pulling up with a winch

Well, soon enough it will be time for me to remove the dock and pontoon lift for winter up a steep incline / hill. Does anyone have any past or current experience on using a electric winch to get the job done? I was thinking about getting a winch that could attach to a truck,how much pulling power does one need. I don’t want to be dissappointed in a unit but I also want it to be affordable. Maybe someone has a used unit that they want to part with. We have a 40′ steel dock and one big pontoon lift with a hydrolic lift, removable wheels on all the items. Any ideas???

Long log chain or cable and your Truck?? I’m not sure theres an affordable winch with the power it would take. I see alot of guys here use an old Farmhall to pull their docks most have the lift service pull their lifts though.

BT,
My cabin neighbor has an electric winch we use to pull our docks and lifts out. It works great. Our shoreline is much steeper than his. He had a winch like this and it lasted 6 – 7 years.
electric winch

The more recent one we used was a 3000 lbs winch. We pull out 4 – 5 lifts and 6 – 7 docks. It works best if you have 3 guys – 1 operating the winch, and the other 2 lifting up the front of what your trying to pull. We strap the winch to the closest tree and use heavy ropes of chains if we need it longer than the winch cable. We also use some aluminum I-beams to run the legs of the lifts up the bank of the lake. You just need to be careful not to put too much pressure on the legs of what your trying to pull. We can pull out everything in less than 2 hours.