Pro tip: A buddy told me my winch cable was spooled wrong for years

He pointed out I was wrapping it clockwise instead of counterclockwise, which was putting stress on the drum. Anyone else only realize they've been doing a basic thing backwards after some random guy at the trailhead set them straight?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery19921d ago

Hold on a sec, I gotta push back a little. In my experience, most people spool winch cable the way it naturally lays from the drum, and that's usually fine for the average weekend warrior. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen plenty of guys run cable wrapped both ways and never had a drum fail. Unless you're doing heavy, constant pulls with a lot of weight, that direction thing is probably not gonna cause real damage. Take this with a grain of salt, but I think worrying about it is more about looking smart at the trailhead than any real mechanical problem. It's like saying you have to park your truck facing a certain way or the tires will explode.

jamesm3821d ago

Wait, you're telling me there's a wrong way to spool a winch cable? I've been doing it clockwise for like five years and never had an issue. Guess I owe my buddy a beer for not telling me sooner.

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