Tirfor Comes from the french "tire fort" which means "pull hard" and un french this tool is still called a "tire fort". (I am french) Thank you for your amazing and interesting vidéos. Luc
I worked for a "Engineers and Contractors" corporation, and they had a use, abuse and refuse policy for some equipment. During a lull I would attack many pieces of equipment that were exposed to the treatment (red tagged) and would break them down, soak and poke them and get them back to working condition. Paint and Tags cleaned too, back on the shelf with a green tag. 3 warehouses in 3 different regions in the US. Some of them were so old and rusted I set aside for when I could spend more time on them. Glad to see this video, brought back memories.
I've never seen one of these. Clearly a handy/useful tool to have around-especially if you're in the habit of needing to get older, non-running tractors/equipment onto a trailer. Well done.
I have 4 turfors. One T7 and 3 just like you are working on. My smaller T7 has pull my 3/4ton truck out of a few jams .I don’t go in the bush without one and a snatch block or 2 . They are worth there weight in gold. What I like about them is they pull on both strokes unlike a comealong and more versatile than a winch on your truck
Love these winches. I had a 75 foot Macracarpa with a 1 meter plus base leaning about 25 the wrong way. Put a 1/3 wedgecut in the front and a 1/3 back cut in it and have my weediest guy on my crew pull it over beacuse some guys said it wasnt possible! The best fun ive had in a while!
Nice work. It's fun to fix these, especially when all the parts are there. Those "locating dowels" are the shear pins, designed to shear before you put too much force on it, and you should have 3. The one I repaired last year was just missing some retainer things to hold the pins in place. On the T-516 I'm about to open up, it looks like one of the big pins has sheared.
Please release more videos. You and Andrew Camarata are my 2 favorites to watch. Especially of you repairing things.....like when you repaired the excavator in the forest.
I have exactly the same winch and I have been using it to pull tree stumps out of the ground on my hillside but i have been working it much harder than you were. an old wheel barrow tire is an excellent place to store your wire rope in. I have wondered what they looked like on the inside, thanks for showing me.
@@peterhaan9068 Interesting to hear that the relationship between North and South Islands is like that between Scotland and England :-). There was me thinking that NZ was all Peace and Love (LOL :-).
@@coniow It's just human nature... ;-) In a valley not far from my place they had a saying that was somewhat like this: Better a dead person in the house than a xxx (someone from the next province) at the door...
So few tool restorations on RU-vid to get the tool to actually work! Refreshing. So many "restorers" put mirror finishes on everything and presumably never use it again for fear of scratching. More please!
Hell yeah! Griphoists are near and dear to my heart, they're a huge part of trailbuilding. I've been inside our TU series Tirfor winches a bunch of times but they're all newer. Big HDPE slides inside the case that ride in grooves instead of the big rods, and somewhat lighter weight construction. The only knowledge I have to impart is that the pins in the handle should be soft aluminum. You can buy shear pins, but can also just find a piece of rod the right size and cut them down. I've seen people do bad things and put steel rod in there on old badly maintained hoists. Also feed it tons and tons of gear lube, or whatever other heavy oil you've got. They do best when they're dripping oil, as there's a massive amount of friction to deal with. I reassemble with grease, and then dump a little gear lube in it with every use. A disgusting oily griphoist that stinks of gear lube is a happy griphoist.
My wife has worked with a fella servicing them, your spot on with the grease! Basically clean the grit and apply fresh grease, there is a straight pull test to see if the jaws are worn, all replaceable, though not sure about Marty’s vintage.
On the other hand do not grease or lubricate if Tirfor is going to be exposed to dust or grit . Away back 50 years ago ,as apprentices in the coal mines, we were given the job of servicing and repair of them and all they got was a wee lick of diesel . It was quite the norm to find a 1/4" bolt hammered in for a shear pin . Miners were no respecters of S.W.L. .
Found one of these in a builders skip once. Just the hook was hanging out which looked useful enough to be worth taking, pulled on it and found the wire rope so thought I'd take that too, pulled all that out and found the winch as well. All working, within 24 hrs had found a use for it tensioning sheep netting
The nice thing about using one of those for vehicle recovery is that you end up asking yourself "Do I really want to hand winch myself out of there?". That has kept me out of stupid situations several times.
I have always been a firm believer in pulling things apart when they stop working. You always learn something, (even if that is that you should have 'left well alone' :-), but if you can get it back together so it works, you save the cost of a replacement! If it doesn't, well, nothing lost in trying!
I found one at our local tip shop which had been pulled apart, I need to make one of the connecting rod thinghys, you've inspired me to get in and fix it, mine was pulled apart because the brass failure pins had broken, there were spares in the handle.
I have its bigger brother, of about the same vintage. Its a T35 (lift 3T off the ground, pull 5 tonne). Extremely useful bit of kit. The correct wire rope to use in these is specially made, and does not use a soft synthetic or natural fibre core to lay the steel strands around. It uses another tiny steel wire rope. This makes the rope quite stiff, but ensures the rope cannot reduce in diameter and slip through the jaws when operating close to its maximum capacity. Handy tip: store your wire inside an old road bike rear tyre. Keeps it all neat and tidy and 100 times nicer to handle than the original 'catch on everything' SWR spider
I bogged the falcon in a sandy place it shouldn't be, a phone call and an hour later I'm home getting my tirfor knock off ($100- cheers Repco!) Back out to self extract, air up the tyres and head home. Handy
Invest in a genuine lever. They are telescopic and have a neat compartment for spare shear pins. Your tube handle looks a bit long. These were 30cwt or 5t winches, great for windblow or hung-up trees because there is no engine noise, you can hear everything going on. Also don't get metric cable rather than imperial, still works but may slip. Great vid, thanks.
