Click on image for the lowdown. 
====
| | | Forums66 Topics128,076 Posts1,055,924 Members48,430 | | Most Online14,466
Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment (and references) for you!
| | THANKS!
For helping keep this great
old truck web site
on the Internet for over 30 years! and not clogged down
with Ads!  Again, thanks!
| | | | Joined: Jan 2006 Posts: 98 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2006 Posts: 98 | I just bought a 65 4x4 Suburban with a PTO Winch.Just got the truck running.But my problem is how do you work the winch? i have never used one.Thanks
Perro
1952 Chevy Suburban
1964 Chevy Suburban
1965 Chevy Suburban 4X4
1941 Chevy Truck
1948 Sedan Delivery
2000 K2500 Suburban
2008 K1500 Suburban
Run with the dogs or [censored] with the puppies
| | | | | Joined: May 2001 Posts: 7,438 Extreme Gabster | | Extreme Gabster Joined: May 2001 Posts: 7,438 | The PTO is an added accessory. There is no one standard way to work it. You'll need to follow the linkage from the PTO to wherever is goes. Some operate with a lever, some with a cable. An in and out PTO such as a winch uses usually has a lever. | | | | | Joined: Jan 2006 Posts: 98 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jan 2006 Posts: 98 | It's mechanical correct? do i have to have transmission in neutral? How do i make the cable retrack, Spin etc.
perro
1952 Chevy Suburban
1964 Chevy Suburban
1965 Chevy Suburban 4X4
1941 Chevy Truck
1948 Sedan Delivery
2000 K2500 Suburban
2008 K1500 Suburban
Run with the dogs or [censored] with the puppies
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 433 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 433 | The only experience with PTO's I have was them running water pumps on fire trucks...As far as them having to be in neutral to work no they did not... The tucks all had instructions plates attached to the dash... Are yours missing ?
1954 Chevy 3104 3 Window Hydra-Matic in my family for over 60 Years
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right... "Scarlet Begonias" Grateful Dead 1974
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,778 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,778 | The cable winch I had on the heavy-haul wrecker I drove had a lever control system. The PTO, which did need to have the transmission in neutral, had forward and reverse directions. One lever provided engagement for the PTO, while the other selected forward or reverse to wind the cable in or out. The clutch had to be disengaged when starting or stopping the winch, or changing directions on the spool.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 | Perro, Can you supply some photos? You haven't told us where the PTO is connected to, is it the tranny or the the transfer case? In mine, it is taken off the transfer case. I place the t-case in neutral, lift up a lever to engage the PTO, put it in first gear and release the clutch to spool the cable. I can also engage and disengage the winch at the drum itself with a lever. See this photo which shows my system really well. You can click forward for more photos of the system. Braden Winch on NAPCO | | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 | That is one bad-a$$ lookin' winch!
| | | | | Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 129 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Aug 2006 Posts: 129 | And it has been going strong since 1940! You can't hardly hurt those Tulsa Winches. | | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 | alkay3
I have yet to figure something out on my Braden winch. Lets say you are pulling a car up a slight incline. I have the tranny in reverse to spool up. The car is close and I want to stop spooling. If I push in the clutch, won't the drum un-spool? I could cut the engine and that would hold it.
You said you have a brake, mine doesn't appear to have one. | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,778 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,778 | Most winch drums have a worm gear drive that won't allow the cable to free-spool. The worm gear must be driven both directions to spool the cable in or out. That's why most winches have a dog clutch to let the cable be pulled out by hand.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,733 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,733 | The transmission should be in neutral, not reverse. The drum direction is controlled by the PTO gears, not the transmission forward/reverse. It could also work that way but the truck would be moving and that would be the hard way to retrieve something. There could also be a drum free spool arrangement with a one way only winch but not likely. | | | | | Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 946 | Jerry,
That would explain it. I had to release the lever to pull cable out, so that makes sense. So simple! Thanks.
Dave,
Take a look at these instructional plates for my NAPCO. The left reproduction sticker shows how the transfer case needs to be in neutral for Power Take Off (my winch comes off the t-case). Ignore the plate in the middle, it is incorrect to my truck. The original plate on the bottom, states to operate winch in first, second or reverse gears of tranny. The plate in the upper right is an original tire pressure plate.
| | |
|
|
