WINCHING - Choosing the Right Winch and Accessories - Part 2

Winching

Choosing the Right Winch and Accessories

By Jerry Smith

Part 2

In part one of this series, we talked about how to make your electric winch more efficient.  In part 2, we’ll give you some tips on how to choose the right winch for your rig.

One of the first things you need to know about buying a new winch is the loaded weight of your rig as it will generally be out on the trail.  This will include any passengers, a full tank of gas, any tools, camping gear, spare parts, coolers full of ice and food, and anything else you normally will carry.

If you’re really anal about this step, you can find a certified scale at a truck stop or local dump to weigh the vehicle.  Estimating the added weight is not all that hard and you can find the gross vehicle weight in the owner’s manual or sometimes on the driver’s door.

Take the gross weight number you come up with and multiply it by 1.5.  You want a winch that can pull a minimum of 1.5 times the gross vehicle weight or more on a single line pull.

Here is an alternative if your budget is and will be short of what you need for a full-size winch.  Take the gross vehicle weight and divide it by two.  Find a winch that can pull that weight plus a little.  Then outfit it like we showed in part one with the welding cable hot wire and short rope to keep the layers to no more than two.  But don’t stop there.

This winch will pull you out of many places just like you have it now.  But if you’re bogged down in mud or on a hard pull of another kind, you’re going to need some winching know-how and some accessories.  In this instance, at least one snatch block.

As responsible 4-wheelers, we always want to do things with safety being the first order of business.  That requires some gear that did not come with your winch.

Gear like a good way to connect your winch line to a strap or other gear.  That normally will be a D-ring or one of the newer Rope Shackles.  You may get away with carrying only one of these for a while, but if you wheel in difficult situations long, you will require more than just the one.  I have carried a minimum of 4 of these and usually more.

Next, you’ll want a quality snatch block.  Why do I say quality?  I have seen the cheap ones fail and they NEVER fail at a good time… only when you need them most.  I like them rated for at least 4 to 6-times my gross vehicle weight.

That will put one at about 30,000# minimum.  Also, the larger the diameter of the snatch block pulley, the better.  There will be less drop in your line pull with larger pulleys. 

For most of you, one snatch block will be enough.  I carry two or three most of the time and have needed more a couple times.  When you need to change directions of pull more than one direction, you’ll need two most of the time and a third in the odd time.

I have needed three-winches, six snatch blocks, and a bucket of D-rings on each of two recoveries of other vehicles.  Another reason you don’t go wheeling alone.  Being short one D-ring to do a pull is like not having a winch at all.  Don’t be bashful about carrying extras.

Always carry at least a non-kinetic towrope or strap.  You can use it as a tree strap if you don’t carry one, and it becomes a multi-use tool.  I like to have at least a tree strap and one tow rope/strap for the odd time I need the extra length or need to attach to two trees.

Two trees are not out of the question.  I’ve needed to tie the rear of my Jeep to a tree or another vehicle to hold it so I could pull another vehicle on ice or mud several times.

If you use a wire rope winch cable, you’ll want a dampening blanket or coat to place over the cable to absorb the energy it will have should it break.  You do NOT want a winch cable breaking without a dampener.  They have killed and severely hurt people.

Gloves are especially needed with wire rope, but even a synthetic rope will have little skin-snagging objects embedded.  You’ll only want to learn about this once before you will ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES.

Those are some of the minimum accessories you’ll want/need.  We will discuss others in the third part of this series.

Following with the “safety” line of doing things, here are some tips that you’ll want to practice.

Unless you upgrade to some of the more expensive winch accessories, you will have a hook on the end of your winch line.  Do you know how to properly use it??  There IS a right and wrong way you know?

When hooking a winch line with a hook to any kind of anchor point, always, always have the hook pointing UP.  The easy way to remember this is that you “hook up” the winch line.  The hook is almost always your weakest point.  Should it break off, you want to direct the energy down toward the ground.  With the hook in the up position, any energy in that line is going to be directed down.  With the hook down, it directs the energy upward and the line flies around.

