Power Wagon Registry

An intro to winching technique:

http://expeditionportal.com/winching-without-the-worry/

This perhaps the best single article I've ever read on winching. As an old USCG Boatswain-mate that did a hell of a lot of recovery rigging, his methodology exceeded mine in clarity and simplicity.

We'll continue to add stuff to this post.

Badlands Training Videos and article:

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Article:

http://www.4x4training.com/Articles/Equ ... rough.html

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ARB Training Video and article by Scott Brady

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Scott Brady article, including gear basics and kit requirements:

http://arbusa.com/Getting-Started/Road-to-Recovery.aspx

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Winches ~ Which One

Info on different types of winches. It's good to know what's what - you may be assisting someone else with different equipment at some point.

http://www.australian4wd.com.au/trainin ... La-lXtrznM

http://www.exploroz.com/Vehicle/Accessories/Winch.aspx

BASIC TECHNICAL WINCH INFORMATION

http://www.innovation-engineering.co.uk/theory.htm

Wow you have an entire class arranged for us!



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This is my course outline for the stuff I covered for the Expo Recovery/Wilderness First Aid seminar. This is just my talking points...

Safety is #1
a. You are solely responsible for yourself and anyone present.
b. No group winching – one person is in charge, all others should take direction and or leave the danger zone
c. Slow down, slow down, slow down. Take time to evaluate the situation, stabilize the vehicle first before making any decisions on the method of recovery needed.
d. Make a plan – as Bruce Elfstrom sez – winch before you winch
e. clear all personnel from the danger zone - the radius of the rope from either end.

Extraction Options, start with the least amount of force required
a. shovel, chains if mud or snow, airing down to increase traction
b. kinetic strap if travelling with a group
c. hi-lift
d. winch

Types of winches:
a. Electric – most common winch for recreational use, use spur, planetary or worm gear, and either series wound or permanent magnet. Permanent magnet motors draw more current, and are used for less expensive winches. Choose a series wound motor for hard use.
b. Hydraulic – takes fluid off the PS pump. Common for commercial use.
c. PTO – driven off the PTO on older 4x4 or commercial equipment like logging or large recovery vehicles. Uncommon for light truck use.

Winch mechanics:
a. how to correctly spool your winch – hand over hand vs letting the rope slide
b. what are the controls and how do they work
c. what is "rating" capacity and what does it mean?
d. work best when used for straight pulls, off angle adds stress to mounts and the winch itself
e. what size battery does one need? What about dual battery set ups, should one carry jumper cables?
f. always start with 10 wraps on the spool – use a pulley block or an anchor farther away if needed to achieve this. The winch develops the most power on the bottom wrap.
g. never lower a vehicle with a winch

Synthetic or Wire rope
a. Pros – Synthetic is light weight, stronger than wire for a given diameter, safer if broken. Wire can withstand more abuse in a dynamic pull
b. Cons - Wire is heavy, stores more energy if broken, Synth is prone to chafing and damage from sunlight

Dynamic vs static
a. Dynamic pull = rope is moving, Static pull = rope is stationary.

Winch system
a. Always use a closed system if possible – IE use a safety thimble or Factor 55 Prolink vs hook
b. Check all attachment point prior to use. An insecure tow hook or other attachment point is a precursor to failure.
c. Don’t attach the tow hook directly to the tow strap loop, use a shackle.
d. Don’t double the hook back on itself, bending the rope over reduces the overall strength of the rope, it also can damage cable.
e. Use a tree strap or a choker chain. You can kill trees if you hook the winch rope/ cable directly around a tree.
f. If you use a tree or a fence post as an anchor, then put the tree strap as low as possible on the ground to reduce the leverage that your vehicle will put on the anchor when winching.
g.. If you use a hook, the hook needs to be pointed towards you or up. This reduces the risk of the hook getting pushed off the shackle. Same goes for a choker chain when possible.
g. Once there is a little tension on rope, add a parachute rig.
h.. Establish "No People Zones" ie no one stands between the winch and the anchor or attachment points
i. Always watch for pets and kids.
j. No ball hitches, or suspension parts can be used to attach rigging
k. receiver hitches with a pin is "ok" but not as strong as receiver shackle/ hook

