winches and clutchs

I leave mine engaged. As you say could be a problem unwinding by itself. Make sure you give it a run each month or so. Run it out and back in. Most winches die from not being used.

Josh

Always keep the winch clutch engaged when travelling otherwise it will unwind and unravel

I 2nd the previous reply,
Leave the clucth engaged the prevent cable from unspooling on the drum, it sort of turns into a spider nest and if you load the cable when its like that, it really is difficult to get right and usually ends with a frayed cable.
The cable interlocks itself, If that happens ,it can become a bit of an ordeal getting the cable off the drum, of course thats on top of whatever ordeal your facing needing the winch in the first place.

DEFINATELY excersize your winch, I had a warn 9000lbs fail becuase of lack of use, used only 3 times (twice just for fun), Didn't have the power to rewind the cable, had to wound it round the bull bar and fixed it once I got back to Canberra (then Home), where was I ? CAPE YORK !!!!.

Shane

Hi Steve, What type of rope do you have on the winch ? If it is synthetic then you need to wind it on a bit different to steel wire. 2nd and successive layers need to be slightly cross woven to avoid being pulled down between the lays on the winding underneath when the load goes on.

KK