Winch tensioning

I've been working on tenioning my new winch today and I had the hardest time to get the coils to align correctly after one layer was spooled. The fairlead wouldn't let the cable reach the sides of the spool and I hate that it wouldn't be right. Not to mention that the winch is installed in the bumper so I can't really do anything along the lines of directly guiding the line in. What should I do? B/C for now it's sitting as a birdsnest...

 

Without seeing what the setup looks like it is hard to tell. In the past when I have respooled my winches I usually just connect the hook to another vehicle and then do a dead pull in neutral to maintain a good tension on the cable, then use a large screwdriver and gloves to help it along.

 

Do you have weight on the end of the winch? I normally use the wife's jeep as an anchor, put the truck in neutral, and have her drag the brakes slightly as I guide the winch line onto the drum.

 

x2, this is how did it without issue...

 

Damn Bill, i can't stop watching your sig!

 

I think he's saying his fairlead won't let the cable spool onto the sides of the drum making it go on haphazardly.

 

Is it the proper fairlead for that particular winch maybe?

 

It's a new m8000 with the roller fairlead that came with it. It seems the fairleadf itself is too narrow...it's narrower than the spool it seems

 

Ok, i've got the same winch and fairlead as you and just checked my truck to see whats up. My fairlead is also more narrow than the spool itself by about an 1" on each side. I never had any issues spooling it with tension on it tho.

Have you followed some of the advice in this thread yet?

 

My husband and I would respool the winch after every time we'd use it - when we'd get home.

The winch was on the Jeep.... We'd unspool the cable and hook it up to the 96 tacoma. Tacoma in Neutral while I was in the tacoma applying the brakes slightly for some resistance/load. He would guide it in....

 

Thought I'd piggy back on this thread if anyone's still watching. Possibly dumb questions here... What exactly keeps the winch spooling properly and not bunching up? And where is the best place to stand or be will recovering my/a vehicle and will re-tensioning the line. And lastly my owners manual on my new winch suggests strongly against it but can I drive forward in addition to winching to get out of a stuck situation?

 

So, don't worry about what the line is doing during a recovery. It will likely bunch up a bit. Don't try to correct it during a recovery unless you don't like having fingers. It's pretty common to get all jiggered up if you're out winching a lot, especially at odd angles. Once you're done recovering, then depending on how bad it is, you can re-spool it on the trail, or just wait until you get home. You want to re-spool it under tension as the previous posters described. That's so the cable spools tightly against the drum so it doesn't pop and slip when you're actually winching.

Winches don't like shock loading, that's why they say not to drive while winching. Let the winch do most of the work. Sometimes you need to give it a little gas, but only just enough to help support the load, don't let the cable get loose until you're done winching.

Stand as far away as possible. Think: what would happen/where would pieces fly if the line broke? Even for synth line, don't be dumb and stand next to the line.