check your winches!

[boss]

on friday my area of the country got a bit of snow. I was making plant deleverys in the low loader and when i got back to the yard i noticed a blue plate on the bed of the truck. I then noticed that the winch line wasnt there! As i walked down the truck there were various pieces of the 12000lb champion winch scauered around and i realised that the snow had somehow got into the innards of the winch and it proceded to winch in, the blue plate was what i hocked the winch to when i wasnt using it, it had snapped off. The rollers are mullered and the bars bridging thd motor and gearbox were torn out as the winch kept winding in and pulling the hook around. Oh dang i thougt as far as i know the power to a winch goes through the controler so it cant do this sort of thing without a controler. Maby worth checking your winches for winter. Or even leaving them to freespool if you can. Its cost the firm a few quid and i know how close some winches get to rads and coolers on some vehicles, thatr the last thing you need. Hth

[Devon-Rover]

Or having an electrical master switch on the positive cable near the battery to cut the power until needed!?

[dxmedia]

Now I'm 99% sure that it's illegal to have a winch fitted without an isolator.

Ah - yes it is.

http://www.innovation-engineering.co.uk/winch_accessories.htm

[Thrasher]

Yup - totally correct. It also stops naughty people from attaching your winch cable to your towbar  and winding it in ......

[Saffy]

What's the wording of the EU directive and does it mention mechanical driven winch?

[dxmedia]

Think it's specifically electric ones and the problems such as boss had, and trucks being cut in half with a paperclip....

[squaddie_fox]

Mechanical winches tend to have there own cut off... The engine. I thought it was best practice to have cut-off switches anyway?