Dodge Ram 2500 (2016 year). Manual

1. Motor: The winch motor is powered by the vehicle

charging system and features a thermal protection
switch that automatically stops motor function in the
power-in direction if the motor gets too hot.

2. Remote Socket: The remote socket allows the remote

control to be attached to the control pack to allow the
winch to function.

3. Winch Drum With Integral Brake: The winch drum

allows the wire rope to be stored on the winch and
transmits force to the wire rope. The winch is
equipped with an integral brake that will stop rotation
of the winch drum if the winch motor is stopped.

4. 3-Stage Planetary Gear Set: Provides balance between

speed and pulling power.

5. Wire Rope: The wire rope allows the winch to be

connected to an anchor to provide a pulling force.

6. Clutch Lever: The clutch lever allows the winch drum

to be disconnected from the winch motor to allow the
wire rope to be pulled from the winch by hand.

7. Remote Control: The remote control provides the

interface between the winch operator and the winch.
The remote control provides the ability to power the
winch in, out, and stop the winch. To operate the
winch, the toggle switch is pressed down to power the
winch in and up to power the winch out. The winch
will stop if the switch is left in the neutral (center)
position.

CAUTION!

If not installed, the hook strap must be placed on the
hook.

Fairlead:

The fairlead acts as a guide for the wire rope

and minimizes damage to the rope.

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Winch Accessories

The following accessories are necessary to attach the
winch to anchors, change direction of pull, and for safe
winching.

Gloves:

Wire rope, through use, will de-

velop

⬙barbs⬙ which can slice skin. It is

extremely important to wear protective
gloves while operating the winch or han-
dling the wire rope. Avoid loose fitting

clothes or anything that could become entangled in the
wire rope and other moving parts.

Snatch/Block Pulley:

Used properly, the

multi-purpose snatch block allows you to
(1) increase the winch’s pulling power; and
(2) change your pulling direction without
damaging the wire rope. Proper use of the

snatch block is covered in

⬙Before You Pull.⬙

Clevis/D-Shackles:

The D-Shackle is a safe

means of connecting the looped ends of
cables, straps and snatch blocks. The shack-
le’s pin is threaded to allow easy removal.

Tree Trunk Protector:

Typically made of

tough, high-quality nylon, it provides the
operator an attachment point for the winch
rope to a wide variety of anchor points and
objects, as well as protect living trees.

Operating Your Winch

WARNING!

Failure to observe any of these warnings regarding
proper winch usage may result in severe injury.

(Continued)

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605

WARNING! (Continued)

• Always use supplied hook strap to hold the hook

when spooling wire rope in or out.

• Never use as a hoist.

• Never use to move persons.

• Never exceed winch or wire rope rated capacity.

• Always wear heavy leather gloves when handling

the wire rope.

• Never touch wire rope or hook while in tension or

under load.

• Never engage or disengage clutch if winch is under

load, wire rope is in tension, or wire rope drum is
moving.

• Always stand clear of wire rope and load and keep

others away during winching.

(Continued)

WARNING! (Continued)

• Always keep hands and clothing clear of the wire

rope, hook and fairlead opening during operation
and when spooling.

• Never wrap wire rope back onto itself. Always use

a choker chain, wire choker rope or tree trunk
protector on the anchor.

• Never attach a recovery strap to the winch hook to

increase the length of a pull.

• Never attempt to tow a vehicle with the recovery

strap attached directly to the winch hook.

• Never use ⴖbungeeⴖ straps that develop tremendous

and potentially dangerous amounts of force when
stretched.

• Always disconnect the remote control when not in

use.

(Continued)

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WARNING! (Continued)

• Never winch when there are less than five wraps of

wire rope around the winch drum.

• Always pass remote control through a window to

avoid pinching lead in door, when using remote
inside a vehicle.

• Never leave the remote control plugged into the

winch while free spooling, rigging or sitting idle.

General Information

Practice using your winch before you get stuck. Some key
points to remember when using your winch are:

• Always take your time to assess the situation and plan

your pull carefully.

• Always take your time when using a winch.
• Use the right equipment for the situation.

• Always wear leather gloves and do not allow the wire

rope to slip through your hands when handling the
rope.

• Only the operator should handle the wire rope and

remote control.

• Think safety at all times.

Vehicle Recovery Using The Winch

CAUTION!

