I was reading another thread where a guy was worried whether his winch would work or not.

When you get a new winch you should ALWAYS fully pull out the cable and reseat it under load. Just hook it up to something solid and pay your Jeep in to properly wind the cable. When it comes form the factory it isnt seated right and could cause you some issues on your first pull. (Binding and what not)

 

Thanks, I just purchased a winch and did not know that.

 

we had fun doing this with mavericks 12k warn. We hooked to a telephone pole and were actually able to bend the telephone pole noticeably when he stayed on the brakes. Well maybe not bend, but we did move it.

 

Right on

This is something new

so I have the cable all messed up but have it on one of the D-rings tightened up

would this cause any probs to the cable it's self?

I'm also thinking about getting a Synthetic Winchline?

what do you think about that? better keep the one that came with the powerplant?

Thanks

 

I don't proclaim to be an expert by any means, but let's say your cable isn't neat and you go to do a pull from like 20feet. If your cable isn't neat and it is a heavy pull your cable is going to go the path of least resistance. Right towards the drum. If it is wound neatly then the pressure is spread out.
As for synthetic, I run it, mainly for the weight savings AND the safety aspect. I like that I can stand near it when I am winching.

 

Thanks looks like i'll run that synthetic

I did have someone pull me with the cable once.

my shifter broke in the middle of the interstate so I had a friend pull me using the cable.

Is there any way to check and see if the drum or any other parts are broken?

 

Well you arent going to break a "drum" that is the part that the cable wraps around. If you are breaking that you have more to worry about.....like flying tow hooks It is more gears and motor parts you need to worry about.

As for synthetic....remember is is heat sensitive, most winches have internal brakes so it is a concern during heavy winching operations. If you have a Superwinch Epi 9 it has an external brake so it is safe. You dont want your expensive synthetic melting to your drum.

I found this winter in Canada that my synthetic had frozen solid to my drum. That may or may not have contributed to my winch dying but when I returned my winch I chose to keep the steel cable on for the resto f the winter.

 

Interesting. I've had the winch and cable under a lot of ice before with moderate trouble trying to unwind that frozen mess. Hadn't thought that a synthetic line could be worse in the winter. Good call, I suppose that is something else for me to think about before purchasing a syn.

 

A little off topic but is there anything you could put on the line to keep it from freezing or even rusting for that matter??? WD40 maybe????

If I'm going to spend all that $$$ for a winch then I want to take damn good care of it so it doesn't need to be replaced.....

Thanks for the great info...I'm new to offroading and still learnign a lot.

 

Ya mine was a mess......I have since ordered a new cover, but I think for winter I will be using the steel from now on. It was litterally one big frozen chunk. I think the only way I could have pulled it out prior to thawing it would be to hook it up to something solid and reverse.....which I wasnt doing with my $300 synthetic line