Hot Winching Tips & Tricks

Snatch blocks or pulleys are used to change direction of a winch pull or to increase the pulling capacity of a winch. The most common use is to reel the rope out to a fixed pulley (on an anchor or stuck vehicle) and then back to the winch vehicle.

A double line pull, as shown, increases the pulling capacity of the winch because there is twice as much cable out of the drum. This reduces the number of wraps on the drum, hence, greater mechanical advantage.

On a triple line pull, as shown with two fixed pulleys, the mechanical advantage of the two pulleys doubles the pulling power as well as halves the effective recovery speed. In addition, the extra cable reeled off the drum increases the mechanical advantage by having less wraps on the winch drum. While effective, this method should be used carefully as twice as much stress is placed on all mounting points.

You can even change the direction of a winch pull to move the rear of a rig around. When caught between a rock and a hard place, this can be the only way out.

Using a tree-saver strap as an anchor around a rollbar is trick, but make sure the bar is securely attached or major tweakage can result.

Winches use energy and produce heat. They can suck a battery dry and melt their own wires if not taken care of. Keep the winching battery charged while winching by keeping the engine running at a high idle, and limit pulling times so as not to overheat the winch. If you end up with a dead battery or you smoked your winch, your vehicle is a lot more stuck than it was when you first entered the mud hole.

Severe side winching can ruin your cable if you don't have a roller fairlead. The standard hawse fairlead acts like an anchor rather than letting the rope slide over it.

If you use synthetic winch rope, an aluminum hawse is the best bet, as the rope can't get stuck between the rollers and the nylon rope slides well on the polished aluminum.