power tower

[jaydee]

Does anyone here know what a power tower on a truck is? I have heard people speak of this, and am wondering, is this the same as a PTO?

 

[Dennis Benson]

Throttle body spacer?

 

[ericlb]

when i was starting out in the work world, i worked in a repair center for oil field equipment [ nobody on this planet can tear up machinery like a rig up crew] a "power tower" was a big pto driven winch set up, mounted on a cage like structure on the truck just behind the cab, these 'power towers'were equipped with both cable and rope spools, these were on at least a 5 ton truck and usually heavier, they varried from 25 tons pulling capacity up to around 50 tons [ 100,000 lbs pulling capacity], also they were used on semi tractors to winch a type of flatbed trailer called a 'oil field float' up onto the trucks fifth wheel , the trailer nose, sitting on the ground, was designed to be driven over by machinery , or vehicles, then the semi tractor would back up to it, hook its winch cable to the trailer and lift it up onto the rear of the truck, then back into it untill it rode up the trucks ramps and latched the fifth wheel ,

 

[shaun wallace]

Yep ericlb you got it. Some have 2 winches.

 

[jaydee]

O.K. thanks guys, got that cleared up.

 

[Anonymous-0]

a power tower is a heavy duty power take off drive off the top of an auxiliary transmission. It requires a special transmission cover that has the sliding gear, linkage connections, and housings for the output shaft.

Compared to the normal PTO mounted under a transmission and driven off the countershaft, a power tower is able to transmit the full horsepower of the engine. So heavy winches use power towers.

Make a distinction between the PTO drive and the winch itself. A winch could be driven off of either pto.

Bruce