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I'm an idiot!


jameslwt

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Well.......

After a great Sunday offroading, and playing with the winch (H14 PTO Mechanical drive) I spent a while last night respooling the wire so it's nicely wound..... :ph34r:

But off course, I forgot to disengage the pto. (time for a warning light and maybe buzzer on the dash!). So when I went to drive to work this morning, I got about 100 feet before a lovely grinding noise occured, followed by a bit of a bang. The winch was still engaged and the wire was hooked onto an eye on one side of the bumper. :unsure:

So.................the wire has been ripped in two, about 1 1/2 ft in, and there is obvious visable damage in other areas. The bumper, chassis, drive shaft sysytem etc all seem fine - she drives normally and the winch still works. (rock on the h14!). But I now need to unwind the wire to investigate the damage further, but I can't - its all jammed together. Hmmmmm! And there's a couple of looseish loops sticking out! :(

So has anyone got any magic ideas about how to get the wire free and moving again?

Once it's out, I will inspect the rest of the cable, and if it's ok further down, have it shortened. (it was 174 feet long in the first place!)

So could say I feel a bit stupid?!

Cheers if anyones got any advice/words of wisdom etc but maybe not too many rude comments!

James

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Use a reverse-light switch or brake-light switch etc. on the PTO lever wired to a warning light, I believe some defender dash light pods have an almost-suitable indicator in them that you could use (a gear symbol with a "5" in it or something).

As for getting the wire off - big pair of grippy things and a lot of tugging, and GLOVES if it's wire rope (which it sounds like it is), or maybe a grinder and cutting disc for a far quicker process ;)

Unless an expert advises otherwise I'd imagine it's a bad idea to re-use the rope, a new one is only a few quid and that one has taken a hell of a stretching (about 14,000lbs worth :ph34r: )

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I would try driving in a stout screwdriver with a hammer to loosen the wire.

If that fails, take the grinder to it but watch out for the release of tension :blink:

To make you feel better, I once drove off with a block heater plugged in to the mains! :lol: That made some interesting noises and I was followed down the street by the wiring as it peeled out of the conduit! :lol:

You also now know that the rope is the weakest link in your system. (Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing! :unsure: )

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James

I have done a similar thing with my old fairey 5000 winch

1st time I put the wire onto the spool fed it on with out checking if I could disengage the winch as it got closer to the end 2 foot or so tried to disengage - it would'nt

Luckily I had a shear pin in the pto but it did wind the wire up and kinked it, I had to carefully undo a shackel to release the tension and watch it fly off!

With yours have you tried to unspool in reverse? or try to hammer/cut the wire to suit and then unspool

Pictures would help

Cheers

Steve

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James

I have done a similar thing with my old fairey 5000 winch

1st time I put the wire onto the spool fed it on with out checking if I could disengage the winch as it got closer to the end 2 foot or so tried to disengage - it would'nt

Luckily I had a shear pin in the pto but it did wind the wire up and kinked it, I had to carefully undo a shackel to release the tension and watch it fly off!

With yours have you tried to unspool in reverse? or try to hammer/cut the wire to suit and then unspool

Pictures would help

Cheers

Steve

Had a quick go with an iron bar and lots of leverage, but no joy yet - only spent couple of minutes on it.

I did stick it in reverse, but it doesn't want to play. The winch works but can't pull the wire out. And the broken end only sticks out about 4 " so if I could devise a way to attach a line to it - ie something to actually hold on to, then it may free up.......

Cheers

James

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to get the wire off i would try:

Find a nice good bit of Halyard rope and on to the exposed wire end tie a Prisik knot (i know you know what one is but ;) ) then in the loop use your high lift jack and try and jack the winch rope out from the bumper....

I think worth a go it might work and would be safer

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James, I've seen it done before as well - its all too easy to do!

As far as unraveling it goes you'll need to be careful as there's a lot of tension in there. If you do decide to cut it use a thick cutting disk or grinding disk as the last thing you want is for tension to be released damaging a thin cutting disk causing it to explode. My advice would eb to get hold of a mate and a really good pair of gloves and try to unwind it. A peice of advice I learnt a while ago - to free a knot/kink pull the cable tight against the side of the fairlead while winching in and out to rotate the drum. This works very very well. It may take some time but it should come eventually.

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I've successfully removed jammed up cables before now by attaching the end of the cable to a stout tree, or other large immovable object, putting the winch in freespool, sticking your truck in low ratio, engaging reverse and simply driving away!

So long as you put it in freespool they usually free off without any trouble at all - you normally dont even feel a jerk as the cable tightens up!

Jon

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Well I have spoken to Phil at PG winches, and he said unspool it and have a look - as it's such a big cable there is minimal chance of it damaging the lowerlayers, especially as it's brand new, but no promises though! It does seem as though it sawed through as the cable ran around the side of the winch itself. Ie the cable didn't snap, it was cut.

So......................watch this space............ :ph34r:

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I seem to remember from somewhere that three turns around a drum will hold anything, so by that logic the lower layers should be ok... unless I am missing something here...

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Oh - and for pulling it off (ooh Matron!) you need to make yourself some self-tightening draw pliers - I'm afraid I can't find a picture of any but I used to use them on a powered wire drawing bench years ago. ISTR that they are well known technology...

If you can't find any to copy I'll do a sketch later if you like

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use the idea above with a highlift to get a few feet out then buy some steel cable clamps, clamp loop in end for shackle and attcah to a tree via strop. try and reverse off the tree with the winch in free spool. BE VERY Careful, reverse gear low box on tickl over for a start. and don't have anyone stood too close.

Does your PTO not have a slip clutch built into it so it can't pull to much???

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YES :lol:

??

Nige

I'd post some pics, but didn't have the camera yesterday.

Well, got the cable off by attaching a nice piece of kevlar cored rope (the joys of working in the boat world!) and attaching it to a tree with the strop, and reversing off, and it unwound without too many issues.

Totally unspooled rope, and it is mangled - mainly the layers where it tightened at the top, but in a few other places too. So thats going in the bin. Does anyone know if 'metal recyclers' like winch cables?! Especially as I have the old cable lying in the garden too, and they're both v long! :rolleyes:

Time for another new line, and a warning light. And to maybe re-check the overload system. Anyone got the adaptor! :P

I'll try not to do that again in a hurry!

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