thats what I was getting at it, even the operation manual isnt enough...

have leather gloves, good thick ones.....
when your winding it back, use the gloves and the little red loop tage that should have been on the hook... its not for show...

when on a winching load, open your hood, and stay away..

when on a load carry a heavy wool blanket, old carpet or if you dont have anything lean a stick on the line when winching, if it breaks it will help to disappate energy (you hope)

pre stretching cable = take it somewhere you can pull the line out (keep at least 5 wraps of cable on the drum) hook it to something, and use your ebrake (parking brake) a few notches to create a load, and winch it back in....

IF your box gets wet... when you have time, use your winch to warm it up and evaporate the water in your box... (corrosion is NOT your friend in that box. try not to submerge your box.

 

Wait I got the synthetic line. So I still have to take these precautions? I thought it was supposed to be a lot safer?

I've actually already removed the entire regular line from the winch. So now I just wrap the sythetic around the drum (5-6) and then bolt it to the winch?

Then I run the line out and tie it to something, Pull up the hand break, put car in neutral and pull the line in.


Thanks for the tips on the solonoid box. Fortunatley 4wheelparts gave me an extra "no matter what" life time warranty free with my purchase. So hopefully I'll be ok. But I will one day relocate it to the engine bay.

 

Here is a site w/ alot of info.
http://www.wittenburg.co.uk/OffRoading/index.htm
and another
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...ery/index.html
The second site is my first recommendation. HTH

 

Four wheel also sold me the same warranty but Ive never seen paper on it soI felt a little weary on leaving it where it was

 

Cool links. I've never used a winch before. Seen it used maybe twice. This is exactly what I needed. Especially the pirate on.

thanks

 

You really don't need gloves w/ the synthetic line. I've never had to use 'em but you can if you want. Bolt the line on and winch the line in 'til you have 5-6 wraps on the drum. Hook up to a tree or other suitable anchor point and set the parking brake just enough to provide a slight drag. I prefer winching up a slight incline instead of setting the parking brake though. Pull the line in and help guide the rope so it wraps around the drum neatly. That's it.

 

I've used my winch to pull a metal building on 4x4 skids. I probably extended 90% of the cable and then reeled the sucker in. Now my cable is back on the roller, just not all nice and pretty and neat. It's not in knots or anything, just not pretty like it was originally when I got it. It was already nicely rolled up/on. Any reason to take it back out most of the way and get it rolled on there nice and neat again or is it fine like it is?

 

after i pull a load, i get home and pull out all the line and re-spool it so that none of the rope is overlaping. you could pinch your cable and possibly fray it if the cable is overlaping and you pull an 8000lb load.

 

ok everything is mounted up and I've got one end tied. But when I hit the button nothing happens. I've got both the cables hooked into the battery. The small negative cable I've got attached via a screw to the metal frame. What am I doing wrong?

 

On the 3rd Gen 4Runners the frame is not grounded to the body or battery.

Attaching that little black wire to the frame is not going to make it work right. You have to attach it to the truck body or the negative battery terminal.

Gadget

 

wwwoooohhoooo ropes on. Scratch one more project of the list before tellico.

Thank you very much everyone. And since I've made every possible mistake possible, this thread should be a good write up for anyone else in the same shoes.

thanks again

 

pics right before it went in.

click here

 

How do you guys keep the rope in place? I thought about leaving the clevis attached and then hang it from one of the d-rings on the bottom. But it will just come right out, and drag along on the street.

 

Say what?

Gadget

 

The rope sticks out from the front of the bumper. Where do I tie it up to?

I've seen a few pics of people hanging it off their recovery points (mine are two D shaped rings) via the hook that came with the winch. But won't it come right off when I hit a road bump?

 

hook it to the D ring wind in the cable to put it under tension

 

perfect, thanks man! and Gaget.

 

this is where i put the hook (under a little tension)

 

I reel the line in on my truck 'til the hook is flat against my roller fairlead.

 

I don't have a roller fairlead. So I did what you see on Ryan's truck.

thanks!