So I went to use my winch to help a guy get up some steps on Fins-N-Things and found that the terminal lug that secures the rope line to the cylinder/drum of the winch. (name might be wrong) had failed. The line was no longer attached. I ended up pulling him up the steps with a strap... which I should have just done in the first place, but how many times do I get to use the winch... not much.. so at least I found it needed a repair mod..
A Poor design. This lug is suppose to hold the rope... and you can see in the back ground the field repair is installed but needs improvement. For the repair I could only find a battery terminal. I used it and fixed the failed lug.. winch would be useable now if we needed it. Not ideal but it worked...




The Battery terminal works good. I cut the extra bolt off so it would seat flush against the drum.


Bolts are Flush


Then I taped the end of the line back over itself and the terminal so it would be hard to pull out again..


Then I got a longer bolt and a washer and lock washer since the original one was now to short or I should say not the ideal length.


It's all ready to re-spool onto the drum.


I think this will hold up alot better then the terminal lug that it comes with.

I will test it out in the next few days..

 

Creative solution, It's about time I do a maintenance run my winch and rewind my drum, guess I'll check the terminal end of the line now too.

 

That's a nice fix.

However, one question. When you use your winch do you leave between six and eight line spools, at least, snugly wound on the drum?
It's the friction between the line (or cable) that holds the line and pulls, not that eyelet. That eyelet is there just to prevent the line to come loose if you unspool everything.

 

X2

I was not getting optional length due to where the y put this in the line. It had like 20 spools left. So I removed it and keep an eye and make sure I have 7 when I use it. Works fine.

I wouldn't call it a failure. My recon works great!

 

???. I figured the same as what you stated, not saying wrong or right, and maybe the rope wasn't tight enough but it was pretty tight and the spool just turned around it while under heavy load. while under a light load it did fine.... when you get dust on metal against rope the tension loosen up.... etc.
I leave 10-15ft on the spool. on this pull there was more then 30 ft.

This will help it stay tighter. and prevent it from spinning.

A winch fails when ever it doesn't work. I felt like the line was pretty tight and it wasn't pulling under load, with little of no load it was working fine.
It's fixed now either way and I'll be testing it under load, soon.

 

I've not seen other jeeps but I question the placement of this from the factory. I know I got hung up once and had to unspool and then keep going. It wasn't a hang up the motor would handle it was when I was putting my rope back and I didn't want it getting ripped or snagged

I wonder if on the drum would better design that way the first couple of wrap around will prevent snags down the rope.

Either way your mod is better than the stock one IMO as it looks like a way stronger clamp.

If my current setup fails me I will be doing this mod.

 

Follow up, checked my line yesterday, it failed just like the OP.
Contacted truckandwinch to see if they will warranty it. it's been over a year since purchase. If not, I like the fix here and will likely do something similar.

 

That connection is not intended to bear any load. Get rid of that terminal all together. Lay the bitter end of the winch line across the drum length-wise and hold it in place with some duct tape. Then reel in the line under a light to medium load. Always keep a MINIMUM of 6-8 wraps on the drum at all times. This is the method used by ships using 1" or bigger line on winches with line pulls exceeding 30 tons. If it works there... It'll work for us.

 

I called Truck and Winch after not hearing back on my email, they said they hadn't heard of the problem before. I sent them a photo and they decided to make good on it... They are sending me 2 new winch cables, "Just in case I have the problem again" Matt at Truck and Winch was nothing but cooperative and helpful and totally took care of a customer. Truly top notch customer service. I'm still impressed with the OPs method of fix though.

I will look into alternate methods of winding the rope like capnben suggested to get the spool set up better to prevent this from happening again.

 

First I have never owned or operated a winch before owning my Jeep. It worked very well before this problem. I repaired it then posted this for others. I then have read replys and have done a little experiment of my own. again right or wrong ??? But I found that with the synethic rope I can not get a reliable working winch without this mod.
Your suggestion using the tape is a good one and I might do that as well. But over time how often does the tape need replaced? This makes sense.. maybe tape it the the spool then overlay the line again and tape it down again... making two taped connections...... better or ??

Thanks for posting...



I never called them due to this being over a year old. Maybe I will.
thanks for posting.


In addition; a friend just installed another brand of winch and the synthetic line is attached in a similar manner. The line goes thru a lug but the bolt goes into the spool thru the lug and rope. Thus the rope can not detach unless the bolt comes loose.

It would be nice to know what other methods the line is kept in place. Synthetic line and not steel cable. I believe steel cable would stay attached better using friction like a earlier reply noted. The synthetic line seems to have no grip to the spool under load. I do not unspool all the way. When I first bought the winch I marked the line every 10ft so I know where to stop.. plus I have never needed more then 60ft....

but once again I have very little experience with this.... I just know what worked for my failed winch.

thanks guys..