I remember a senior off-road enthusiast said: “The degree of understanding of off-road is the difference between the degree of understanding of the winch.” The off-road winch has always been called the ‘4X4’s fifth drive’, which is one of the essential equipment for off-road. Below me In terms of the installation, use, precautions and winch maintenance of the winch, let us first understand the various parts of the winch, the name and its role in the winch.
1•Drive motor
Generally, the winch motor uses the vehicle battery power supply, 12 VDC or 24 VDC. The motor drives the gear mechanism, and then the gear mechanism drives the rope drum of the winch, and the cable drum drives the cable. The motor is divided into series and permanent magnets. The permanent magnet motor has low cost and is easy to manufacture. It is suitable for small motorcycles. The series motor reaches 6.6hp, which is suitable for off-road vehicle winch 2•rope
The winch rope drum is a cylindrical cylinder on which a cable (wire rope or polymer fiber rope) is wound. The rope drum is driven by a motor and is used to pull the cable. The direction of its rotation can be changed by the control handle. 3• cable
The diameter and length of the cable depend on the design load of the winch. Wrap around the rope drum and guide it through the rope guide. The other end of the cable is hooked to the U-shaped latching port of the hook. Usually, the cable is made of steel wire. The shortcoming of this structure is that it is easy to rust, difficult to maintain, and it is easy to cause safety problems if it is broken during use. The original cable of the winch will be equipped with hooks/hooks at the end of the rope. 4• rope guide
When the cable is not flat, it is guided to the rope drum by the guide of the rope guide. This prevents the wire rope from scratching the winch mount or the bumper bar. There are two kinds of rope guides, one is the drum rope guide, which is suitable for the cable winch; the other is the aluminum rope guide, which is suitable for the fiber rope. 5• Reducer mechanism
The power of the motor passes through the gearbox mechanism and becomes the large pulling force required by the winch. The planetary gear reducer mechanism makes the winch lightweight and compact. Its formula E (power) = F (pull force) V (speed), in the case of E constant, the greater the V, the smaller the pulling force F, the role of the gearbox is to reduce V to increase F, and to enhance the winch tension 6 • Brake mechanism
When there is load on the cable and the motor stops rotating, the brake disc in the rope drum will automatically start working. It can prevent the winch from releasing the rope when it is under load, so that the disc can be kept in place. 7•Clutch
The clutch allows the operator to manually manipulate the engagement and disengagement of the gear mechanism with the drum, and the operator operates with a clutch handle that extends out of the outer casing of the winch gearbox. The rope can be freely rotated (the clutch handle is in the “clutch release” position), and the rope drum can be re-locked (the clutch handle is in the “clutched” position), that is, the rope barrel is engaged with the gear mechanism. 8•Control system
Powered by the car’s own battery, the relays in the control system can switch the power to the motor and change the steering of the winch. In most models of winches, the control system is housed separately into a sealed or semi-sealed box, commonly referred to as an “electrical control box.” 9•Control handle
Insert the control handle plug into the control box and the operator can stand in a safe place to control the winch. At the same time, some winches can be built into the wireless controller to operate the winch on the remote control panel.
