Winching Techniques

I am new to this whole winching thing.  We have had a major lake effect blizzard here and there are cars in the ditch every 100 feet.  Being the good Hummer owner that I am, I have been enjoying driving the highway and winching people out for free just because I like to use my gear!
 
What kind of rules are there for winching?  When dealing with things this expensive and dangerous, I'd rather not learn from my mistake.  My biggest one to figure out so far is spooling techniques.  Today while pulling an S-10 out of a 6' drift ditch, I wasnt paying attention and it all wound up on one side of the spool which overwound it and it snapped a tie rod mount..doh!!  But makes me VERY glad I didnt conceal the spool or I would have done it much earlier.  Luckily that is a replaceable part.
Plus I hate having to come home and unwind the whole thing and then trying to get it all back and nicely wound.
 
What other kinds of "DOH!" moments should I be looking out for?

sit inside while you're winching, and have everyone else well out of the way.  the cable snaps, and you'll be missing pieces if you're standing between the vehicles.  the alternative is to go with synth line, it just drops to the ground if it snaps.
as you've learned, winch straight on as much as possible.  self winding won't make it pretty on the spool, but should keep it from clumping up one side. you'll still need to unwind and rewind later to keep it pretty.
if you question whether or not you can do it, best choice it to not try.  better to let them pay for a tow truck than to break something and have them come after you, or to break your own vehicle.
invest in a high quality tow strap.  you can pull them out, or use it to anchor yourself to something if you're winching them out.
don't try to pull an H1 sideways, even if it's icy.

HiYa Ghostrider

Here's a site that might help you with understanding winching techniques and safety. This site is quite generic... but i'm sure someone here would have a better site for ya!!!
http://www.offroaders.com/tech/winches/winch1.htm

P.S Disregard the JEEPS on that site... LMAO... they seem to be the ones that need Winching to Most!!!!

winching is fun  and i get to do it almost everyday 
watchin ur cable at the winch to keep it from bunching up on one side is one important thing... 
all of our winches have a plate on top that is spring loaded to create pressure on the cable to force it from row to row so it will remain level
u can purchase the plate at  http://www.awdirect.com/catalog.cfm?dest=dir&linkid=409&linkon=subsection  they have them to fit most winches

the main thing  is go slow and only practice will make you a better wincher
good luck

Throw a floormat or two over the winch cable in case of that snapping cable thing..  It'll put some extra weight on the cable and hopefully cause it to drop to the ground before it snaps back into anything and breaking something else..

great tips thanks!!!
 
it sounds like a synth line would be really nice.  any major downfalls to switching to one?
 
It was a major pain in the a$$ trying to respool my line and in the manual it said to keep 5 turns on the winch but once the lower layer got exposed and it lost tension, the whole thing popped like a spring.  Then while trying to retension it, the clip holding it on let it loose and the end got all frayed.  I guess today was not my day for the winch.  It doesnt help that it was only 3 degrees outside so my hands werent very agile and the cable was very stiff.  I eventually got it all put back together though.
 

I dont mean to down play the dangers of the winch line snapping, but MythBusters tested and busted the mytht that the cable will cut you in half, or even remove body parts, but the pigs the used to simulate a person sure took a beating and I wouldn't want to be there when the cable comes slicing through the air. The bennies of the synth line is that it is lighter, and if you cut it, you can tie it in a knot and keep going. One of the drawbacks is that it is more susseptable to chaffing and wear. It is also easier to streaiten out after it bunches up because it is more flexable than the steel rope.

I missed that mythbusters episode!  sounds like some good carnage.  Thought i'd seen them all!!
 
