ATVPT

Let’s present an example of how to have a great day. You and your buddies jump on your quads for a few hours of down-and-dirty trail riding. You happen to know where a couple of mud bogs are, so you head up into the hills to find them. They’re bigger and badder than you remember, and a couple of the quads get hopelessly stuck. You pull up the quad with the winch mounted on it, hook the cable to the stuck quad, and pull it out with ease, followed by the next quad. You do it all over just for the fun of it, and then jam on down the trail looking for the next spot.

Now here’s how to have a bad day. You and your buddies hit the mud bog and get hopelessly stuck. Unfortunately, no one has a winch. You all get completely filthy and exhausted as you try to push, pull and tug your big, heavy 4x4 quads out of the quagmire. By the time you do, you’re totally drained and the day is half over.

This is a pretty good incentive to put a winch on your quad, eh?

IT’S ALL IN THE PHYSICS

The winch is a pretty amazing device. Many that rate less than a horsepower can pull up to three thousand pounds! How is this possible? It’s pretty much high-school physics. A winch is a gear reduction device that converts the electricity from your battery into pulling power. The winch motor provides power to the gear mechanism, which turns the winch drum and winds (or unwinds) the cable. A reduction gear convert’s winch motor power into a powerful pulling force.

For even more pulling power, utilize a snatch block. You see, pulling power decreases with the number of layers of cable on the winch drum. A snatch block enables you to double out the cable and "gear down," increasing your motor’s pulling power. You can thank the simple laws of physics for this capability.

SAFETY FIRST

We’ll be handling the Samson synthetic winch line (With regular stainless steel winch cable, of course, and even when relatively new, the cable strands can produce small, sharp protrusions of individual wire. These little wires can slice right into your hands as you’re playing out the cable, so tough leather gloves are the first item of winch safety. Riding gloves can work in a pinch but real leather work gloves are the preferred weapon of choice.), where you will not have to worry about anything pricking your hands like the steel cable.  I try to wear gloves when ever possible, unless they are too wet or muddy to use safely.

Next, as when using any power equipment, avoid having loose clothing that can catch in the spooling mechanism. Likewise, be careful of dangling jewelry such as necklaces, or even long hair. You don’t want a freak accident to occur when you least expect it.

A: Looking for a mud hole to finally get the BRP to loose its grip on terra ferma.

B:  Looks like we have found pay dirt.

C: You can barely see the lights of the mighty BRP 800 through the mud spray.

D: ATVPT Test Rider, Andrew Bendall looks like he finally got stuck.

E: We are stuck in a mud hole and want to get out. The first thing you’ll need to do is find a suitable anchor point (This can be a large rock, a tree, a self-arresting anchor such as stakes in the ground, a log, or) like our 700 Kawasaki prairie with the rear mounted winch. As you might imagine, the anchor point is critical to the success of the winching. If your anchor point won’t hold, you’ll never get your quad out. In this case we have the hand brakes in the locked position and the wheels blocked.

F: Once you’ve picked a suitable anchor spot, disengage the clutch of the winch. On many winches this is done by twisting a wheel on one end of the unit. When the clutch has been disengaged (also called free spooling), take the hook strap and begin to pull the cable out to your anchor point. The cable should un-spool easily from the drum as you are pulling

I: Hook up the remote winch control.

J: I like to use the remote whenever possible. This allows me to stand away from the ATV in case something was to come loose.

K: Hook the winch cable as low as possible, and to something that can stand the stresses of being pulled out of a mud hole. The BRP has a hefty front bumper, great for hooking a strap too.

L: Start up your ATV so that the battery has additional juice, and activate the winch (Make sure your winch is engaged) to put the winch line under tension. Once the winch line is tight, never step over it. Do a final check of your hook, anchor point and quad, then activate the winch? Many winches have a wired remote control (Like our Ducks Unlimited Warn Winch), so you can stand clear of the quad and start the winching from a safe distance. All come with a handlebar-mounted switch, too. If you’re really stuck, stay on the quad and give the rig some gas as the winch pulls. Power to the wheels along with the winch should soon extricate you from trouble.

M: Andrew has the BRP in gear and is giving it a bit of gas to assist the winch.

N: The DU-Warn Winch is easily pulling the Bombardier 800 out of the hole.

O: We are close enough where I do not have to go swimming. I better get this tree saver from winchline.com on the bumper and save it from getting marred up.

P: Now to get the rest of the way out.

Q: Apply a little gas, and a bit more winching.

R: Take the slack up so the winch line spools on the drum nicely.  

S: You don’t want to try this with steel cable, ouch.

T: I like to feed the winch line on evenly as not to have it bunch up on you.

U: Unhook your lines and finish spooling your winch line.

V: Unhook your remote.

W: I have a hard time going riding with out a rack pack (Ducks Unlimted Rack Pack shown here) on one of the quads. It makes for a dry place to keep your tree straps, snatch blocks, tow strap, slings, gloves, clevis’s and other gear that you just have to cram in there.

X: Time to get stuck and practice winching again.

A: Lee seems happy that he gets to winch out Andrew again.

B: Run the winch line out.

C: A little deep is it Andrew?

D: Tree strap hooked up to the front bumper, with the Samson winch line hooked up.

E:  Take in the slack.

F: Here we are winching and also pulling backwards in reverse to assist with the winching.

G: Andrew has the Prairie in gear, powering as much as he can, and is helping the winch load.

H: Piece of cake to get out of this hole, when you use the BRP’s winch assisted by powering in reverse to give it that extra boost. Unhook your winch lines, stow your gear, spool your winch line and off we go to the next mud hole.

For Single Anchored ATV’s.

(If a buddy is using his winch to pull you out, make sure the pulling ATV has its hand brakes locked and the wheels are blocked.)

Remember, a winch can pull a lot of juice from your battery. It’s no good to free yourself from trouble only to be unable to start your ATV. It’s a good idea to keep your engine running at medium revs, or even better, install a battery with twice the recommended cold-cranking amps. If you’re serious about winching, you can install a deep-cycle battery on a split-charge system that operates independently of the main ATV battery. The advantage of this double-battery system is that the winch operation won’t affect your ATV’s engine, lights, or radio. If you’ve done everything right, you should soon be unstuck and back on the trails!

A winch is a valuable addition to any utility quad. You, and your stuck buddies, will fully appreciate having the awesome pulling power of a winch when it is needed most. Ducks Unlimited offers the warn 2500 lb winch. Check out the Ducks Unlimited site for ATV gear including winches and accessories.