Tools & Fabrication - Need help sizing winch for use in Garage

Long story short, I have a garage/shop with 4 other guys and have a drive on, 4 post lift. Two of the guys have Ford Lightnings. It has three bays, and it's getting to be a pain pushing cars on and off the lift (can't do it by yourself with the lightnings). So, we've decided to pool money, buy a winch, bolt it to a steel plate, then bolt it to the concrete wall, to pull vehicles on the lift.

My question is what lb. rating should I get? The only "load" besides the weight of the vehicles themselves is the small ramps to get the vehicle on the lift. Right now I'm eying the 6,000lb off road winch from harbor freight, but can I get away with something smaller? Or do I need bigger? Besides the lightnings, My '98 suburban 4x4 might be on the lift from time to time (almost 6000lbs)

Long story short, I have a garage/shop with 4 other guys and have a drive on, 4 post lift. Two of the guys have Ford Lightnings. It has three bays, and it's getting to be a pain pushing cars on and off the lift (can't do it by yourself with the lightnings). So, we've decided to pool money, buy a winch, bolt it to a steel plate, then bolt it to the concrete wall, to pull vehicles on the lift.

My question is what lb. rating should I get? The only "load" besides the weight of the vehicles themselves is the small ramps to get the vehicle on the lift. Right now I'm eying the 6,000lb off road winch from harbor freight, but can I get away with something smaller? Or do I need bigger? Besides the lightnings, My '98 suburban 4x4 might be on the lift from time to time (almost 6000lbs)

For that purpose, a $50-100 electric boat winch would suffice. I would say a 3500lb one would be Ideal though, they are about $175-300 for a decent one. Now if you were using as a recovery winch, I would say 8-9000 for a lightning....

The weight of the vehicle might be 4000 lbs but a couple hundred pound of force will roll it.

For jockey-ing rolling vehicles, a 1500lb winch will be more than adequate. If the car has a flat tire, it might struggle ...

I look for used winch around for tow and engine lift. Good idea>>Electric motor with remote.