When winching, try very hard to have the winching vehicle pointed directly at the anchor or vehicle being pulled.  You do this so the winch line has a better chance of winding in level on the drum.

When you pull from other than a straight line, the winch line will tend to bunch on one side of the drum and eventually it will bind.  You’ll only do this once.  Pulling a bound up winch line back off a drum is not fun.  In severe cases, you may need to hook to another vehicle and have it pull the line free.

Safety wise, you NEVER, EVER step over a winch line under tension.

If you must step over a slack winch line, put one foot over the line on the ground so it cannot suddenly be tensioned and whack you in the crotch. (Think about it)

Learn the correct winching hand signals.  Using universal crane and rigging signals is the best practice. 

Stay clear of the winch line when pulling.  Keep others back farther than the line potentially could fly should it break.  Raising the hood is also a good way to protect the windshield and driver.

Always wear gloves… preferably leather.

Walk around the entire problem before setting up for a winch pull.  Study it from all angles.  Think about how to hook all your accessories… exactly.  Then think about how you expect the winched object to move.  Will it have a driver?  Will it roll freely once off the obstacle?  What is going to stop it?  Is it in park and/or the park brake set?

What will happen if things don’t go as planned?  Plan for that! 

What if the rope breaks?  What if the anchor pulls free?  What if the vehicle won’t budge?  Anticipate every “what if” and a few you didn’t think of.

The owner/driver of the vehicle in trouble has the final decision… ALWAYS.  That doesn’t mean others cannot veto the operation and walk away.  The person with the most to lose must have the final say.  Hold a short planning meeting.  Ask for feedback from others and decide which procedure makes the most sense.  Defer to someone with experience if you can trust them.

I’ve had many, many experiences, but by LISTENING in certain instances, a better plan than my own was used.  Nobody knows it all and you may miss something another sees.

In part 3, we will discuss some accessories to allow your winch to do what it was made for and why you bought it.

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

By Jerry Smith

January 27, 2014

We all do it… put our Jeeps in jeopardy.  Some of us do it more often than others of course, but we who do some serious Jeeping will find ourselves in that “situation” at some time.

When you find yourself in these situations, experience has shown time and time again that your best decision is to take a few minutes to “assess” the WHOLE SITUATION.

I found this photo on Pinterest and it really interested me.

Photo from Pinterest 

(We’re going to make some assumptions here. We only have one view and can’t see everything one would want to before making too many judgments… but here goes with what we CAN see.)

In this photo, it’s pretty clear this Jeep is in a very bad position.  How it got there is irrelevant at this point.  It appears that the driver has had no chance to exit the vehicle to self-assess things from the outside.  His first step looks like it would be about 10ft. straight down. 

He is relying on his friends’ good judgment(s).  In my opinion, that may have been his first mistake.  After all, who has the most to lose here?  The owner of the Jeep would be a good answer. 

It’s clear that there has been some time between when the Jeep got into this predicament and when the photo was taken.  Winch lines take a few minutes to be hooked-up and usually a few more for the winching vehicle to be positioned correctly.

From what we can see in this photo, there have been at least two really poor decisions made.  Do you see them?

First, and here again, this is making some assumptions not clearly evident in the photo, it appears that if pulling this Jeep backward was the final decision, we could witness a serious roll-over.

If pulling backward, the right rear tire looks like it will come down slowly compared to what the left front will when it drops off the ledge.  That puts the Jeep in a perfect position to roll.

Second, and forgive me if I am wrong, but it appears his friends hooked the winch line around the hitch ball.  Doing this makes that ball a potential cannonball aimed directly at the winching vehicle.  Do you call a “Foul ball”?

Take a minute and think about how you would extricate this Jeep.  If it were your Jeep, what would YOU do?

After studying this picture about 3-seconds, my conclusion was they were about to make a bad situation a full-blown calamity.  A much safer direction to be pulling this Jeep would be forward. 

