Winching question

[Patrolman Pat]

Had a winch fitted last week and today I went to a mates property to give it a burl and "stretch" the cable. I found that the cable didn't want to lay in nice neat layers on the drum, and kept bunching up at either end of the drum. Is this normal?
I managed to get it to lay nicely by steering the car slightly to assist the cable in locating nicely but that might not be something you could do on a tight track in a recovery situation.
advice needed.

I will be doing a driver training session soon.

[2 BRUTAL]

this is normal, forget trying to get it to look like it did when it was new again, even doing it by hand you will have a hard time getting it nice and neat,
what brand of winch did you get, depending on the brand, some winches' have rods running across the drum to help hold the sides together under load and also to stop the cable from spooling up in 1 spot and coming over the edge of the drum and stuffing everything up.
the best thing you can do is like you have done if room permits and slowly zig zag your way up the hill, if you can't you might be best if you have a spotter, to stop every now and then and have a quick look at how it is spooling on, don't get to close to it all under load, depending on the bar will depend how easy it is to see the drum,
the next best thing to do after a recovery is to unwind the cable and spool it on again under slight load by hand, and evenly as possible run it across the drum, this will also help to stop cable falling into gaps in the spool and binding tight on itself, which can be dangerous if it binds up as your winch will all of a sudden spool the opposite way without you doing anything,
when you have finished for the day with your winch always unspool it and load the cable back onto the drum under light load, winch the car across flat ground or have someone keep pressure on it, don't leave it stored under a full recovery load, and don't hook the hook onto the bar and wind it in so it stops it self, as this keeps the motor and gearbox all bound up under load when not in use,
give it a good spray of CRC occassionly and if it been sitting out in the rain for long periods or not getting used, periodicly spool it in and out in the back yard if need be to get the motor and gearbox hot to help stop corrosion on the terminals and keep oil circulated. I hope this helps you out a bit :D ;)

[Patrolman Pat]

Great reply 2 Brutal, thanx. Winch is a Warn 95ooXP.

[2 BRUTAL]

mate i run a high mount warn on mine and it gets painful sometimes with the cable winding up in the 1 spot,
and you've only got about 30m of it, mines got 47m of it to worry about. I bought mine 18 months ago in America and bought it home on the plane with me as luggage, but it was too heavy as 1 piece so i pulled it apart in my motel room to break it down into smaller lighter bits to make the weight,
Well, that was a mistake, ;) I unspooled all 47m of steel cable in my motel room, and it isn't the easiest thing in a confined space as it all twists up, I nearly ended up half way down the hallway with it, I then had to tightly recoil it by hand a shove it in the bottom of my suitcase, making sure it wouldn't poke a hole and come out the bottom.
was good fun. to this day it has never looked like new on the drum. ;D ;D :P

[Patrolman Pat]

LOL

I brought my tools in my hand luggage when I migrated and that was a bastrad to get through customs. Don't know how you got through with a dismantled winch. I was surprised how far 30m of cable stretches ( yea h I know, 30m) 47 m is awesome.

I've done a few things in motel rooms in my time but that ain't one of them. ;)

[BushTuckerNed]

I've done a few things in motel rooms in my time but that ain't one of them. ;)


So you gonna share these stories? lol :P


And getting all your cable on one side of ur drum is annoying. When it happened to me, i had to criss cross the track like 2 Brutal mentioned b4

[2 BRUTAL]

LOL

I brought my tools in my hand luggage when I migrated and that was a bastrad to get through customs. Don't know how you got through with a dismantled winch. I was surprised how far 30m of cable stretches ( yea h I know, 30m) 47 m is awesome.

I've done a few things in motel rooms in my time but that ain't one of them. ;)



with lots of quick talking and customs guys who didn't know the value of it and what it really was. In the little airport we flew out of for LA they did the full baggage check there and it was booked thru to brisbane from there, it was difficult, 1 of my bags was 9kg's overweight, so we took the fairlead roller out of it and I was going to put it in my other bag but it was right on the money for weight, so I went to put it in my carry on luggage, well shit I nearly got arrested for wanting to take a big lump of metal on the plane with me, just as well the winch controller was in the suitcase and not in my carry on luggage, what would they have thought about it. in the end they let me go with an extra 9kg's and didn't charge me any extra. I think they thought stupid dam aussie. ;)
Then well customs in brissy was another story. lets just say, next time I bring something like this in again I know who to ask for. ;D ;D :o

[JusCruisin]

2Brutal has covered all I knew and a little more.

