Broken winch block?? - Superwinch..pics

[Shan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shan]

Came across a Land cruiser stuck at Toolangi with an interesting situation this Saturday. Going up a slippery steep hill, this 3ton truck came to a stop even with rear factory lockers. He was winching himself up when he hears few breaking noises, then going backwards a bit followed by a loud bang.

Situation was he had done cv/hub may be... (I'm no expert but lot of noise no drive) so no front drive at all and the winch was broken and stuck. So basically can't go forward even enough to unload the winch.

I came to the bottom of that hill with a mate in a FJ40 and we decided to walk it and see given the steepness only to find this cruiser stuck.
He was there for some time and thinking of cutting the tree truck protector to unload the winch, so he could reverse back.

After clearing some track next to the stuck cruiser, I manged to get past that to winch him so we could unload the broken winch. After three ours of stuffing around we got him to a main gravel rd.

Very surprised how a winch could break like that. Anyone seen this before? Is it common?

Few pics here... my mate got a vid of some action, I'll see if I can get hold of that too.....

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Easy to do, too much side load, bunching or cable, those rods are hollow and bolt into a cast plate and snap easily. Mal Leslie has heaps of these broken in his workshop. Hence he did this to mine as a preventative measure.

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

To me, looks like he has let the cable wind up at one end rather than ensuring
it is layering correctly. The cable has built up at one end and forced the rods
joining the two drum ends out breaking the frame. The ends are only cast
aluminum and it does take much pressure to break them.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

It is very common when people who aren't careful/dont know how to use a winch use a winch. I have replaced those side plates and rods in many warn winches.

[Shan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shan]

Thanks guys!! bunching the cable on one side and side load... make sense. He was winching from a tree to the right from a long way back. Cheers.

[JPH Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close JPH]

Well done for helping the bloke out Shan. It must have been a strange feeling for you helping out another stranded 4 wd, rather than it being your old 120 getting it's sorry ar5e dragged home on the bump stops! Welcome to the world of driving a 150!

Anyway back to the topic at hand!

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Well done for helping the bloke out Shan. It must have been a strange feeling for you helping out another stranded 4 wd, rather than it being your old 120 getting it's sorry ar5e dragged home on the bump stops! Welcome to the world of driving a 150!

Anyway back to the topic at hand!

Would have been negligent of you Josh, not to take just a little bit of p!ss out of Shan. Good Job

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Those 2 poles are to keep the winch square. They not offer any strength. It needs to be solidly mounted as per instructions or better.
If you bunch the rope, you can damage them. Looks like it may not have been mounted correctly.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

The part I Like is the full story Shan told me, here is a 100 series winching, mud tyres etc.
Shan drives past him on bfg (bloody good) a/t, no probs in the "Prado" to assist.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

It's a case of shear laziness or an un-trained individual allowing the winch to wind on continuously without stopping frequently to check that the rope is going onto the drum without bunching or bird-nesting. If the cable is already bird-nested then it will continue to wind on in a tangled mess. I've seen this happen and the winch jams solid. One case I saw they had to un-bolt the two rods across a warn 10,000lb winch in order to get the drum to turn.

The correct procedure for winching is to let it winch in for 30 seconds or so then stop the winch. Apply the brakes to the recovered vehicle and slack off the cable before approaching and checking the spool to ensure everything is winding nicely. Recommence winching and repeat the process. This procedure also gives the winch motor time to cool down in between grabs.

On a straight pull, if the spool was nice and neat to start with, then you will more likely get an even spooling when winching in. Start off with a mess and pull at an angle and it will compound the mess. Bird-nesting will eventually bend the cable and it will ultimately fail. I regularly pull the rope out all the way and re-lay it neatly on the drum before the next outing.

[Shan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shan]

Well done for helping the bloke out Shan. It must have been a strange feeling for you helping out another stranded 4 wd, rather than it being your old 120 getting it's sorry ar5e dragged home on the bump stops! Welcome to the world of driving a 150!

Anyway back to the topic at hand!

Lol... what are you talking about Josh...
Came down Billy goats bluff on bump stops, no problem...
Getting a headache just thinking about it good old air bags hey

[Shan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shan]

The part I Like is the full story Shan told me, here is a 100 series winching, mud tyres etc.
Shan drives past him on bfg (bloody fu$ken good) a/t, no probs in the "Prado" to assist.

Absolutely !! very impressed with TC on 150s and BFGs.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Absolutely !! very impressed with TC on 150s and BFGs.

Remember buddy, you still can't beat dual lockers on a 120 :-)

[Fozzy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fozzy]

"I regularly pull the rope out all the way and re-lay it neatly on the drum before the next outing."

I make sure mine works on a regular basis but it's the laying it neatly back onto the drum that has me stuffed. I'm sure the only time mine was even an even lay, layer by layer was the day it was made.

I have trouble trying to hold some tension on the wire rope and getting an even wind. I usually have the car in neutral on the flat with the handbrake partially on while I work the winch but I'm $hit scared of going near the loaded cable and eventually near enough is good enough.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

I wouldn't be too concerned about going near the cable in that situation Fozzy. I generally do mine on a slight uphill run from my shed to the carport, also with the handbrake on slightly, the tension on the rope is nothing compared to actually winching out of a bog or up a steepish slope.

Cheers Andrew