• Always Know Your Winch: Take the time to fully

read and understand the included Installation and
Operations Guide, and Basic Guide to Winching
Techniques, in order to understand your winch and
the winching operation.

• Always inspect winch installation and wire rope

condition before operating the winch. Frayed,

(Continued)

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607

CAUTION! (Continued)

kinked or damaged wire rope must be replaced
immediately. Loose or damaged winch installation
must be corrected immediately.

• Always be sure any element which can interfere

with safe winching operations is removed prior to
initiating winching.

• Always keep remote control lead clear of the drum,

wire rope and rigging.

• Inspect for cracks, pinches, frayed wires, or loose

connections. Replace if damaged.

• Be careful not to pull the Winch Cable Collar

through the rollers. Watch and listen to Winch for
proper snugness.

1. Inspect the winch, winch mount, and wire rope for

damage. Do not use the winch if the mount is loose or
rope shows excessive wear or damage.

2. Put on gloves.

3. Disengage the clutch to allow free spooling of the

winch drum, rotate the clutch lever on the winch to
disengage. Freespooling conserves battery power.

Winch Rope

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4. Free the winch hook and attach the hook strap. Free

the winch hook from its anchor point. Attach the hook
strap to the hook (if not attached).

5. Pull the wire to the anchor point. Pull out enough wire

rope to reach your anchor point. Be sure to keep a
certain amount of tension on the wire as it can become
twisted and over-wrapped when slackened, leading to
wire rope damage. To prevent losing the end, hold the
hook strap while you work.

Free Spool

Hook Strap

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609

6. Secure to the anchor point. Once you have established

your anchor point, secure the tree-trunk protector or
choker-chain around the object.

CAUTION!

Always be certain the anchor you select will with-
stand the load.

Pulling Wire Rope

Tree Trunk Protector

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NOTE: How to choose an anchor point:

A secure anchor

is critical to winching operations. An anchor must be
strong enough to hold while winching. Natural anchors
include trees, stumps and rocks. Hook the cable as low as
possible. If no natural anchors are available when recov-
ering another vehicle, your vehicle becomes the anchor
point. In this case, be sure to put the transmission in
NEUTRAL, apply the hand brake and block its wheels to
prevent your vehicle from moving. Ideally, you’ll want
an anchor point that will enable you to pull straight in the
direction the vehicle will move. This allows the wire rope
to wind tightly and evenly onto the spooling drum. An
anchor point as far away as possible will provide the
winch with its greatest pulling power.

7. Attach the Clevis/D-shackle and Tree Trunk Protector.

Attach the shackle to the two ends of the strap or chain
and through the hook loop, being careful not to over
tighten (tighten and back-off 1/2 turn).

8. Lock the clutch. Lock the winch drum by rotating the

clutch lever on the winch to engage.

NOTE:

Always ensure the clutch is fully engaged or

disengaged.

Clevis/D-Shackles

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611

9. Connect the remote control to the winch control box,

located behind the front bumper. Be careful not to let
the remote control cord dangle in front of the winch. If
you choose to control the winch from inside your
vehicle, always pass the remote through a window to
avoid pinching the cord in the door. Always discon-
nect the remote control when not in use.

10. Put wire rope under tension. Using the remote con-

trol switch, slowly wind the wire rope until no slack
remains. Once the wire rope is under tension, stand
well clear of it and never step over it.

Winch Box Remote Control Connector

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11. Check your anchor. Make sure all connections are

secured and free of debris before continuing with the
winching procedure.

12. Check wire rope. The wire rope should be neatly

wound around the spooling drum. Improper wind-
ing can cause damage to the wire rope.

Pulling Wire Rope Under Tension

Wire Neatly Wound Around The Spooling Drum

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613

In certain situations you may decide to
throw a heavy blanket or similar object over
the wire rope. A heavy blanket can absorb
energy should the wire rope break. Place it
on the wire rope midway between the winch

and the anchor point. Do this before the wire rope is put
under tension. Do not approach or move the blanket once
tension is applied. Do not allow it to get pulled into the
fairlead. If it is necessary to move or remove the blanket,
slack the tension on the wire rope first.

