[Helios]

Before going out on my own I worked for a company that had each dump truck fitted with a lift gate and winch. The company swore it saved lots of labor hours and prevented injuries & workers comp claims. I know those lift gates saved alot of grief & misery.

Now that I am looking to buy my first real truck I am surprised to find that relatively few used trucks are fitted with either piece of equipment... the Ford & Chevy dealers I have spoken with about new trucks never heard of putting a lift gate on a dump truck (and were even surprised it could be done). Is it that uncommon?

Also, I have been debating the benefits of a plow vs. winch and am leaning towards winch- I can use that all year to remove shrubs and small trees. I dug out a 5" caliper dogwood by hand this morning and kept thinking about that nice Ramsey 12,000lb winch....

So... anyone else have for a lift gate and/or winch? Pros & cons?

[cutntrim]

I don't have either, but it'd be real tough to do snow removal with a winch. Would you spray water on it to freeze it solid, then pull it off of the lot? J/K

A few of the rental outlets here have pickups equipped with lift gates. If I were in the market, I'd ask them where they got outfitted. When you've got a skidsteer though, it does the heavy lifting and puts whatever your lifting right up in to the truck.

[Tim C.]

I have seen companies around here use liftgates on there dumps also. Alot of time they use them to load equipment, so they do not have to have a trailer. I'm not sure of the manufacture though, maybe Anthony Liftgates?

Regarding the winch or plow, I've seen people with both. They just have a removable winch mount made that will fasten to the plow mount. I think it was on a myers plow mount.

[Dale Wiley]

We have a 12,000 winch on one of our trucks. It was on it when I bought it, but I could live with out it.

Lift gates are ok, but they add a LOT of weight and reduce payload. You should have very frequent needs for it to justify the money and loss of payload.

I have a used lift gate I took off a truck bed, I don't intend to use it and will be putting it on craigslist to sell soon.