A Winch is an ancient mechanical device used by the Greeks and Romans and Egyptians and others, to pull heavy loads mainly in construction and architecture. The evolving times have seen the use of winches in all sorts of daily-tasks, from light-weight lumber hauling and sailing to heavy-weight vehicle recovery and Elevator movement.
The working of a Winch is dependent on its components, which make a solid piece of machinery look almost effortless when delivering powerful performances.
This implies, one has to understand the functioning of each important part to fully grasp how a Winch works.
Mechanics of the Winch
A Winch is a motor-driven product, that can be mounted on the front of a normal or 4×4 rig or on the back of trailers and trucks to load ATVs or boats.
Winches can be of the Electrical type or the Hydraulic type. The Electric winches are compact machines utilizing a powerful in-built motor while relying on the Vehicle Battery for the extra juice.
The Hydraulic winches rely on the Hydraulic fluid for power from the power steering unit. These winches are complexly built and see more applications in Military aspects or during any 4×4 events.
Winch Components
The Motor
Motors can be of two types, the Series-wound or Permanent Magnet type. Winches necessarily do not require motors since they can be hooked up to the vehicle battery, but to compensate for the large loss of efficiency, having a powerful motor is more than an advantage for the Winch and the vehicle.
The motor is connected to the Winch Drum, which is another component that spools the Winch cable around it.
The Gear Train
The Gear Assembly comes in three types – Planetary, Spur, and Worm. The Gear Train is the part of the Winch that takes in the electrical energy from the motor and converts it into mechanical energy to furnish the powerful pulling ability to haul heavy loads.
The Winch Drum
Controlled by the Motor, the Winch Drum is pretty much a cylindrical drum that is rotated by a spool from the inside. This allows the Winch cable attached to the Winch drum to pull in heavy loads or anchor to a firm object and then pull the vehicle out of any sticky situation.
The Winch drum is a solidly-built component that is made durable to absorb the tension or load of pulling the Cable during heavy-lifting tasks.
The Winch Cable
Winch Cables are made from Aircraft-grade Steel or can be Synthetic cables that can take as heavy a load as possible and not snap under the extreme duress. Their length can vary from 40 feet to 100 feet depending on the type of Winch.
They can be substituted for Synthetic ropes or Kinetic ropes that are equally as powerful as the Steel cables but have a more probability of snapping under extreme duress.
A winch has other extremely important parts too, like the inline circuit breaker, the disengage lever, the battery and more. It is with the combination of all these parts, that a winch can function as it does, efficiently and productively.
How Does a Winch Work?
Winches are mostly used in Vehicle Recovery, during off-road adventures or in tow-trucks. You have to Install and Mount the Winch onto your vehicle before you can use it.
Winches are easy to use. Some models come with a Wireless remote for far-distance use. You simply have to hook the Remote control, whether wired or wireless, to the socket on the Winch body and take necessary precautions before winching.
- Always use gloves when handling the Cable or any winch process.
- Stay away from the danger zone of the cable and keep any spectators far from the area.
- Always use a Dampener on the Steel Cable when winching.
- Make sure to apply Pretension on the cable and never leave any slack cable while winching.
- As much as possible, ensure the Anchor point for your winch is oppositely placed to your vehicle. You can always use a snatch block for winching from different angles.
- Use the tree protector strap when winching; do not tie a rope around the tree and connect it to the Cable hook.
When using the winch, make sure it is in the free-spool position, to pull out the cable manually and hook it up to the particular anchor point. Release the disengage lever after you are done mounting the cable hook to the anchor point.
Using the remote control, reel-in any extra cable till the cable becomes taut. Ensure no slack on the line and some amount of tension in the wire.
Slowly hit the gas pedal as you keep in tandem with the pull of the winch. Do not over-accelerate, maintain a slow and steady approach to the whole winching process.
After you find yourself out of the pit or mud-hole, put your car in park and unhook the cable from the anchor point. Reel-in the cable by manually holding the cable taut, not letting go of the line to avoid entangling of the cable on the Winch drum.
There are numerous videos online if you want to watch the whole winching process being carried out from start to finish. Simply maintain all precautions and the whole winching procedure becomes a breeze.
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