Winch accessories
a. rigging lines, snatch block, shackles, extensions, tree savers, pulpal.
b Working Load Limit, Safe working load limit is roughly half of the breaking strength.
c. Shackles: Check their ratings, need to exceed line strength. When placing, turn tight by hand then back off half of a turn. So that you can get it undone after it has been stretched with a big load.
d. Tree Straps, the "choker" rating needs to exceed winch rating. Ie its about 75% of the vertical load pull.
e. Snatch blocks. Look at the WLL, the sheave needs to be at least 3" preferable larger. Give rationale ie reduces strength of rope by bending it over.
f. Snatch straps. What to look for ie loops on ends, made out of nylon, can be rope or strap BUT no polypropylene and NO hooks those are tow straps which are very different and dangerous to use as a snatch strap. Needs to be at least 20,000lb rated for a 4000lb vehicle. The technique is to take the slack out of the strap and start your pull. Don’t just stomp on the gas with 10 feet of slack and make a run at it, unless you want to break or damage stuff.
g. Choke chain. Needs to exceed the straight pull strength of the winch. Can be used for anchoring to rocks, or to distribute the stress of winching over two hooks instead of one, or pulling brush/ downed trees out of the way. Hooks should face up if at all practical.
h. gloves at all times – gloves should be loose fitting, not attached at the wrist by strap or velcro

Mechanical Advantage
a. Is only gained if the pulley is moving relative to the load

Types of pulls
a. single line
b. single line w/ redirect or sub rig
c. double line
d. double line with redirect or sub rig


Hand signals – hand out and discussion

this info is great! this post should be marked as awesome.

WARN Video

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SAMPSON SPLICING INSTRUCTIONS

How to splice various types of synthetic rope:]

http://www.samsonrope.com/Pages/SpliceInstructions.aspx

Winching backwards with a front mounted winch.

This takes a lot of equipment - even more than I carry...

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Mechanical advantage demonstrated:

This applies to a winch as well. I frequently use a pulley for a secondary reason; to use as much of the length rope so that I can pull off the first or second layer on the winch. Yes it's slow, but winching isn't a race anyway...

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Cactus----Thanks for the info. I think this is really some of the best information posted on this site. This is what the internet is intended to be. You've provided a consolidated library of information and video demos on how to safely winch from the basic straight-on recovery to the more advanced, front mounted, rearward pull. I've been wondering how would I use my winch if I got stuck and the only anchor point w/in the 100' radius of the cable was behind the vehicle.

Good stuff.

Thank you Sir!

This is extraordinary. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this.

Ok, so I was out last weekend when we've had torrential rain for a few days & nearly got severely stuck, alone, w/ no nearby winch anchor points. So question- anyone have any product ideas they use to create an artificial winch anchor point ? For my 4-wheeler, I carried a reverse pick -axe type portable anchor point. You pounded it in the ground angled top facing the winch, bottom away, & hook to the top mounted shackle. Is there anything comparable for a full size truck if you're no where near a fixed anchor?

http://www.pullpal.com/aboutPP.html

Or things like these, multiples tied together and spread out into the ground.

The PulPal has been used by the military for years. It's been tested against the other similar land anchors, and always comes out #1.

They are bulky and hard to store even in the case. I keep mine in separate pieces where they fit into my gear the best.

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."

Cactus Red wrote:The PulPal has been used by the military for years. It's been tested against the other similar land anchors, and always comes out #1.

They are bulky and hard to store even in the case. I keep mine in separate pieces where they fit into my gear the best

Yep, that's the idea,but holy crap, $600+ w/ case & shipping. I guess it's probably worth the $ if it even prevents you from walking out & paying for a tow vehicle even once.

I wonder how well they would work in super sloppy mud or beach sand.

Good and good. They actually work best in those conditions. The worst is in hard rocky soil, but we shouldn't be getting stuck in that right?

Dennis Miller "You can't order black coffee anymore. It's un-creamed..."