Here's a link to a handy guide from Warn:

http://www.warn.com/corporate/images/90/TechGuide_PN62885-A2.pdf

I also found a link to a guide that covered things in much greater detail - lots about calculating actual load on gear during recovery, SWL vs maximum load, shock loading, hoisting standards, wire rope maintenance, etc, etc. Once I get my laptop back in the week, I'll post it - it's a worthwhile read (if a little scary).

[JusCruisin]

Here's the othher winch article I mentioned:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/index.html

[cpt-mud]

you will never get it perfect.you can sort of get it right by winch on flat ground , in an open area, with the handbrake on enought to put weight on the cable, and winch slowly moving the steering as required.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/cpt-mud/1154toyota.gif

[KiwiAngler]

Note step 6: attach the shackle THROUGH the hook loop.....
I will bet not too many do that

[KiwiAngler]

ooops

http://www.warn.com/corporate/images/90/TechGuide_PN62885-A2.pdf


should have said "When you d/l the Warn pdf file and read through it"

mate i run a high mount warn on mine and it gets painful sometimes with the cable winding up in the 1 spot,
and you've only got about 30m of it, mines got 47m of it to worry about. I bought mine 18 months ago in America and bought it home on the plane with me as luggage, but it was too heavy as 1 piece so i pulled it apart in my motel room to break it down into smaller lighter bits to make the weight,
Well, that was a mistake, ;) I unspooled all 47m of steel cable in my motel room, and it isn't the easiest thing in a confined space as it all twists up, I nearly ended up half way down the hallway with it, I then had to tightly recoil it by hand a shove it in the bottom of my suitcase, making sure it wouldn't poke a hole and come out the bottom.
was good fun. to this day it has never looked like new on the drum. ;D ;D :P


http://members.westnet.com.au/klown/emotes/idiot.gif
http://members.westnet.com.au/klown/emotes/roflol.gif
If I get a winch on one of the upcoming trips, I will not be unravelling the wire in the Hotelhttp://members.westnet.com.au/klown/emotes/roflol.gif


Can you buy winches with plasma rope already fitted?

[2 BRUTAL]

yer but mate when I bought mine I was in pheasant class ;D ::) on the plain, ;D, I had no choice, you would have pissed yourself laughing if you had of seen it, I tried to buy it without the wire rope on it but they don't sell them this way, your best bet would be to leave the steel cable behind if you don't want it and buy some synthitic rope seperately and fit it when you get home.
unless you went to a dedicated offroad shop to buy it, you might then have an option to buy it already fitted, but where I went there wasn't any specific 4B shops, only their version of Repco and Autopro etc.

Plasma is about $16 a metre here from memory, should check what its worth in the States before I go...

Whats wire worth here at home?

[2 BRUTAL]

Plasma is about $16 a metre here from memory, should check what its worth in the States before I go...

Whats wire worth here at home?

We sell 8mm synthetic for $10 /m 8mm, wire rope is $175 for 28m x 8mm which is what is most common length on low mounts, we sell the synthetic in 120' lengths which is roughly 40m and it is a good fit for a low mount.

[Nissan on Patrol]

As already explained in part, after a day out where the winch has had a work out I "repack" it by rolling it out to the point it was unspooled for the last use then "repack" the cable under load either by pulling my vehicle to a fixed point or another vehicle to mine. You can spool the cable on nice and neat simply by applying some resistance to the cable as it is spooling on say with the handle of your shovel.

In other words use the shovel handle to "guide" the cable. If it is spooling from left to right you apply pressure with your shovel (or similar) from right to left. Once you get to the end of the spool, change sides and apply resistance from the opposite direction.

I also lubricate the cable with a "kero" soaked rag as its winding in.

End result, a nice, neat, tightly packed cable ready for use.

Not sure if that makes sense to someone else but hey, I know what I mean but I'm happy to show anyone sometime.

Regards,
Scott.