High guys, Couple of questions on how to properly use a winch. I have a D6R with a tile plow, and sometimes in sloppy conditions we pull it with a D6H and Carco winch. We have a 1" cable on the drum. The cable was new last summer. We have noticed some strands breaking, and I was wondering if anyone can advise how to extend the cable life. I was thinking of soaking it in used oil routinely. Also, generally we hook the cable up, take up the slack, and then walk the machines along together. I wonder whether it is better to pull with a lot of cable out, or just a little. Any advice would be appreciated. Ken
winches are for winching not pulling. Get a tow rope of Amsteel blue. It is lb for lb stronger than steel, MUCH easier to handle, and won't kill you if it breaks under tension. The Amsteel blue DOES NOT like sharp edges. Double up your lines to half the stress. If you are bending them around sharp edges it will break them easily. there is a minimum distance of sheave size that the rope can travel over without causing damage. Soaking in oil only really coats the outside, you need a pressure applied greaser if that is your goal. http://www.samsonrope.com/Pages/Product.aspx?ProductID=872 We used the 1 1/8" rope underground and it was awesome.
Amsteel is good but it also hates dirt and mud, it abrades the rope from inside. Broken strands is from getting the cable all birdsnested on the drum and cranking a load onto it. Perhaps fab up a tensioner plate to keep it from getting crossed up. For tandem pulling you might want to just get a 20' cable choker and use that for towing instead of the winch. A lot of cable out might help but the issue seems to be that its not laid nicely on the drum. Use an angle grinder to trim off the spurs and with the cable under light tension, slather it with bar and chain oil, its more sticky and more weatherproof
Dont let it get crossed over on its self on the drum, that will damage it on a heavy pull, should only pull no more than 5 degrees either side of a straight line and when winding in under load don't let it scuff on the sides of the drum as that will wear the strands out. Always keep about 3 full winds on the drum so the ferrule doesn't get pulled of and its easier to watch the rope coming on to the drum if its winding on over the top of the drum rather than under wind. We used to anchor the rope to something solid and walk the machine away letting rope out until about 3 winds left then wind it back on by winching the machine back keeping it nice and tight and laying on nice and neat. Less rope on the drum will give u more line pull when winching as the dis of the drum is smaller there by making it lower geared.