear winch.  Contained in the Safety 
Information, there is a note concerning heating when the winch is to be 
used in conjunction with an electric drill.  It simply states that one 
should not exceed 600 rpm.

So... wanting to talk directly to the horse's mouth, I called 
1-402-462-4141 and talked to one of their engineers whose name is Phil.  
I asked about potential heat build up with the task at hand - that being 
the movement of less than 30 ft. of wire rope onto and/or off of the 
drum under load.  His answer was short and sweet.  He said that the 
amount of wire rope to be loaded onto the drum was not so significant in 
length (time to load) as to lead him to worry about heat build up, so 
long as a variable speed drill was used and kept below 600 rpm.  He 
said, that if the winch is used following factory guidelines, you're 
never going to heat the gear set to the point of concern if properly 
greased.  Since he was on the subject, I asked if his company recommends 
a particular grease, be it dino or synthetic and his answer was "Just 
use a good quality grease and reapply before each use if the winch 
remains outside and there's a long period between uses."  To this he 
added "The winch is powder coated and quite durable but it wouldn't hurt 
to throw a canvas bag over it if it's going to remain outside."

So there you have it.  By design the self-locking worm gear is very 
inefficient causing some frictional heating but it's also easy on the 
muscles and stops where you leave it.  If used properly and under low 
duty cycles such as that of raising or lowering tower sections, one 
would think that this winch set would work well.

73,

Jon Pearl - W4ABC
www.w4abc.com

On 4/3/2014 1:06 PM, Richard (Rick) Karlquist wrote:
> Worm gear winches have a lot of friction, which
> roughly doubles the turning effort.  If they
> didn't have all this friction, they would free
> wheel down.  The considerably heating of the
> worm gear is also evidence of friction.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
> On 4/3/2014 8:51 AM, Jon Pearl - W4ABC wrote:
>> Hi Gerald,
>>
>> Have you given any consideration to a worm gear drive?
>>
>> Dutton-Lainson lists several conventional 'brake' style hand winches on
>> their site but they also offer several worm gear styles.
>>
>> WG2000: http://www.dutton-lainson.com/proddetail.php?prod=11001
>>
>> Description: "2000 lb Worm Gear Winch with 5/8 inch hex drive. Comes
>> with mating handle that can be removed easily without tools. Also allows
>> the winch to be operated with a power drill hooked directly to the drive
>> shaft."
>>
>> Specs and Model Comparison (WG2000 in middle of list):
>> http://www.dutton-lainson.com/wgspecs.php
>>
>> Hex Drive Worm Gear Video: http://www.dutton-lainson.com/LUYqVE1R2KA.php
>> Two Speed Winch Video: http://www.dutton-lainson.com/Jo3Zgfxuxk8.php
>>
>>
>> I'm impressed that their products carry a warranty; are made in America;
>> they offer specs and they actually list repair parts.
>>
>>
>>
>> 73,
>>
>>
>> Jon Pearl - W4ABC
>> www.w4abc.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 4/3/2014 9:52 AM, Wayne Kline wrote:
>>>   Hi Gerald
>>>    the Fulton 2500  is a single speed winch...a dual speed winch
>>> takes LESS effort but more revaluations.
>>> I have two 3200 lb dual speed winches ( old model with the removable
>>> handles )   this is a dual speed on Ebay
>>> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fulton-T2605-Two-Speed-Trailer-Winch-2600lb-Capacity-/200708173399?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ebb23ae57&vxp=mtr 
>>>
>>>
>>> I never used  the newer shift gear style  ??
>>> Wayne W3EA
>>>> From: KC4RN at comcast.net
>>>> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2014 08:23:00 -0400
>>>> To: towertalk at contesting.com
>>>> Subject: [TowerTalk] Fulton 2500 winch single or dual speed?
>>>>
>>>> Good Morning All,
>>>>
>>>> I need to replace the winch on my Hy-Gain 72 foot crank up tower.
>>>>
>>>> Do I want a single or dual speed winch? I do not know what is on the
>>>> tower now other than it is a Fulton 2500.
>>>>
>>>> Being disabled, I don’t have the upper body strength anymore to crank
>>>> the tower to 72 feet. I barely get the tower up to 50 feet.
>>>>
>>>> Will a dual speed help if I don’t already have one?
>>>>
>>>> I looked at price of a US Tower Power Winch, but that sure is out of
>>>> my price range.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance and 73,
>>>>
>>>> Gerald - KC4RN
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________

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