Choppers GRCS Mod

[brendonv]

A guy Chopper on buzz made his own GRCS, in my opinion- the way he made the "pigtail" is great and I might just rip him off and do it to mine. The pigtail on the GRCS seems "weak". Am I remembering correctly that Darin's got ripped off some when rope was pulled through it from the front?

What do you think of this?

 

[wiley_p]

I think you should get your nomenclature right. Greg Good made the GRCS. The one you show in the picture is not that, its a capstan winch mounted on a frame with some similarities to the GRCS.

 

[sotc]

that does look nice, it would be nice to have one on each side. ours broke off twice

 

[brendonv]

Sorry CRCS.

Willie, there is one on the other side too.

 

[lumberjack]

I like it better because you don't have to cross over the drum to get to the pig tail and risk the load getting away from you. Constant pressure=no slipping= mo betta.

 

[Frans]

The way 'choppers' pig tail works, is it allows the bitter end of the rope to float up and down in relation to the drum.
Seems like you could lose just a bit of wrap on the drum. That could present problems.

Greg's GRCS captivates the rope into a very specific location, thus maintaining the wraps you have on the drum.

All in all I think 'choppers' device is kind of heavy and bulky in comparison to the GRCS. But it is nice to see examples of people thinking about how to improve it (the grcs).

Still, my impression is/was that it is an attempt to build a better mousetrap, which failed.

 

[PCTREE]

do you have any more pics? I cannt tell from this one how it all works out

 

[brendonv]

 

[sotc]

frans, how do you figure to lose a wrap on that?

 

[brendonv]

I don't see it either. It looks bomber. Plus you can lower from both sides.

 

[JohnB]

I agree with Frans

 

[sotc]

i see the fairlead behind the tailer, the rope would half to be slack and jumping wildly to whip a loop over the end. from my view

 

[Frans]

]

frans, how do you figure to lose a wrap on that?

Where did I say you could lose a wrap?

Seems like you could lose just a bit of wrap on the drum. That could present problems.

Try and stay with me folks

 

[sotc]

ok, what problems? caused by what?

 

[Old Monkey]

I think putting wraps on and taking them off would be a pain on that. It seems like you'd have to pull loops around the drum. I like how heavy duty it is but it probably weighs a ton.

 

[PCTREE]

I agree with OM, looks from picture that you cannt put wraps on the bollard easily but maybe that is just the camera angle. The pigtail on the grcs works well just needs to be beefed up imho

 

[gf beranek]

I like seeing other peoples ideas like this. Yeah, it looks heavy alright, but the overall fabrication appears to have been very well done. Judging from the materials used it would be quite heavy. And by design it would cramp your style to add and remove wraps. But overall it really looks bomber. I did a variation out of aluminum. I think Frans has some pics of it.

 

[Bounce]

I agree that the pigtails on the GRCS could stand to be a little beefier, but the shape of this thing seems like it would make it hard to add or subtract wraps while holding tension on the line.

I don't really thing the weight is an issue. The GRCS already weighs about 75 lbs. What's another 5-10?

 

[SkwerI]

I've seen two complaints here which seem to oppose each other. Some say that it's too easy to lose a wrap, others say it's too difficult to add or subtract a wrap. It can't be both. If it is, then that is more an issue of operator error than product defect.

The problem with these types of tools is that people will invariably use them in a manner other than the way they were designed, then complain that they break or don't work right. I've never used one but even I know that the pigtail on the GRCS is not designed to hold rope tension. It's simply a guide and if the rope is riding on it then you need to set a redirect block above the unit to feed the rope in straight. The beefier guide on the unit pictured here simply bypasses that requirement and will still work even if the rope doesn't line up perfect.

 

[Old Monkey]

Because you can take the harken off, placing it on the tree is doable for one person. That's a nice feature. I think that the pigtail isn't stout because its made to fold out of the way.

 

[brendonv]

The above version does look like a PITA to add wraps on the drum, at anytime.

Brian, your right about setting up a pulley as a redirect ABOVE the winch.

The pigtail is mounted on the side of the GRCS which is necessary in lowering situations. It does not take any sort of load, except aid in keeping the wraps on the drum. If you didn't have it and walked in front of the GRCS the wraps would slide off. I think Willie and Darin had problems when someone pulled perpendicular to the ropes exit. Unless you are in perfect line and try to take slack quickly, the pigtail has the chance of ripping off.

If that makes any sense.

I didn't start the thread to emphasize on anything but the pigtail. His unit does look crazy heavy, and built for removals as it's got a built in "Visor".

 

[Old Monkey]

The pigtail popped off when two guys pulled perpendicular from the direction the rope came off the drum. I sort of thought they'd crank the piece up instead of muscling it. I was wrong.

 

[Jamin Mayer]

I don't really thing the weight is an issue. The GRCS already weighs about 75 lbs. What's another 5-10?

80-85

 

[Old Monkey]

I wager that's more than 10-15 pounds heavier than the GRCS.

 

[PCTREE]

wow you do math? wanna do my taxes????