So when I got my new winch and went to unspool it and reel it back in under tension, for the first couple seconds I accidentally hit "out" instead of "in". So it started wrapping up the wrong way. Now it wasn't under tension yet, but it did give the cable a slight kink right at the beginning where it mounts to the drum. Since it's at the VERY beginning of the first wrap, would this be OK or should I replace this brand new cable? My jeep is about 4,000lbs and the winch is a 12k (over kill I know).

 

IMO, contact the winch mfg. Run this past them, they should be the experts. you might find this informative:

 

Personally I wouldn’t worry about it, wind it up and forget it, you should never unwind past down to the second row anyway, if it’s on the first row (on the drum) you are good to go,