What about winch accessories.  What kinds of things are good to have? It seems every kit comes with a snatch block, recovery strap and shackles.  I've got the strap and some shackles. (some clever ones that go into trailer hitches)
 
Just thinking here but it seems like a snatch block would be good as a safety to make sure you dont overload the winch but is it common to actually encounter a situation where you will need up to 16,000lbs of pulling force if I'm not pulling a semi truck that was muddin??

you have the most power from your winch when most of the line is played out, with only about 5 - 6 turns left on the spindle ( i wouldn't go less than that).  a snatch block would allow you to use all that power by having most of your cable out, and require less effort from your winch.  as for the synth line, you'd need a new fairlead, since the ones that come standard usually have rough edges and would chew up the cable.  the roller fairleads could pinch the synth line and tear it, so you wouldn't want one of those either.  can't think of any other accessories besides the strap, snatch block and some heavy duty clevis shackles.
 
i thought i'd seen all the mythbusters too, but i missed that one.  have to start recording all of them now, not just the new ones.

They tested that at the abandond air base they like to visit. They set up the cable with a pole near one end to add some predictability to where the cable would go, then hung a dead pig that they got from a slaughter house in the path of the cable. The cable left some pretty nasty marks on the pig, but never really broke the skin. (I'm sure dead pig skin is more durable than live human skin.) To finally cut the pig in half, they anchored one end of the cable wrapped a loop around the pig and hooked the other to their forklift and floored it. They tested several different diameters and types of wire rope, including some synthetic rope that had a significant amount of stretch to it.
 
Make sure you have a tree saver strap in your gear if you are going to be using trees as an anchor. Ropes and chains will make fast enemeies of the liberal tree huggers because they can damage the bark.

not sure if pigskin is really tougher than human skin or not, since i haven't found a leather store that offers tanned "human skins" yet.  i assume it would probably have the characteristics of typical cow leather for carving.  would be cool to get leather with built in tattoos though . . . .

i saw the one where they tried to rip the rear axle off a police cruiser and busted some cables,  but missed the pig abuse.  i'll have to keep my eyes open for that one.
 
gotta agree though that a tree strap is a good idea.  they're only 6' long, don't take up much storage space, and can be used as vehicle-to-vehicle anchor connectors as well.

Winching your nieghbor out of a ditch is good, but its a whole different thing from winching a fellow offroader's rig out of a hole. Even the nicest nieghbors have things called insurance and lawyers.  You can do thousands of $$ in damage in heartbeat on todays lightweight cars. Your winch...your liability.
 
An offroading lawyer once told me to always have the other vehicle's owner  connect the cable to their vehicle, and it's wise paranoia to have them sign a release of liability. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: SedonaBoundH3

Winching your nieghbor out of a ditch is good, but its a whole different thing from winching a fellow offroader's rig out of a hole. Even the nicest nieghbors have things called insurance and lawyers.  You can do thousands of $$ in damage in heartbeat on todays lightweight cars. Your winch...your liability.

An offroading lawyer once told me to always have the other vehicle's owner  connect the cable to their vehicle, and it's wise paranoia to have them sign a release of liability. 

 
Good point.  so far I've only gone after small pickup trucks because I know they will have at the very least a hitch bumper and we dont have to mess around with making sure its hooked to something that appears to be structural. 
 
I also will not personally attach the cable.  Although it was tempting to to stop at the hottie in the benz, she was in backwards and I know she had roadside assistance.  Even though I got out 2 before her tow truck arrived, I thought about stopping but I would have only offered to keep her warm.

Another thing I found is that police give you a major hassle when trying to be kind and offering help to a fellow motorist.  I had a police officer tell me to unhook and leave before i got a ticket because I lacked "proper lighting" and "personal visibility" to be on the side of the highway.  Even though i had 2 amber strobes, two 85w floods, hazzards and a bright orange jacket with reflective gloves...and it was day time.
Sad really, cant do a good deed these days without getting sued or ticketed.
Although that means I need to power up my lighting scheme
Federal Signal...here I come!!!

the cop told you that because you havent been DOT inspected
they come out once a year and inspect our wreckers and  place a sticker on the
windshield w/ the date

I bet the attitude would've been different if it was their cruiser you pulled out ..  Though I have to admit, being a freeway I can sort of understand it ... the same attitude on your average road .. KMA!