Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.112] on Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 17:44:29 :
In Reply to: Re: A-frame hoist posted by Stan [108.82.66.209] on Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 17:22:41 :
I fish it through the gap between the tailgate and the bed. The back corner of the bed of an M35 is really thick, so it doesn't get creased. If it was a lighter bed, it would be easy enough to slip a piece of angle-iron or something under the cable.
The more vertical the A-frame, the less the load on the guy line, and the further back the winch sets from the A-frame anchor points, the more of the load the winch carries, rather than the guy line. I designed mine to be good for 3000 lbs, so it's fairly stout. I used 1/2" cable because it was available and cheap, but it's overkill. If you only need 600 lbs, I suspect a really light line, like 1/4" aircraft cable, would be plenty strong enough and would be easy to handle and to fish through the gap under the tailgate. To adjust the A-frame position somewhat, I actually made the guy line in two sections that I could either couple together with a shackle for maximum elevation, or put a chain in between to let it down some. That turned out to be sort of an unnecessary "feature".