PCW4000 - Portable Winch with clutch

[Treemuel]

Anybody have experience with this Portable Winch model - PCW4000?

GX50 Gas-Powered Portable Winch

PCW4000 winch Feat. centrifugal clutch, and Progressive capture system. 360° inclinable 4-stroke Honda GX50 engine motor

www.portablewinch.com

Looks like it came out in the last few years. Has a centrifugal clutch and integrated progress capture. I've been debating winch options for a while and this seems pretty sweet, but never having used one, not sure if there's any reason the PCW5000 without the clutch and pc would actually be better.

 

[pete3d]

I use my PCW3000 a lot, really like it, find it incredibly useful and versatile. The PCW4000 looked so good I went so far as to take my PCW3000 into our local dealer with the intention of trading it but just couldn’t make the right deal, but one of these days I’ll buy the 4000.

I believe for forestry operations you would find the 4000 much more suitable than the 5000. It, as you point out, has the GX50, engine which runs in any position while the PCW5000 has a 50cc Honda engine that must be kept upright to function.
This is why I purchased the PCW3000, it being the only Portable Winch device with a GX engine at that time.

Power wise the PCW3000 not that bad (for the patient) and I’ve developed ways of capturing progress with it - essentially shutting it off and using the bollard as a fixed friction device, which is fine for holding a load or releasing it with control, but there‘s no way to restart the engine under tension without introducing a lot of extra gear - the 4000 would be a super upgrade.

 

[SeanRuel]

That looks sweet! My 2 frustrations with my pcw5000 are oil sensor shutoff from tipping and no progress capture

The specs are claiming same pull as the pcw5000, so I'd definitely get thie one you're looking at if I were buying today

 

[SeanRuel]

Also, IMO a 2:1whip tackle is way better for pulling heavy even if it's still close to the single line pull ability-

Pulling heavy on single leg has a real surging/stop and go thing as the line stretches then pulls- when the stops happen the load is way more likely to fetch up. Whip tackle seems to seriously reduce this and just happily drags away at a steady but slower rate

 

[Friedrich]

i never got on with my pcw-5000 and sold it. bought a 1,8 t eder winch which has a 2 stroke engine and „trigger“ which i find essential.

 

[Analog]

I remember seeing something like this mounted to a chipper in a Reg Coate's video. Pretty slick adaptation.

 

[27RMT0N]

I've seen Regs video on that as well, and... yah it works better than nothing but as someone who bought the PCW5000 winch years ago and eventually got a Bandit 12XP with an actual hydraulic winch, using a gas winch jury-rigged to a chipper seems just..... miserable in comparison.

Don't get me wrong, the Portable Winch is a very high quality and versatile tool, and it has it's place as a pulling device where others can't get, or when you can't afford a better solution, but it's not the tool you want in the long run unless you are deep in the bush and can't get something bigger close by.

 

[Analog]

As a 1390XP owner equipped with a winch, I couldn't agree more.

 

[Treemuel]

While it’s certainly no hydraulic winch, this setup fit my budget and is already proving to be a great asset for my solo work. I had a local welder fab a mount that I can use with the hitch plate. The hitch plate bent pretty quickly, but the new angle is actually better for getting logs onto the chipper. The progress capture and throttle on this model definitely make this a much more useful system then it might otherwise be (especially working solo). Also the winch is actually faster than I expected after some of the comments I read.

 

[27RMT0N]

Very cool, glad to hear it's working out and I imagine it is a huge upgrade.

Being a Bandit with a factory spot for a winch really set you up well. I remember trying to figure out if I could mount my Portable Winch onto my BC1000 chipper which was NOT designed for a winch, and realizing it would mean a huge amount of redesigning and modifying a large section of the chipper to make it possible.

 

[Treemuel]

Very cool, glad to hear it's working out and I imagine it is a huge upgrade.

Being a Bandit with a factory spot for a winch really set you up well. I remember trying to figure out if I could mount my Portable Winch onto my BC1000 chipper which was NOT designed for a winch, and realizing it would mean a huge amount of redesigning and modifying a large section of the chipper to make it possible.

Yeah, definitely made it simple. Just mounted on the existing bolt holes and easily removable if I ever mount a hydraulic winch. Not sure I would have gone this route either if it was an ordeal to configure.