Forming an end on Tirfor winch cable

[8ob]

The Tirfor has saved the day on many occasions.

He who gets it stuck gets on the handle

 

[James1979]

Tirfors are a great bit of kit but you can’t beat a Monkey Winch!

that repair manual looks useful

now it’s been mentioned, yes the cable they use is an odd size. I’ve a feeling from distant memory the rope is an odd weave as well? I remember all the warnings about using non genuine stuff

 

[Migmac]

Good bits of kit, used a tirfor to debog machines many a time. See a few ex military ones for sale on eBay from time to time.

 

[Mikes]

Cant beat having a Tirfor about, excavator was struggling so pulled out this stump with the trusty Tirfor

This is just what I need the Tirfor for. I've got the root and stump of a very large conifer to move. This was blown over in storm Ciara . Hopefully when I've made the end of the cable suitable again, I will be able to post a photo of it in use.

 

[James1979]

There was a copy doing the rounds a few years ago which was rubbish in comparison. Lug all, loadall or something? Ex mil ones are a good buy. Only real thing to check is if some idiot has replaced the shear pin with stainless bar.

I was that idiot on occasion!

 

[James1979]

The Tirfor has saved the day on many occasions.

He who gets it stuck gets on the handle

Is that one of the early timberwolfs? Only the prototypes and the mk1 had the platform or is that your addition?

 

[fizzy]

I love Tirfors even though they are hard work and slow. They should have a contest on the World's strongest man - that would sort them out

A few years ago when I was a lot stronger and fitter I got woken up at 2am by my girlfriends brother. He was a squaddie and they had "borrowed" an army Land Rover which they had managed to get stuck in a forest in the middle of the Brecon Beacons. At the time I only had a normal car so loaded all my kit into the boot and set off. We then had a 2 mile walk to where they were stuck carrying all the heavy kit.
Pitch dark in the middle of the forest of course and only feeble torches.
Yes we pulled the Land Rover out - but we soon found out why it was stuck. The steering tie arm was stuck over a tree stump. A highlift would have been far better. The Landie came free when the tie rod snapped
It was then another drive back to Swansea - daylight by this time - to pick up a new one. Then back to the Brecon Beacons for muggins to fit it. The things I do for people gggrrr.

 

[Migmac]

There was a copy doing the rounds a few years ago which was rubbish in comparison. Lug all, loadall or something? Ex mil ones are a good buy. Only real thing to check is if some idiot has replaced the shear pin with stainless bar.

I was that idiot on occasion!

I was on a forestry course and the instructor let us use his tirfor. I at this point had never seen one before. Was winching down a large tree and the winch stopped working. Panic set in, I’ve burst his tirfor. Went to own up about what I’d done, he kept me dangling for twenty minutes before he said that it’s not broken. It’s just the shear pin, new ones are in the top of the handle, T wat

 

[Mikes]

As an update, I had a go at the cable. The biggest problem was getting it clean to silver solder as when I tried to wire brush it, although I could get the rust of the outside layer of strands, the rest was quite dirty and there was no way that the silver solder would have run. I therefore decided to hit it with the mig. To stop it unraveling, I clamped the cable in a pipe vice with a small section sticking out. Onto this I clamped another 'loose' pipe vice which I then rotated to tension the cable. Then I managed to get enough weld onto it to stop it unraveling. Removed the 'loose' pipe vice and then cut the loose strands of the cable back to the weld and then welded the cut end of the wire. After this, it was a matter of setting about it with a grinder to form a nice bullet end and reduce the original weld on the circumference of the cable. In all, it was quite successful and even resembles the original factory end. Unfortunately, that's where the success ended. Although I'd cleaned-out the Tirfor as best I could , the two assemblies which feed the cable either forward or backward are within riveted plates and I didn't want to take these apart as there are large springs in them. The upshot of this was that they weren't gripping and releasing the cable freely so I've stripped the Tirfor again and am going to leave these two assemblies to soak in some paraffin when I can get some.

 

[8ob]

Is that one of the early timberwolfs? Only the prototypes and the mk1 had the platform or is that your addition?

The cage, tie down loops and step are bits I added.

Bob

 

[Pete.]

The cage, tie down loops and step are bits I added.

Bob

Should have gone with floats too Bob

 

[8ob]

Should have gone with floats too Bob

Pete we have a chipper that swims and a stump grinder that thinks it can swim