Learning to Winch?
 

I suspect my upcoming trip will involve getting stuck so have invested in a winch for the landy.

But to avoid the classic mistake of only using it for the first time when stuck, can anybody suggest a course or something where I can learn to use it and winching techniques etc?

A day trip from London or close to Derbyshire would be great.

Not really
 

Only help I can give is always imagine the winch cable snapping and the resulting, whipping cable-keep out of range! Set it up with minimal slack to speed up the action if it's a manual winch-saves a lot of extra effort. Linzi.

You could do worse than read this: http://warn.com/corporate/images/90/...US.readers.pdf

I just went to a pay and play with a mate (after 1st line in/out on the drive) got stuck and we pulled each other around all day... knackering stuff!

All i can say is, live in fear of the cable! Its the safest way! from wearing gloves when you handle it to standing at an oblique angle when your making a recovery. Throw something heavy over the line to dampen the kenetic energy should it fail, An old coat, blanket, sheet or buy a proper winch sail.

I dont know anybody who has been on a course, but i know the guys down at Goodwinch in Devon do one. Im sure they know what they are doing too.

HTH

G

Training Day
 

Hi Darrin, haven't done the winch training day, but have done the off road training day with land rover adventure, near your way at Rockingham Castle. they do the group training for £55, which was easily as good as the solo training we got for £300 elsewhere.

Check it out here

Calendar

We also joined our local land rover club, The Shire (Hampshire) and will inundated with people happy to give us a two hour demonstration.

Winching
 

One of the Land Rover magazines did a series of teaching articles on this a few years back.If u can access these they would be useful anyway.

Some golden rules:

Make sure your jate points are up to it(fit them back and front).
Make sure others attachment points are up to it(seen lots of scrap left behind:nono:)
Only use RATED shackles.
Use tag lines attached to the car/cable to partly stop throw of cable in case of failure.
Use blanket etc over mid cable
Wear gloves.
Do not allow anyone to sit in cars(in line of flying cable)whilst winching.
Stand well away.

All hairy stuff coz u won't do it often and therefore each time will be a first so to speak!

I imagine the Land Rover magazines are full of ads for training - I'd recommend LRM as a good read...

As Griffdowg says, David Bowyer's (Goodwinch) place down in Devon was one of the first off-road schools, and will do specific winching/recovery courses; or you could also try Vince Cobley at ProTrax who are a little closer to home in Northants...

xxx

Land Rover Adventure
 

Land Rover Adventure is Vince and Ed Cobley. And I have got to say they gave us value for money. Not only did we have the full training day for £55, but also they noticed my UJ was about to go, and took me down to their garage, fixed us up and sent us home. Just after breaking into the landie to get our unlocked keys out :blush::blush:

A quality service for a discount price....

Ah, thanks for pointing that out CD - I've been out of the Land Rover loop for a while now and hadn't realised they trade under that name now...

Glad to hear you had a good time with them!

xxx

Winching Dangers
 

Just to reinforce what just about everyone has said about the dangers of winching. On LR’s there are what appear to be recovery points bolted to the chassis, front and rear. It’s difficult to describe them but if you just stick your head under there they are pretty obvious.
They ARE NOT rated for recovery use, I believe they are there for tying down the LR on transporters / recovery trucks etc. Yours may have been removed by a sensible previous owner though.

That's right - on the Defender models the D shaped ring that bolts through the chassis - commonly referred to as Jate Rings...

They are pretty strong, as they are intended to secure military vehicles to pallets during air-drops/transportation, but I would agree they are not an ideal winch rope return or snatch recovery point. However, I understand a common practice is to use a strop between the two to spread the load, which has proved successful.

Certainly a proper chassis mounted hook (or heavy duty four-bolt pin hitch on the rear cross member for example) is far safer for recovery purposes.

xxx

The D shaped rings are lashing points not jate rings. As stated about, these should never be used for recovery, they are not rated high enough.

These are Jate Rings: PM632 Jate Rings (pr) Galvanised

and are rated for recovery. They are the cheapest form of obtaining reliable recovery points. they bolt through the main chassis legs both front and rear.

Jmo, you are correct in saying that the Cobley's run Protrax. Nothing has changed there. What CD was refering to (i think) is the Land Rover Owner Adventure Club (LROAC) which is predominantly run by the Cobleys (Protrax) they advertise exculusively through LROI magazine, running greenlane trips to Wales, Winch coarses, Morocco trips and others.

Personally i wouldnt give them a penny :thumbdown: rather spend my money taking myself to Africa. What they offer isnt out of the realms of a good local club.

But im getting :offtopic:

I think winching is more down to experience, understanding your setup and the mechanics/physics of the winch mechanism. Whatever you do with it, just take your time and think it through :thumbup1:

G

I bow to your greater knowledge in this respect of course Griffdowg, but I was always under the impression people referred to the cast D shape shackles you find on Military 'Rovers as 'Jate Rings' too?

Hell, even these guys do!

Jate Rings

Certainly the link you've posted shows a more substantial version.

xxx

ps. I'd best wonder off now and stick to bikes... x

They certainly do! I’ve seen the M25 quieter than some of the green lanes in Wales when these lot are about:thumbdown:



Embarrassing to be seen in a 4x4 in the same County

Sorry for hijacking:offtopic:


Russ

Sorry Jmo, I was not thinking of Military kit. Yes those jate rings they use are one and the same. When you said D rings, I thought you meant the teardrop shape lashing eyes found as standard "civvy" rovers.

Russ, you should have bumped into them in Morocco!

28 vehicles descending the Todra Gorge :nono: Not stopping to talk to local kids, throwing pens out of the window instead :(. I was ashamed to be British and in a Land Rover as we carried on past areas where they had come from.

I think we had the better experience as a solo vehicle, stopping to talk to kids and giving lifts to adults :thumbup1:

Sorry :offtopic:

G

Tie Down Attachments
 

:offtopic:OK sorry people for going off topic again but I just had to comment on that. 28 in a convoy, that’s just plain nuts.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not getting all superior and snooty about organised trips. That was my introduction to Morocco and without that I may not have had the confidence to go it alone.

But being in a convoy that big must be hell, not to mention the impact on the local environment:funmeterno:

Anyway teardrop shape was the description I was struggling with. Best to remove them to stop the temptation of using them IMHO.
Compared to kinetic ropes or hi lift jacks winching is pretty safe though.