If possible, I would recommend having a winch pulling forward from the right front corner AND, if possible, have another winch pulling 90 degrees from the passenger side to keep the Jeep from rolling.

Doing it my way may require one or two more things for safety reasons.  Do you know what they might be?

Here is a hint.  Would you trust your Jeep to be pulled up this ledge by a vehicle only held in place by its own brakes?  If given a choice, neither would I.

An even better situation would be to have the forward winching vehicle anchored to another vehicle so the red Jeep on the ledge will not pull it forward.  The red Jeep will have a tendency to want to pull a winching vehicle hard toward it.

To make this even safer yet would be to anchor the side-pulling vehicle as well.

Believe it or not, there is one more safety trick in the bag.  By doubling the front pulling winch line through a snatch block and back to the pulling Jeep, the pulling power of the winch would be doubled and the tension on the winch line would be cut in half.  Does that sound like a good idea? 

Seems like a lot from one silly photo, but then they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  MS Word says this article is only 657 words to this point.

This photo just grabbed my interest and turned into something to do while nearly crying due to the Broncos losing the Super Bowl. 

Some might say I obsess with Jeeping.  O.K., suit me. 

But when you come to a fork in the road, take it!

Happy Trails.

Copyright Happy Trails 4wd 2014 - 2017.  All rights reserved. 

Death Wobble

“Death Wobble”©

By Jerry Smith

HappyTrails4WD.com

The dreaded “Death Wobble”.  If you have ever experienced one, we don’t have to tell you it’s one of the scariest experiences you’ll ever have.  If you’re still a Death Wobble “virgin”, count your lucky stars!

What Is A Death Wobble?

You are driving down a street or even out on the open highway cruising along like usual.  Your speed could be anywhere between 30 and 85 mph.  (More often than not, it will happen around 35 to 50 MPH).

It could have been something as simple as where the pavement changes as you cross a bridge approach or departure.  Nothing that looks sinister.  Manhole covers are often the triggers.

From out of nowhere, your steering wheel begins shaking violently back and forth so hard you can’t hold it still no matter how hard you try.  You cannot turn.  The front of the vehicle feels like it will shake apart any second.

Your only recourse is to slow down… as fast as possible!  That by the way, is the only known “safe” way to stop a Death Wobble.  We have read of people being able to “drive through it”, but there’s never been any confirmation of that.

This phenomenon will catch you off guard.  If you are lucky, the first Death Wobble will be of the “light-duty” kind.  Consider this to be a warning of bad things to come if you don’t get it repaired NOW!!

Any shimmy that starts all of the sudden… from no shimmy to any shimmy, take it seriously.  Once in a while you will receive this little warning if you are lucky.  Most of us don’t get a warning.  We go from normal to totally out of control in a microsecond.  That’s the way a Death Wobble works.

What causes a Death Wobble?

** The experiences talked of here are mostly related to Jeep Wranglers.  Other experiences may vary, though not by much**

That question causes “fear” in even the best of auto repair shops.  Most shops won’t know.   The vast majorities of them are not experienced with a Death Wobble and will have a devil of a time repairing it. 

Even a shop full of experienced technicians will often have their hands full.  This is not an “easy fix” very often.  As a consumer with Death Wobble, you will be convinced the shop is incompetent before it is over.  You may be right in this particular instance.  But before you decide, give them a lot of rope to hang themselves.  They may be very competent in most repairs, just not Death Wobble.

Most shops will have “some ideas” of what to do.  Others will just be experimenting.  One thing you may want to ask is “have you repaired any other Wranglers with Death Wobble?”  That is about the only way you will know if they are “experimenting” on yours.

Finding a shop that specializes in suspension and alignments would be your best choice.  They will need skills in those areas well above the average.

When looking for a shop, if the first thing they ask is when you had your tires balanced, just turn around and walk away.  Unless your tires were just installed, that won’t have anything to do with your problem.

