A winch is a wonderful tool. It is so helpful in an off road trip, in industrial jobs, and even in your everyday, projects that involve heavy loads that have to be moved. However, though a winch is supposed to be a very heavy machinery, it is not immune to getting damaged by all of the roughness it is subjected to.
Because of how helpful it is, it is an investment that you have to protect. Of course, part of that protection is making sure that it is maintained regularly. There is also protecting it by using a winch cover, and maybe cleaning it after every use. You can also conduct an overall bench test on it to make sure that it works perfectly well.
There are many parts of a winch, and one of the most easily damaged is the winch rope. The winch rope is the one part that gets the most exposure to outside elements. However, the winch rope, whether it is a synthetic rope or a steel wire cable, can be damaged significantly over time if it is not spooled properly and evenly on the winch drum.
Aside from the damaging of the winch rope, if it is not evenly spooled, it makes the pulling of the entire winch much less efficient. When the rope is not evenly and tightly spooled on the winch drum, you are losing a considerable amount of friction on your drum. This messes up with the pulling power of your winch.
At a Glance
How to Get a Winch to Spool Evenly: Safety First
A winch is a powerful piece of machinery, so please take every precaution you can take to maintain your safety and the safety of the people around you.
Wear protective gloves. Whenever handling the winch line, it is always smart and advisable to wear a pair of protective gloves, especially if the winch motor is running.
Winch ropes get frayed and develop kinks due to abrasion. If you have a steel wire cable, those little frays and kinks can pierce your hand. Although synthetic ropes are also affected by abrasion, they may do less harm. But a pair of gloves is advisable nonetheless. A strong pair of gloves may be the difference between an injury and an almost injury should the winch accidently pull your hands in when handling the winch line.
Step 1: Spool the Entire Winch Rope Out
The first step in the process is to spool the entire length of the rope out. You can spool it out only to the point where it gets uneven on the drum, but just to make sure, spool the entire length of the rope out. If you know how to operate your winch, then this is already a crystal clear step for you. If you don’t know how to operate a winch, here is a step by step description of how to get this done.
Disengage the clutch lever. Modern winches have a little clutch on the side of the drum that initiates the free spooling mode. If the winch drum is in the free spooling mode, it is free to rotate in any direction. So then you can pull the entire length of the rope out without resistance from the drum.
When pulling the winch line out, it is better to not pile it right in front of the winch. You should pull it away from the winch in a straight line to avoid entanglements during the spooling part of the process.
Activate the Winch
The next part of the process is to turn on your winch. Plug in the remote controller and engage the clutch lever to lock the winch drum. You are getting ready to pull the rope back into the winch.
Slowly Pull the Rope Back on the Winch Drum
For this part, you might want to get an assistant. It is hard to manage this part alone; you need to both handle the remote control and the winch rope simultaneously.
It is very important to make sure that the pull of the winch is very slow. With your gloved hands, guide the winch rope on the drum, starting from one side going to the other side. Don’t overlap the rope until a layer covers the entire width of the drum. Make sure that the rope covers the drum evenly before overlapping it on itself and creating another layer.
Also, make sure that the rope is fairly tightly spooled on the drum. This helps you maximize both the space and the friction on the winch drum. This is how easy it is to get a winch to spool evenly. Guide the rope from one side of the drum to the other and back again and again until the entire length of the rope is tightly and evenly spooled.
So there you have it! How to get a winch to spool evenly. Have you faced challenges with spooling your winch rope evenly before? What hack do you have that makes a difference? We have other very helpful guides on this site. If you’ve found this guide helpful, you might like these other guides.