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Winch cable winding

WhiteGold

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OK, so to start off, I am new to Jeep, of offroading and such. Today, I used my winch for the first time to get a truck out of the mud. I wasn't able to be straight on facing it, so my cable is really thick on one side of the drum. I unspooled the cable as necessary, but I can't seem to get it to wind uniformly like it looked from factory. It is steel cable winch and with it winding from the bottom, it seems more difficult to guide it. Any suggestions here? Thanks in advance!
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Shenanigans

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Just freespool out quite a bit and respool it by hand to the best of your ability. It will never look as perfect as factory.
 

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Just try to keep it as even as possible with hand tension on the line when you're spooling it in by hand to avoid flat spots (Caused by when the cable gets tight on the drum and the next layer of cable gets tight over it and squishes it).

Technically, I believe you're supposed to hook up to another vehicle, tree, solid anchor point, put the Jeep in Neutral and spool in under load to properly spool it in, but I've never done this as it's usually more difficult to make sure it gets evenly spooled in and you risk the same things as when you're doing a hard pull on the trail.
 

rustyshakelford

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Good rule of thumb would be to unspool is until there are approx 6 wraps on the drum and bring it in with atleast a 1k lb load. During a hard pull with slack in the line can crush or pinch the cable or damage the rope

Brett
 
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WhiteGold

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I get the under load and winding part, It's just the "making it even" across the spool is my issue. didn't know if there was a guide bracket that moves back and forth to help it layer up?
 

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rustyshakelford

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I get the under load and winding part, It's just the "making it even" across the spool is my issue. didn't know if there was a guide bracket that moves back and forth to help it layer up?
With steel cable you need gloves and probably not a bad idea with rope but if the pull is straight you can guide the line on with your hand. I just tensioned mine by using my ford Dually as the anchor at the top of a hill and would make small adjustments to the wheel as needed. Guided it on nice and tight.

Brett
 

Fire Burns

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By the steps:
1) Unspool completely
2) Unfasten from drum
3) Dump steel cable in nearest trash bin
4) Fasten synthetic line.
5) Respool in a uniform zig-zag motion.
 

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American Adventurist

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By the steps:
1) Unspool completely
2) Unfasten from drum
3) Dump steel cable in nearest trash bin
4) Fasten synthetic line.
5) Respool in a uniform zig-zag motion.
Not necessarily. Depending on what terrain you are in, and what you are winching (some people do work with their winches), steel cable can be advantageous.

Right tool for the right job.
 

LoganDzwon

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By the steps:
1) Unspool completely
2) Unfasten from drum
3) Dump steel cable in nearest trash bin
4) Fasten synthetic line.
5) Respool in a uniform zig-zag motion.
I'm a huge fan of synthetic rope, but there are plenty of use cases where the aircraft rope is better.

Oh, the answer the OP's question, while you are out wheeling it isn't a big deal if it threads on unevenly. On some recoveries that is unavoidable. However after the trip you do need to do the following.
(1) unspool it, to about 6 revolutions past the longest spot you had it out
(2) if synthetic rope, clean it with a bucket of dish soap, if steel you don't really need to bother with cleaning as much so long as there are not any corrosives on it, (like a bunch of wet mud.)
(3) respool it evenly and tight. Not so tight that the cable is stretched... you don't need a 1000 pound load on it... (unless you like replacing your rope every 2 years. Yes Warn's manual actually calls for keeping the rope stretched and then replacing your rope every two years which is just crazy.) It just needs to be tight enough that there is no slack, no free space for it move and also so a higher layer can't squeeze it's way into a lower layer. (If under load you get a higher layer pinched in a lower layer you can permanently kink the rope.)
 
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NFRs2000NYC

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I found the best way to wind winch rope cable evenly is adding a lateral load.....so,

1) Find a solid tree

2) Park your jeep about 30-50 feet away or so, center it with the tree, so your fairlead is pointing right at the tree....make sure there is a tiny incline UPHILL....doesn't have to be much.

3) Hook up to the tree, and wind the slack onto the drum, use your hand to guide it to nice even spools

4) Once the slack is gone, continue winding the rope/cable, but push the rope laterally to the side

5) Once the rope/cable gets to one end of the drum, push the rope laterally to the OTHER side so that it starts to wind in the other direction.

6) Repeat until you have around 10 feet left. You can wind that without load because you will unspool that section anyway when doing a recovery.
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