Imbalanced or cupped tires can be the pressure on the trigger that starts a Death Wobble, but they are NOT the cause.  **(Read that about three times)**

If your steering and suspension components are all in good working condition, tires… no matter what their condition, cannot cause Death Wobble!

A Death Wobble is seldom a “this is your problem” type of repair.  It won’t be that simple.  The exception will be if your track bar end on the frame side is really worn.  That is usually the first place to look.

The vast majority of the time, it will be a combination of several slightly worn parts adding together to cause the entire problem.

Those parts will include things like the ball joints, tie rod ends, drag link ends, the trackbar ends, control arm ends, and occasionally the need for an alignment and/or toe adjustment to be sure the other items are working properly.

Only if the Death Wobble was one of the light duty “warning” types will the alignment help.  It may “hide” the wobble for a while, but it will just be temporary.

One “trick” that will sometimes “mask” the problem will be to either add or replace the steering  damper.  This will not cure the problem… just hide it temporarily if at all.

Lifted vehicles are maybe slightly more prone to the Death Wobble.  The reason for this is the change in all the angles of your steering and suspension.  Most will have a much more acute angle than stock parts would have. 

If you have just recently lifted your rig, an alignment should have been done.  If not, when they do it, ask them to make double sure the ball joints and all the steering ends are in very good condition, not “just OK”.    Small wear in each when added together make for a lot of wear as far as a suspension goes.

Be prepared to have several new parts installed.  The first will probably be the track bar ends. (This will require a new track bar in most cases) Next will likely be the ball joints and then the steering linkage ends.  After that, the control arm ends.  This is by no means an “always” order of things, but experience with several of these has shown this to be “normal” if there is such a thing.

How to properly check your steering

The following procedure is the best way to begin the inspection of your steering.  Most well trained technicians will know how to check ball joints for wear, but the following may be new to most of them.

Have someone inside the Jeep rock the steering wheel back and forth enough to make the steering move the tires slightly.  This will load and unload the steering components. 

(BEFORE DOING THE FOLLOWING, MAKE SURE YOUR FINGERS ARE NOT GOING TO BE PINCHED OR CUT).

Both visual and touch or “feel” inspections should be done to each joint (tie rod ends, drag link ends, track bar ends, ball joints, and the control arm ends… both upper and lower).  Sometimes you can “feel” what you can’t see.  Be very critical of any movement caused by wear.

When inspecting the track bar, there are some  special  things to look for.  First, take a wrench and check the bolt on the axle end mount for tightness.  If it is even a little bit loose, it is a very good idea to remove it and check the bolt holes in the mount for elongation.  This is normally hidden from view and is easily overlooked.

You can also loosen the nut and watch the bolt for lateral movement as the pressure changes from one direction to the other as someone violently moves the bumper up and down to see if it moves or the steering is rocked side to side.

A better way to check for this is to observe the bolt as someone moves the steering wheel back and forth loading and unloading the pressure on the track bar mount bolt.  Movement here is a prime source of the Death Wobble.

Next, check the frame end of the track bar.  This one is often best done by feel as you can often feel movement you cannot see.  Just be careful not to get your fingers pinched. 

Often, the tapered stud (on the TJ) will move in the bore of the hanging tower as well as the ball joint can be worn.  More often it is the stud in the bore moving. 

On the TJ) you will want to check the torque on the nut with the cotter pin.  This is a taper fit stud that loosens from use.  The stud stretches and then the tapered bore begins to wallow out.

You’ll need to remove the cotter pin and torque the nut to specs.  Don’t forget the cotter pin when done.

Watch for twisting in the main frame while checking this as well.  The leverage on the tower can overcome the frame and weaken it over time.

Next check the steering gear for movement on the frame and in the gearbox.  Once in a while a steering box will loosen on the frame and move.

Check the control arm ends for movement.  Here again, like the axle end on the track bar, make sure the mount bolt holes are not elongated as well as checking for wear in the bushings.  This will require loosening the nut(s) on the control arms as a minimum.  You may want to remove the bolt to check the bore in the mounts for being tight and round… not elongated.

