2021 RAM 2500 Owners Manual - WINCH USAGE — POWER WAGON ONLY (IF EQUIPPED)

WINCH USAGE — POWER WAGON ONLY (IF EQUIPPED)

THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE USING YOUR WINCH

Your vehicle is equipped with an electric vehicle recovery winch. This winch uses the electrical power from the vehicle charging system to power a motor that winds the winch rope onto the winch drum via planetary gear reduction. By nature, a winch is capable of generating very high forces

and should be used with care. Do not operate the winch without reading and understanding the complete winch owner's manual.

The winch rope must be properly tensioned before use. Follow the instructions below to tension the rope:

Un-spool the rope leaving five wraps of rope on the winch drum.

Attach the hook to a suitable anchor point.

Apply at least 1,000 lbs (454 kg) of tension to the rope while winding the rope. Always use care to ensure the rope does not pile up on one side of the drum and is neatly wound onto the drum.

Your winch is equipped with a device that will interrupt winch function if the vehicle charging system voltage drops to a low level. The winch will not power-in or out for 30 seconds if this device is tripped. If the interrupt is tripped, the vehicle should be operated at high idle for a few minutes to allow the vehicle charging system to recover before continuing to winch.

UNDERSTANDING THE FEATURES OF YOUR WINCH

Motor: The winch motor is powered by the vehicle charging system.

Remote Socket: The remote socket (which will be located on the bumper assembly)

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

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

Synthetic Rope: The synthetic rope allows the winch to be connected to an anchor to provide a pulling force. This synthetic rope is highly flexible, lightweight, and it floats.

Clutch Lever: The clutch lever allows the winch drum to be disconnected from the winch motor to allow the rope to be pulled from the winch by hand.

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 pushed 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.

Fairlead: The hawse fairlead acts as a guide for the synthetic rope and minimizes damage to the rope.

WINCH ACCESSORIES

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

Gloves: It is extremely important to wear protective gloves while operating the winch or handling the winch rope. Avoid loose fitting clothes

or anything that could become entangled in the 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 winch 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 shackle'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.

Abrasion Sleeve: The abrasion sleeve is provided with the synthetic rope and must be used with the synthetic rope at all times to protect the rope from potential abrasion wear. The sleeve has a loose fit so it can easily be positioned along the synthetic rope to protect from rough surfaces and sharp corners.

OPERATING YOUR WINCH

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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 synthetic rope to slip through your hands when handling the rope.

Only the operator should handle the synthetic rope and remote control.

Think safety at all times.

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Inspect the winch, winch mount, and synthetic rope for damage. Do not use the winch if the mount is loose or rope shows excessive wear, frays, or damage.

Put on gloves.

Free Spool Lever

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).

Pull the wire to the anchor point. Pull out

enough wire rope to reach your anchor 4

point. To prevent losing the end, hold the hook strap while you work.

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.

Pulling Synthetic Rope

Secure to the anchor point. Once you have established your anchor point, secure the tree-trunk protector or choker-chain around the object.

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 recovering 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 synthetic 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.

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, being careful not to over tighten (tighten and back-off 1/2 turn).

Lock the clutch. Lock the winch drum by rotating the clutch lever on the winch to engage.

Always ensure the clutch is fully engaged or disengaged.

Connect the remote control to the winch control box, located on the front fascia/ 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 disconnect the remote control when not in use.

Put synthetic rope under tension. Using the remote control switch, slowly wind the rope until no slack remains. Once the rope is under tension, stand well clear of it and never step over it.

Check your anchor. Make sure all connections are secured and free of debris before continuing with the winching procedure.

Check synthetic rope. The rope should be neatly wound around the spooling drum. Improper winding can cause damage to the synthetic rope.

Heavy Blanket Over Rope

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

the anchor point. Do this before the 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 rope first.

Establish "no people" zones: Make your intentions clear. Be sure that everyone in the immediate vicinity surrounding the

winching operation is completely aware of 4

No People Zones

Begin winching. With the winching vehicles engine on and light tension already on the synthetic rope, begin winching slowly and steadily. Be sure that the rope is winding evenly and tightly around the spooling drum. For additional assistance, the winched vehicle can be slowly driven while being pulled by 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 synthetic rope must always spool onto the drum as indicated by the drum rotation decal on the winch. As you power-in, make sure the synthetic rope winds evenly and tightly on the drum. This prevents the outer rope wraps from drawing into the inner wraps, binding and damaging the synthetic rope. Avoid shock loads by using the control switch intermittently to take up rope slack. Shock loads can momentarily far exceed the winch and synthetic rope ratings. During side pulls the synthetic 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 synthetic rope comes close to the tie rods or mounting plate. To fix 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.

Secure vehicle. Once recovery of the vehicle is complete, be sure to secure the vehicle's brakes and shift the transmission to PARK. Release tension in the synthetic rope.

Disconnect the synthetic rope, and disconnect from the anchor.

Rewind the synthetic rope. The person handling the synthetic rope should walk the rope in and not let it slide through the hand, control the winch at all times.

NOTE:

How to spool under no load: Arrange the remote control lead so it cannot be caught in the winch. Arrange the synthetic rope so it will not kink or tangle when spooled. Be sure any synthetic rope already on the spooling drum is wound tightly and evenly layered. Tighten and straighten the layer if necessary. Keep the synthetic rope under light tension and spool the 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 fore- finger and attach the hook strap. Hold the hook strap between the thumb and forefinger to keep tension on the synthetic rope. Walk the synthetic rope towards the fairlead, carefully spooling in the remaining rope by pulsing the remote control switch.

Store the hook on the most outboard loop of the hawse fairlead.

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 complete. Put the cap on the solenoid plug-in.

Always store the remote control in a protected, clean, dry area.

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 maintaining a

straight-line pulling situation. You will have to assess what technique is correct for your situation. Think "safety" at all times.

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All winching operations should have a straight line from the winch to the object being pulled. This minimizes the synthetic rope collecting on one side of the drum affecting pulling efficiency and damaging synthetic rope. A snatch block, secured to a point directly in front of the vehicle will enable you to change your pulling direction while still allowing the synthetic rope to be at 90° to wind properly onto the spooling drum.

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

Because pulling power decreases with the number of layers of synthetic rope on the winch drum, you can use a snatch block to double line out more rope. This decreases the number of layers of synthetic rope on the drum, and increases pulling power. Start by feeding out enough synthetic rope to free the winch hook. Attach the hook to your vehicle's frame/tow hook and run the rope through a snatch block. Disengage the clutch and, using the snatch

block, pull out enough synthetic rope to reach your anchor point. Do not attach the hook to the mounting kit. Secure to the anchor point with a tree trunk protector or choker chain. Attach the clevis/shackle. Attach the shackle to the two ends of the strap/chain, being careful not to over tighten (tighten and back-off 1/2 turn).