Which winch?
Our guide to winches: which to choose? and how to use?
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"You will need something that will easily pull 150 per cent of your vehicle's gross weight"
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A winch can open up whole new areas to your and your 4WD, or
just turn a gnarly rock scramble into a nice controlled ascent that
leaves your eggs and ego intact.
To many, electric winches seem like a luxury. You and a mate should
be able to work your way out of most situations with a snatch
strap. Personally, I've been involved in recoveries that
necessitated both a power winch and a drag chain tied to a second
vehicle to free the stuck rig. This was after we broke two snatch
straps. Without the winch, we would have had an extremely expensive
bush recovery on our hands. So even if you never use it, think of a
winch like a good insurance policy.
WHICH WINCH?
It pays to have a vehicle-powered winch, even if you only use it
a few times a year, but which type is right for you?
There are three types of winches that make up the majority of winch
sales in Australia: Electric, Hydraulic and PTO (Power Take
Off). PTO winches are primarily reserved for comp trucks,
however, so I'm not going to go into them in detail here.
A starting point when selecting the right winch for your needs is
that you will need something that will easily pull 150 per cent of
your vehicle's gross weight in order to prevent the winch from
malfunctioning.
The most common winch on the market is the electric winch and these
are available in a myriad of sizes, designs and pulling capacities.
When fitting an electric winch it is highly recommended that you
also install a dual-battery system to the vehicle. This can add
significantly to the cost but will also allow you to run most
accessories you'll want to use when you're away. Electric winches
are good for short winching operations, however, when the winch is
used for an extended period of time it will heat up and drain the
battery system, necessitating intermittent rest periods in order to
continue to work effectively. The one downside of an electric winch
is that if you become stuck in the middle of a body of water and
the winch is submerged, the electrical system of the winch may not
work.
Electric winch technology has been around for many years now and
while most winches may look similar on the outside, they differ
immensely in the quality and design of the components on the
inside. It is best to purchase a well-known brand if you want your
winch to be reliable and to last well into the future.
Your second option when purchasing a winch is to install a
hydraulic winch. Many people tend to shy away from hydraulic
winches, possibly because they are not as well known as their
electric counterparts and are sometimes a little
misunderstood. Sealed hydraulic winches allow you to tap into
your vehicles existing hydraulic system and harness the power of
your steering pump system to drive your winch. Any competent
mechanic will be able to fit and plumb up a hydraulic winch which,
when fitted, will allow you to winch your vehicle for extended
periods, even in moist conditions. The hydraulic winch system even
has a solenoid valve mounted on the motor, to shut off fluid from
driving the winch when you require the power steering pump to steer
the vehicle and then re-engages the winch once you have corrected
your direction during the winching process.
HOW TO USE A WINCH
Rigging up either type of winch requires basically the same
approach. The best anchor is a solid, live tree. Another 4WD with
the handbrake on in park gear can work well, or even a purpose-made
ground anchor if you're really in a fix.
For trees, a tree protector strap is necessary, and you'll always
need a couple of load rated shackles, leather gloves (for cable
handling), a snatch block and a winch extension strap. You'd be
amazed how often that extra 30m comes in handy.
Never wrap the cable around a tree, as this damages the tree and
can permanently kink your cable - always use a tree protector strap
and shackle.
Before winching, you should always ensure the vehicle is in park
and has the parking brake on. Also put on your gloves.
Your tree protector is rigged, you've put a shackle through both
ends and remembered to loosen the shackle back off a bit to prevent
it jamming shut under the load. From here, you can either winch
'straight' or with a snatch block. Straight winching is what it
sounds like, running the winch cable straight from the winch to the
shackle and pushing the button. (It's worth noting here that when
hand winching, you should attach the winch to the tree protector so
you don't have to chase the cable up a steep hill.)
Using a snatch block effectively halves the load on the winch.
While it provides twice as much pulling power (there's already
enough in most winches to stretch your vehicle's frame under the
right circumstances), it also halves the amperage pulled by the
winch motor, so you can winch longer without draining your battery.
A dead battery halfway out of a muddy hole will have you inventing
new curses. Especially if you aren't running an auxiliary
battery.
To rig up a snatch block winch recovery, you just open the snatch
block and run the cable through it. Attach the hook end up the
cable back to your bullbar, and the snatch block to the shackle on
the tree protector.
Once you have the cable rigged up and have removed the slack in the
cable, then you can take the handbrake off in the 4WD and put it in
neutral. If you have a long enough lead, you can steer yourself,
but it's better to have someone else steering so you can watch the
cable spooling in and look out for obstructions.
Always control the winch from the side of the vehicle, as far away
as possible to avoid injury should something fail. It's a good idea
not to drive while winching either, as slack in the cable can cause
horrendous knots in the cable, or even burn out your winch if the
vehicle slips back with slack in the cable. Saying that, I've never
had any issues, and most advanced 4WDers will drive while winching
to take some load off the winch, being careful not to introduce
slack.
Once clear of whatever made you resort to the winch in the first
place, re-secure the vehicle using parking brake and park gear.
Slacken the cable off and rewind it back on the drum, maintaining a
good distance from the fairlead to ensure your hand can't
inadvertently get sucked in.
Source: Camper Trailer Australia #30
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