13. Establish

ⴖno peopleⴖ zones: Make your intentions

clear. Be sure that everyone in the immediate vicinity
surrounding the winching operation is completely
aware of your intentions before you pull. Declare
where the spectators should not stand - never
behind or in front of the vehicle and never near the
wire rope or snatch block. Your situation may have
other

ⴖno peopleⴖ zones.

14. Begin winching. With the winching vehicles engine

on and light tension already on the wire rope, begin
winching slowly and steadily. Be sure that the wire
rope is winding evenly and tightly around the spool-
ing drum. For additional assistance, the winched
vehicle can be slowly driven while being pulled by

No People Zones

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the winch. Continue pulling until the vehicle is on
stable ground. If you are able to drive the vehicle, the
winching operation is complete.

NOTE:

• Avoid overheating the winch motor. For extended

winching, stop at reasonable intervals to allow the
winch motor to cool down.

• What to look for under load: The wire rope must

always spool onto the drum as indicated by the
drum rotation decal on the winch. As you power-in,
make sure the wire rope winds evenly and tightly on
the drum. This prevents the outer wire wraps from
drawing into the inner wraps, binding and damag-
ing the wire rope. Avoid shock loads by using the
control switch intermittently to take up wire rope
slack. Shock loads can momentarily far exceed the
winch and wire rope ratings. During side pulls the
wire rope tends to stack up at one end of the drum.
This stack can become large enough to cause serious
damage to the winch. So, line up pulls as straight
ahead as possible and stop winching if the wire rope
comes close to the tie rods or mounting plate. To fix

Using The Remote Control

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615

an uneven stack, spool out that section of the rope
and reposition it to the opposite end of the drum,
which will free up space for continued winching.

15. Secure vehicle. Once recovery of the vehicle is com-

plete, be sure to secure the vehicle’s brakes and shift
the transmission to PARK. Release tension in the wire
rope.

16. Disconnect the wire rope, and disconnect from the

anchor.

17. Rewind the wire rope. The person handling the wire

rope should walk the rope in and not let it slide
through the hand, control the winch at all times.

WARNING!

To prevent serious injury, NEVER put your fingers
inside the hook area as you are powering-in.

Rewinding The Wire Rope

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NOTE: How to spool under no load:

Arrange the re-

mote control lead so it cannot be caught in the winch.
Arrange the wire rope so it will not kink or tangle when
spooled. Be sure any wire rope already on the spooling
drum is wound tightly and evenly layered. Tighten and
straighten the layer if necessary. Keep the wire rope
under light tension and spool the wire rope back and
onto the winch drum in even layers. Stop frequently to
tighten and straighten the layers as necessary. Repeat this
process until the winch hook is the same distance as the
full length of the remote control from the winch. Pinch
the hook between your thumb and forefinger and attach
the hook strap. Hold the hook strap between the thumb
and forefinger to keep tension on the wire rope. Walk the
wire rope towards the fairlead, carefully spooling in the
remaining wire rope. By pulsing the remote control
switch.

18. Store the hook on the most outboard loop of the tow

hook.

19. Disconnect the remote control. Disconnect the remote

control cord from the control box and store in a clean
and dry place. Winching operations are now com-
plete. Put the cap on the solenoid plug-in.

NOTE:

Always store the remote control in a protected,

clean, dry area.

Hook In Stored Position

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Rigging Techniques

Various winching situations will require application of
other winching techniques. These could range from too
little distance to achieve maximum pull using straight
line rigging, simply increasing pulling power, or main-
taining a straight-line pulling situation. You will have to
assess what technique is correct for your situation. Think

⬙safety⬙ at all times.

How To Change The Pulling Direction

All winching operations should have a straight line from
the winch to the object being pulled. This minimizes the
wire rope collecting on one side of the drum affecting
pulling efficiency and damaging wire rope. A snatch

Change Pulling Directions

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block, secured to a point directly in front of the vehicle
will enable you to change your pulling direction while
still allowing the wire rope to be at 90° to wind properly
onto the spooling drum.

Increasing Pulling Power

In some cases, you may find yourself needing more
pulling power. The use of snatch blocks increases me-
chanical advantage and that increases your pulling
power.

Double Line

Because pulling power decreases with the number of
layers of wire rope on the winch drum, you can use a
snatch block to double line out more wire rope. This
decreases the number of layers of wire rope on the drum,

Wire Rope Routing

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Dodge Ram 2500 (2016 year). Manual - part 38