This may be a strange question, but how much of an angle can you winch from?
Lets say you have steel cable and the roller fairlead... and you were pulling something or the jeep from a 45 degree angle, is this acceptable.
I would think you would get the most out of the winch pulling head on but can you do this with no problems?
Thanks

 

I've been winched out with some pretty extreme angles both steel line/roller fairlead and synthetic line/hawse fairlead. 45 degrees should be fine, but I'm not sure what the limit is.

If you're significantly considered, a snatch block will allow you to winch at crazy angles provided you have an anchor point for it.

 

go to Warn's site, they have a guide on how to winch. very helpful. angles may be ok for limited pulls but u have to be careful of a few things, including bunching the cable on one end of spool.
better to use a snatch block & pull straight ahead.
Do read the guide. it was helpful to me.

 

as stated, try to pull straight using a snatch block. last time i got stuck was in a muddy feild and a snatch block wasn't an option as there were no ancher points(no pull pall) and couldn't put a vehicle out front as there was to much mud(didn't want to both get stuck). winch angle was more than 45 and it worked. had to stop, run all the line out and respool as it would have binded up. its a good idea to have someone watch the winch so it doesn't jam up.

 

The winch manuals say no more than 45 degree angle. That's about what I had to pull out at over a small hill, pulled out fine no stress on winch, only took a minute or two and we were very stuck. However, it does cause all of the cable to bunch up on one side, which if you have a mile marker with steel cable like I did, can put stress on the plastic cap that holds the cable end in place. Thus when I respooled and took it down to the last layer it unspooled from the attached end and I had to take it all off and start over. Put synthetic on which has a metal end on the line that screws directly into the winch, which seems to have solved this problem. This angled pull also chewed the hell out of my cable.

 

Thanks for all the replys guys! I am trying to learn as much as I can BEFORE I ever get in a situation where things like this need to be done! I do have a snatch block already and all the recovery gear so now it just boils down to using it effectively when needed!
Thanks!

 

I was out last weekend and we actually used two snatch blocks and winched at some pretty extreme angles and were just fine.

The worst one was a trail that was on a slop and it was icey. My jeep slide of into a tree. Which I was lucky and caught it on the passenger side slider instead of the door.

To get out we went from the front of the jeep to a tree at about a 30 degree angle with a snatch block then to a tree behind the jeep to another snatch block and then at another 30 degree angle to the back of the jeep. At this point we were able to winch the jeep side ways 3-4 feet up the side of the ice slope. Then with this set up rigged and the line under tension we drove forward with out sliding back down. At the end the front winch line was 90 at degrees.

I know this is probably hard to picture from what I wrote but I don't have any pics. One of the guys we went with took some so maybe I can post tomorrow.

 

I've pulled from an angle more than 45* in relation to the winch before on my synthetic line. I didn't want to, but, had no choice. Only had 1 pulley at the time and everyone else's pulleys were frayed, damaged, and beat up. Didn't want to risk chewing my line on them. Had no issues though, it was only meant for a small tug.

 

Your trail leadership skills are coming into question with these admissions of getting stuck

 

I received my Warn winch kit today (the actual winch is still in transit). MAN O MAN is their stuff beefy! The snatch block weighs a ton!