Most of the time we see the towing winch in oil and gas fields, pipeline jobs, and tropical logging. Cable plowing is an application that is finding more and more demand for the Allied winch.
The cable plow is capable of laying a flexible pipe, electrical cable, or data cable below ground level without digging a trench and backfilling. The rear-mounted plow penetrates the earth to the correct depth and lays the pipe right behind itself. Coils of flexible pipe are contained on reels at the front of the cable plow and feed back to the head of the plow. The cable plow finds frequent use in laying fiber-optic cables and drain tile to help dewater large agricultural tracts in the relatively flat Midwestern US.
The Allied winch helps pull the cable plow dozer ahead when poor ground conditions make traction difficult or buried obstacles such as roots and rocks require more tractive effort.
These photos show a typical application in North Dakota, where a contractor is laying electrical wire for an electric cooperative. Ahead of the cable plow dozer is a pull dozer equipped with Allied H6H winch. The pull dozer provides additional traction when the going gets tough. Without the pull dozer with Allied winch ahead, the cable plow dozer may not have sufficient traction in the wet terrain to keep moving. The winch with brake-off feature allows the pull dozer to move ahead to more stable ground. The winch also develops more pull than the dozer drawbar pull.
We thank Aaron Brothen of General Equipment and Supplies in Bismarck, North Dakota for providing these photos. General is the Komatsu dealer in North Dakota, with offices in Fargo, Bismarck and Minot.
