2013 Ram 2500 Owner's Manual

5. Pull the wire to the anchor point. Pull out enough wirerope 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.
Hook Strap
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6. Secure to the anchor point. Once you have establishedyour 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.
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.
Tree Trunk Protector
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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.
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.
Clevis/D-Shackles
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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. 11. Check your anchor. Make sure all connections are
secured and free of debris before continuing with the
winching procedure.
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12. Check wire rope. The wire rope should be neatlywound around the spooling drum. Improper wind-
ing can cause damage to the wire rope. In certain situations you
may decide to throw a
heavy blanket or similar
object over the wire rope.
A heavy blanket can ab-
sorb 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.
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13.Establish no people 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 no people zones.
14. Begin winching. With the winching vehicles engineon 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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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.
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