Note:  If you do loosen the control arm nut and/or remove the bolt, put the full weight of the vehicle on the suspension BEFORE torqueing the nuts.  Otherwise the bushings will be twisted out of shape when the load is reapplied and premature wear will occur.

Trying to move the control arm with a pry bar between the mount and the control arm will usually show wear if there is any.

Make sure the wheel bearings have the proper preload and then lift the front tires off the ground enough to be able to rotate the tire and wheel.  Check the wheels for run-out (make sure they aren’t bent).  You might want to check the brake rotors while doing this too.

Look for cupping or other abnormal wear patterns in the tire tread.  “Reading” tire wear patterns can tell you a lot about a suspension and alignment with a little experience.  A good alignment tech can do this.

While the tires are up is a good time to check the ball joints for vertical wear.  There should be very little or no vertical movement in the ball joint.

This is a lot to check for, but if you don’t, expect to repeat it sooner than later.

When replacing any parts, especially if you’re Jeep is lifted, if you can afford them, upgrade to the most heavy duty and adjustable you can find.  The best ball joints are made with an adjustable “eccentric” feature that allows you to adjust the camber.  The ability to adjust everything is a great benefit to “dialing in” your steering to make your rig drive like a new one or even better.

While doing your road tests it is a very good idea to remove or at least disconnect the Steering Stabilizer (damper).  The SS will often mask your true problem and make recreating a Death Wobble harder. 

You want to duplicate the problem, not cover it up until you’re out driving along and it surprises you in a bad way.

You may be warned ahead of time, unless you have all of these items replaced all up front, there is a reasonable chance you will get your vehicle out of the shop “repaired and ready to go”, and the problem will persist.  Things will go well for a while and all of a sudden, it will be back! 

If a technician is really good, they may know of a particular street where they can “make it happen” more often than not.  (Very, very few will have this much experience)  But there is no guarantee about this.  You normally can’t just go out and create a Death Wobble at will unless it is a severe problem.

In Grand Junction, I know of such a stretch of road where I have experienced the Death Wobble many times.  (They’re still not fun).  With that kind of background, I can tell pretty much when a vehicle is really “repaired”, but I still will not guarantee that until most or all joints are replaced.

OK.  We’ve replaced all suspect parts… what’s next?

It’s time to go to the alignment shop.  

Here is something not many know about lifted Jeeps that can make a big difference in how your Jeep will perform.

As you lift a Jeep, the angles on the steering and suspension change.  This is seldom good.  One trick that has been learned over time is to adjust the caster a little toward the negative as the lift increases.  

For instance, a Jeep with a 4” lift should have the caster at +3 °, + or - 1°.  (that is: +3 degrees – Plus or Minus 1 degree). The alignment tech may want to set it at +7° because the specs show that is where it should be.  That is true for a stock height suspension.  

A lifted suspension is not stock… so you may get some argument from some alignment shops.  It’s up to YOU to educate them or take it to another shop.  This may require adjustable control arms… but they are a must.

Doing this will also take vibration out of your front driveline when done properly.

For a little more proof of this and a very good education in aligning a Jeep, go to:  http://www.teraflex.biz/news/cat/teraflex-video/post/teraflex-jeep-tj-alignment-training-part-1/  where you will see a three part video of a Jeep with an upper end suspension being aligned.  This suspension won’t be exactly like yours, but the basics are still the same.  And who would know how to properly set up a suspension than the manufacturer of one of the premier Jeep suspensions?  Trust me; the time spent watching this will be rewarded.

I hope you never have to live through this Death Wobble problem, but if you begin lifting a rig, don’t be surprised if Death Wobble rears its ugly head after you get some miles on.  Keeping a good alignment will help… for a while.  But when it is time, the only help for Death Wobble is proper repair. 



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One last thought... When you come to a fork in the road... Take It!

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