The Hornet is the ultimate choice when it comes to the best competition electric winch for your vehicle. The RED Winch engineers have designed and developed this high-performance twin motor electric winch for the 4×4 competition and Motorsport markets.
It has been designed with the competition in mind and has many features ideally suited to high-performance Motorsport events.
RED winches have been supplying winches to the competition, commercial, overland, 4×4 and MOD sectors for many years and have built an excellent reputation for quality and reliability through our highly engineered innovative products.
All products at RED winches have been through an extensive design and testing program before going on sale (engineered to meet J706 standards).
The winch body is CNC machined from high-grade heat-treated aerospace aluminum from solid billets. We only use the best machine tools and machining processes to ensure stress in the material is kept to a minimum and strength to its maximum. With its air free spool and air brake system, the Hornet offers control and reliability previously unavailable on a winch to the off-road and motorsport sectors.
When you order your Hornet will come with the following:
Spring pressure applies a steel disc to the brake material when the winch is not in use.
This applies the brake at the motor drive and stops the winch from spooling out.
The brakes work in a way that they only come off or release when a voltage is applied to the motor solenoid signal terminals. When a signal is sent to the winch to operate either forward or reverse that same signal is used to energise the air solenoid that feeds the brake system.
An air solenoid is fitted in-between the motors at the top of the winch. This is fed by an air supply from your truck or remote compressor. Min 5bar (70 PSI) required.
When you winch in or out you energise the signal terminals on the motor Albright solenoids this also energises the air brake solenoid valve. This then allows air to go into a specially designed chamber inside the air brake unit that releases the brake disc instantly.
When you remove your winching finger from the controls the air solenoid dumps the air and the springs apply the brake disc onto the brake pads. We can vary the number of springs in the brake to suit the weight of the vehicle if necessary but so far this has not been needed. More springs equal larger braking force but more abrupt stopping which can cause snatching which we do not recommend for the sake of your rope life.
One nice feature is when you are lowering out you can switch your isolator off to the winch (no power to the motors) and just flick the winch out button on your dash. This still activates the air solenoid and releases the brake and your vehicle only pulls out rope off the drum for the amount of drop your vehicle needs or moves. This means compared to normal winching you do not get overrun or excess rope coming off the drum and out the back of your truck causing snatching and jerking as the vehicle takes up the slack rope that has been spooled out.
We would expect a set of brake pads to last at least 2 seasons if not 3 seasons due to the material they are made from. This air brake design has been submitted for full patent and is patent pending.
With the standard gearset the hornet2 is rated for 4,500kg (10,000 lbs) and with the Overdrive gearset it is rated for 1,800kg (4,000 lbs)
Important Note:
A vehicle with driver has to be 1800kg or less for overdrive gear set to work successfully
Line pulling power with electrics is in a world of its own as you probably know…and depends heavily on the quality of your electrical setup as described in the electrical section.
As a guide, for the standard Hornet winch you will need this as your electrical setup:
The Hornet can give you speeds of 40m/min (131ft/min) for the standard 12v model, and 60m/min (197ft/min) with the Hornet ‘Overdrive’ gear set giving you a choice so you have the power and speed when you need it.
The gearbox has been specifically designed for strength, power, and ease of service. All gears are manufactured from 655-M13 nickel chromium-molybdenum steel and case hardened to give maximum strength (1100 N/mm²) and excellent durability. Straight cut gears provide strength where its most needed.
The end cover is sealed via an O-ring and groove, ensuring a watertight seal. Once the cover is removed access to all gears is possible and only takes 5 mins to service / inspect all gears and re-assemble. The gearbox runs in grease, not oil making it much easier to service in the field.
(1) Check winch as per the safety instructions
(2) Check winch is situated correctly for the task at hand
(3) Check rope is on drum securely and is not tangled
(4) Check power connection to winch
(5) Ensure Compressor is on and the winch has air pressure to it
(6) The winch is now ready to operate
The winch can release and winch in rope very fast, this is much faster than a normal winch, so please operate with caution when first using the winch.
The winch gearbox is slightly noisier than other winches due to the rotational speeds of the gears, especially when not under load. Do not be alarmed by the noise, this is normal.
The compressor will run and vibrate whenever it needs to top-up the air in the system, the winch uses very little air to operate but this compressor could start when the winch is not being operated if the air pressure in the system drops.
The Hornet has been designed with both competition use and servicing in mind. A mounting block is provided to interface between the winch and the mounting frame. This reduces the risk of stripping the threads in the winch casing. The free-spool assembly is held in place with machine screws for ease of service. The brake assembly is held on with x4 socket head bolts, allowing full access to the brake pads for service. Brake pads can be changed in 15 minutes.