Are your winches seizing and not working properly? When it comes to safely securing your loads, the integrity of your winches is extremely important. Simple maintenance procedures can help to reduce the chance of seizing winches and any risks associated with improperly secured loads.
Maintenance of Winches
- Before each use, inspect winches to insure that they are undamaged and in proper working order. Damaged or inoperable winches should be removed and replaced with a new winch immediately.
- Winches should be cleaned and lubricated to insure the winch pawl will drop freely into the sprocket teeth under the influence of gravity and the sprocket will rotate freely. Dirt, mud, ice, road salt, and a wide variety of other material can prevent the pawl, the sprocket, or both from moving freely.
- Winches should be cleaned and lubricated at certain intervals depending on your application. We have found that a weekly clean and lubrication is usually sufficient to keep the winches working properly. We suggest using Weicon chain and rope lube spray to lubricate your winches.
- Portable winches should be stored in a dry location when not in use. To reduce the chance of corrosion, dirty winches should be cleaned prior to storage.
* This blog lists the most commonly encountered considerations for the proper maintenance and operation of winch tie-down assemblies, but it is not an all-inclusive list.