Good advice thanks, I didn't have the right size cable so just used an old yacht stay, seemed to do the job but was a bit stiff and hard to carry around
The cable is specific to a Tirfor. It has a solid core to resist compression and distortion. Additionally snatch blocks need to have a large radius pulley so as not to over stress the cable core.
Just in case you’re curious the company that made these trifor winches is Westward. I have 2 of them that are 100% identical to yours and have used them for years in the tree removal business pulling trees. They are rated for 2 1/2 tons pulling and 1 1/2 tons lifting capacity and model number is S13. Great video!!
Spent many an hour getting my Landrover 2A out of mischief with one of those... eventually replaced by an electric Warn winch so was never used again... sold it off a year or two after the electric. These were used by pretty much most of the experienced/senior members of the Canterbury Landrover Owners Club late 80's early 90's. On the reasonably regular new members days or training days there was always some use of these to make use people knew how to set up ground anchors, snatch blocks and rope etc. Great to see one of these iconic pieces of equipment getting the Marty T treatment!
They are an amazing addition to any toolbox and I love how many of them are actually other Guy's pride and joy because they allowed them to move heavy things around with ease. I can't help myself acquiring a lot of these pieces and I have some much more modern ones but I did buy the exact same winch of the Daughter of a Brother who has made the journey to the big workshop in the sky and I am so happy to have his winch, now I know exactly what is inside thanks to your wonderful video. It is fitting that some of these guys' tools come to guys like us that can give them a new life where they are enjoyed all over again as often they end up in holes in the ground or thrown out for scrap just because the family ran out of interested tinkerers. Cheers Matey and thanks again for taking us along on your exploits
It was in 1929 that Simon Faure developed and filed the first patent (FR687232) for a portable lifting and pulling device with passing cable, the latter marking a breakthrough innovation in the field of cable lifting devices. It was also in 1929 that Simon Faure registered, in France, the tirfor brand to designate this device, fruit of his invention.
I used a Tirfor in the Army to pull my Land Rover out of a bog, no problem. I said to the Sgt "That looks too soft to drive through, could you walk ahead to test the ground?". He was a skinny marathon runner and skipped over the mud. I followed in the Landy and sank straight in to it. :-(
Ive got a modern one for vehicle recovery and clearing fallen timber offroading, and ripping out tree stumps at home. Every few years I pull it apart to clean and re-grease, and its always the same of figuring where all the parts go to put it back together. A snatch block is a great addition to these for doubling your pulling power.
With everything flopping about inside there it’s easy to take it apart but the trick is remembering the sequence putting it back together. Beautiful job as usual, Marty.
Hi, this is a 1.5 ton lift and 3 tom pull winch, The locating pins you mentioned are the sheer pins to prevent over load. Lubrication is with EP90 gear oil poured in the top once in a while. The cables should have a steel core (not fibre) and again should be lubed with gear oil,. I think they are 11mm and have a taper on the free end to make threading possible, cheers
Dear Marty T. 👍👌👏 Very well done again and as always. It really seems that one can find quality only in old things meanwhile. Congrats for owning this strong and sturdy device/tool. And yes, for free is nearly always the best price. Thanks a lot for making teaching explaining recording editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health to all of you.
I note that the lever on the side with the shear pins is held in place with a bolt and washer. Mine is a similar vintage without the bolt, or so it would seem. There is counter sink in the centre of the shaft. I think I’ll drill and tap that shaft and put a bolt and washer on it as the lever is prone to sliding off the shaft. Great video, thanks
What a result Marty, 1st free, 2nd ultrasonic cleaner, 3rd test items waiting, 4th now you can do a heck of a lot more without breaking yourself or the bank, take care Marty and family God bless from England
@@MartyT Yeah, it was pretty rough up here in Kapiti, but no where as bad as you guys. Stay safe and keep the vids coming, they're always appreciated. 👍
Nice job. The really useful bit about Tirfors is using the other lever position ,releasing the load ,be it a tree or truck ,under full control. Much better than a Monkey puller or capstan winch which give little control paying out cable. I work with trees, rivers and boats and this feature is almost more useful than its tremendous pulling power with the cable always firmly held by one or other of the jaws.
Nice work m8. We used the trifor to pull quiet a few stumps out. Quiet handy with a long winch cable where its not easy to get too. We also pulled a truck out of a ditch lol.
Well just so easy when you do it, I have two a big one and a frozen smaller one that I found at the sea side in the bush that I was kinda apprehensive to open up. Well now I have no fear. Congrats on 300 k always so happy to watch and listen to your calm way of being. Thanks Marty from an island on the other side of the globe
We carried one of those on every pumping appliance in Greater Manchester FS and they gave excellent service for many, many years. An excellent piece of kit and very versatile.
We used to carry these on fire engines; we had learn by heart all the stats of the different types we carried- those dowels are actually shear pins which break if it is overloaded
I was down your way the last couple of days , in Nelson. Went out to Marahau in some free time I had. The car's windscreen was all iced up on Tuesday morning.
Used to use one of these for tree surgery and the biggest test we had was getting the rope high enough up the tree. Too low and it would pull the stump out sideways! Great bit of kit; immensely powerful.
Another fine job done , bit of ingenuity , time and patience , is all it takes to solve most problems . Top man marty . Keep up the excellent work and content . From GB .
Absolutely amazing bits of kit! I wouldn’t be without mine even though I don’t use it that often. I think you should give it a proper test now and start rescuing the island tractor 😜
I've had one of these for about 40 years. It is a great piece of kit, if you us a block system you'll be able to lift or move anything you need. Mine came with a wheel made of steel rod to roll up the cable for storage let me know if you'd like a picture so you can build one. John
