GRCS gripping

Rupe

Rupe

Location
United Kingdom
My GRCS has done quite a lot of work now and I admit that we don't switch over to using the bollard as much as we should do, so the winch is very smooth now, and we are struggling to lift stuff that I'm sure used to be much easier.

I can hardly remember what it should be like. How rough the centre section should be?

I'm sure I remember discussion here about sand blasting or other methods of roughing up the surface.

Has anyone tried this?

Any advice would be welcome, I'd like to hand it over to a sand blasting company with the confidence that I'm doing the right thing!

Also does anyone use the tow hitch mount, or have any homemade tow hitch adaptors for the GRCS?

We exclusively use 50mm ball hitches here which are not removeable, I'm sure the official hitch mount is intended for american style 2inch square draw bar types of hitch.
 
Rupe, it sounds like it may be time to renew the springs in the jaws of the self tailer, that's where the grip really comes from. Our original 1997 winch has been in continuous use and pulls as strongly as ever despite the drum being polished to a near mirror like smoothness. I have renewed the springs once in that time.

Changing springs is a simple procedure. Let me know if I can help.

Be good
 
Wow, quick response, thank you.

Can I get these springs from a chandlers? I got a new handle once from a chandler near me so I guess they could get me the springs.
 
Also, how many wraps do you take when you lift vs. just lower a piece? We found that it helps to take an extra three or more wraps to lift the piece, then remove the extra wraps to lower the piece.
 
Frans, my rope is pretty good. I had one that was ruined by pine sap, so it got replaced. The current one is nearly two years old and only ever used with pulleys.

It may be close to renewal time but its not glazed or stiff.

Mahk, this may sound weird but I've never used the grcs myself, I think my groundie uses as many wraps as he can possibly fit on it for lifting so thats four complete wraps then over the chrome pieces and round again through the jaws.

Then of course he would remove wraps until the ideal amount of friction is obtained for lowering.

One problem which we may have is that we only use 16mm rope, is that 5/8th?

I'm sure a smaller rope, maybe a more static rope would be better, but the 16mm used to be ok and we have noticed a drop in performance. Maybe the 16mm has worked the springs harder and so they def. need replacing.

I do intend to get a specific rope for lifting and once the springs are done I'll do that. I guess we were going for one rope for every situation, and the 16 was perfect.

Maybe the groundie is getting weaker and needs new springs!

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I have both and old and a new winch head. The newer one grips a bit better and accomodates more wraps. I also use 1/2 HTP which is strong and allows for a lotta wraps.
 
i have found that using a smaller diameter helps out a lot. it allows you to take more raps and it doesnt stretch the jaws as much. we use yales double esterloin 1/2 line and it works great. We just replaced our jaws after our groundie accidentally dropped the grcs and broke a piece off of the jaws, we called greg direct and he sent us out our brand new jaws, it took me 5 mins. to replace and while i had the cover off i cleaned out the winch inerds.
 
The B-46 Harken is only rated for 9/16th line. Regardless of whether the springs holding the self tailer jaws are weak or not, the drum isn't large enough to hold more than 3 wraps of 3/4 or 4 wraps of 5/8th line (abt 16mm)

For lifting and pulling applications, we now always use a jacketed spectra 9/16th line, rated at 19,000 lb tensile. The HMWPE lines are awesome, as there's near zero stretch, and the strength is unparalleled. 5 wraps plus the wrap in the self tailer, and you can handle about anything.

For butt hitching wood, I break out the Hobbs, which, like the GRCS winch, allows for rapid slack removal, not possible with the fixed bollard. This is the only application where the Hobbs is the better tool, due to its large drum, which can easily accomodate 5 wraps of 3/4 line.
 
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