Wire Rope
One of the most important parts of an operator’s job is properly maintaining the wire rope that is carried on the winch. Properly maintained wire rope will make it easier to pull off of the winch when you need to use it. Wire rope that hasn’t been properly maintained will become nested in and the wire rope will drive itself deep into the layers of the winch and make it hard to pay out. Maybe even causing damage to the wire rope itself.
To properly install wire rope for the first time, the operator needs to find the flange side in which the wire rope anchors to the drum. Refer to the winch manufacturer details on how to properly attach the end of the wire rope to the flange. Once the wire rope has been anchored to the flange, now you begin loading 5 layers (5 wraps of wire rope), onto the winch drum. Once 5 wraps have been installed on the winch drum, you can now apply tension.
CAUTION: Don’t apply tension to a wire rope until a minimum of five wraps have been installed on the drum.
From time to time you must power wrap your winch, and when installing wire rope for the first time, once 5 wraps of wire have been installed, you can apply tension. To ensure that the wraps lay neatly on the winch drum, apply tension to the wire rope equal to 50% to 60% of the wire ropes Working Load Limit. You can use damage resistance calculations on an old casualty out of the tow lot to apply the appropriate amount of tension to the line.