Winch questions.

Hello

I finally decided to buy a winch and after reading the manual I have a few questions.

The background details. I do light off road, and have only needed a winch to pull myself out a few times. In each case I used a chain hoist and pulled myself out a few feet at a time.
I often pull other people out of snow banks and mud. I've never had a problem with ordinary chain and the truck in first. I've towed with everything from my jeep to my f350.

I plan to use the winch only ocasionally and mostly for other vehicles stuck in snow or to get myself home. I debated between a 5500lb winch and an 8k and a 10k. It came down to prices were similar. Between a 10 K on sale and a 5500lb beter brand. To me the deciding factor was size. The 10,000 lb was a 24 inch long 9 inch tall 88 lb monster. I don't need and the line speed was very very slow. I would have had to build a complete new bumber to support itand it would have blocked most of my radiator.

The 5500lb was 17 inches long, fits into my current custom bumper with little more than drilling 4 new holes. It actually should mount in and be almost hidden keeping a mostly stock look. Also the motor uses the same current and has 4x the line speed. For my limited needs It was a lot easier to actually get set up and ready to use. Hopefully I don't regret the decision later when I smoke the motor. But I'm also going with the theory that if the winch vehicle only weighs 4600lbs and it takes more than that to free the other vehicle , I would just get pulled to it, instead of me pulling it out. Am I correct ?

My question was how to use it. Seems simple, but as I read the manual they suggest never putting the truck in park or first gear when winching for fear of damage to parking brake and gears. How else do you keep your vehicle from rolling forward and being pulled?

Next question was about free spooling the cable to full lenth and then letting winch spoll it back in. This is suggested in the manual. I understand doing that the first time because its used to make sure the cable is wound smoothly with out kinks or twists, but seems pointless to unspool 100 ft of line every time just to pull 20 ft?

The last question is battery power. I have a good mostly stock 700 amp Cold cranking battery and 150 amp alternator. The winch manual suggest a deep cycle battery that can handle high current draw and that the winch draws over 200 amps when running. Should I run a second battery to avoid electrical problems?

Thanks for your help and discussions.

 

"My question was how to use it. Seems simple, but as I read the manual they suggest never putting the truck in park or first gear when winching for fear of damage to parking brake and gears. How else do you keep your vehicle from rolling forward and being pulled? "
Take your finger OFF of the button. Having the wheels rolling smothly is the point, not adding more resistance by having it in gear or the parking brake engaged.

"Next question was about free spooling the cable to full lenth and then letting winch spoll it back in. This is suggested in the manual. I understand doing that the first time because its used to make sure the cable is wound smoothly with out kinks or twists, but seems pointless to unspool 100 ft of line every time just to pull 20 ft? "
From what I know, once the initial stretch or break-in is done you can spool out and use however much line as you need to get the job done, just unspool and re-spool it neatly once finished. Oh, and always leave at least 3 or 4 wraps of line on the drum, the clamp alone will noe secure the line to the drum.

For the battery, the one you have sounds good for ocassional use, just leave the motor running to keep a charge going into it and plan on upgrading to a deep cycle if you start noticing the battery being beaten up.

Have fun,
I will be installing an 8k Smittybuilt soon, at the same time as my SRS ( have to do it this wat as the mounting plates for both overlap, I'd really rather only bolt everything up one time)

 

There was a post a while back saying that you need to stay away from side connection batteries (bolt in type) when you are using winches. Apparently there is a ribbon type cable internal to those type batteries that melts easier than post type batteries.

 

yes, do not hook the winch to a side post battery... your asking to get yourself stuck without power.

 

IMO if you have a 4600 lb jeep you should have bought the 8k min. However since you didn't, you can help the winch by buying a snatch block. This will enable you to double up the line and multiply the pulling force by 2. This will allow you to pull 11K although it will be half the speed. For light stucks the 5500k will be fine. Usually rule of thumb is a bad stuck will take 2X the weight of the vehicle to get it out. (maybe more)

Usually if you can't hold your vehicle with the brakes you will tie your vehicle off to a tree or other object so it does not move. I personally would never use park - the parking pawls are small and can break off. This is why your supposed to use the parking brake on hills.

On a new winch you are supposed to spool all the cable out except 1-2 full wraps. Then you winding back in making sure you do not get kinks or anything. You are supposed to do this with a light drag on the line, IE one or two clicks of your parking brake for a little resistance.

When using the winch, you only will get the full power of the winch when you have all the cable out and your at the 1st layer. With each consecutive layer the 'pulling power' of your winch will decrease greatly. IE the more wraps on the drum the less you can pull. The snatch block will also come in handy here. Basically when you have 4-5 layers spooled up on that winch you may only have 1500lbs of pulling force depending on the winch stats and manufacturer.

As far as battery, the winch will have a recommendation in the manual. My Smittybilt on my 2A is an 8k winch and recommends a 650 CC amp battery. Will dual batteries help? They can, but not necessary unless you are winching all the time. My YJ has a 12k lb winch and I have done some very hard single line pulls that almost stalled it. I did not fry my battery or my electrical, but I did keep my engine at a high idle manually while making the pull. You also want to give the winch and electrical system breaks during hard pulls. I can honestly say I am guilty of making a 10-15 minute pull with minimum stops... it doesn't make your electrical system happy.

Dual batteries will also allow you to winch longer if you have a failed motor, trans or axle when you can't physically drive the vehicle. Again not something you would need on a regular basis.

NEVER run the winch off the side posts. You can have a battery with both, but hook the winch to the top posts. you can run the other stuff off the side posts if you want though.

It all depends on what you want to do with it.

 

I have had great sucess with my 5000 lb. Ramsey winch. I only use it maybe 3 to 5 times per year. A little common sense goes a long way. Never had a problem.

I usually single line it when I just need to get through a mud hole. I use the snatch block when I'm pulling out a bigger rig or when I need the angle. You really need to get a snatch block.

I've got the 10si 80 amp alternator and an optima red top battery. The gel cell battery has a high tolerance for heavy discharging and recharging. But, you've got to be willing to stop and wait so the winch can cool down and the alternator can charge the battery - if you push it too hard things will start to go wrong.

Against all the advice I've seen I still use the side terminals on the the battery for the winch - some day I may get around to changing this but for the last 7 or 8 years it's been no problem.

YMMV

 

I agree with EVERYTHING that Jeapfreak81 said in his post.

 

Thank you for the responses. Very Helpfull.

still thinking about getting the 10k lb, for future use, but as I said I'll never need to pull this truck up over a bolder or out of 5 feet of thick mud. Really the winch is mostly to remove other cars from snowbanks and if needed pull myself out snow or shallow mud.

i

 

Keep in mind that pulling other cars stuck in snow will easily reach the limits of your winch. Many new cars/trucks on the road are 3500-4500+ lbs. Even in snow you can easily reach double the weight of the vehicle for strain on the pull.

Definitely get a snatch block and use it when you know you have harder stucks

 

Definatley go with a snatch block. For occasionaly "emergency" use only 5500lb winch should be fine. If you aren't using your winch to drag yourself over miles of trails while out rockcrawling you shouldn't need as much capacity. Maybe get two snatch blocks. It sure beats using a comealong, even if the line speed is slow.