How do you store your winches?

[ThatRed97]

How do you keep your winches stored? Cable pulled all the way in? Cable hooked to a D ring? Pulled tight or lose? Covered uncovered? Do you always respool after a pull? Any tips?

I keep mine covered and hooked to a D ring pulled tight.

 

[derekmac]

Mine stays covered, and is usually hooked to one of the tow hooks. I respool the line when I get home from a run if the winch was used.

 

[JeepZilla380]

I spool mine in all the way with just the thimble sitting out of the fairlead. Then I cover the winch with the really crappy and faded Warn neoprene cover. Hate that for all the Warn quality their cover sucks greatly.

Pardon my girl all up in the air... she’s been in surgery since last Saturday!

 

[ac_]

It doesn't look like this now (well the garage still does haha) but this is how I still store my winch cable:

 

[Boinked]

It doesn't look like this now (well the garage still does haha) but this is how I still store my winch cable:

View attachment 55243

Thats a Arizona storage. I don't think I have seen anyone cover thier wench

 

[ac_]

Thats a Arizona storage. I don't think I have seen anyone cover thier wench

Last Christmas, my Jeep died on the way to work. It was like a week after I put the winch on. I had to get towed home it was pretty embarrassing. I was on my way to work to meet up with some buddies to go to the new Star Wars movie and my Jeep died. I called triple A because I was running out of time to geek out with my friends and the tow truck came and picked me up. On the way home the tow truck driver told me they couldn't drop my Jeep in the driveway for safety issues. So I ended up hooking up to my Ram and winching my Jeep into the back yard. I spooled about half of my line out. I never could get it wrapped back up like that again. I discovered spooling a winch is kind of like folding a map. You never can get it back the way it came haha.

BTW so I don't leave anybody in suspense. I winched the Jeep into the back yard and left it and rode the motorcycle back to work to meet up and watch the Movie with my friends. We played hooky that day!

also it was my distributor rotor that broke inside the cap. The end broke right off. Not sure why there was no noises and it was running good to that point, so I bought replaced it with some high end parts and it has been fine ever since.

 

[Mike_H]

Mine is covered, and pulled tight, hooked to a d-ring

 

[JMT]

Pulled tight to the fairlead with my license plate covering. I use a neoprene cover for the winch to keep it out of the elements

 

[EJD]

I have a winch plate and hook it to the side of that, then reel it in snug. I think this looks pretty clean and low profile...

 

[Mr. Bills]

Covered when not in use around town. Uncovered for use on the trail and left uncovered until the cable is re-spooled after returning home.

 

[Equilibrium31]

+1 here for the standard hooking to a D-ring. I also usually have mine covered.

 

[jjvw]

No cover on mine. It feels like it would trap moisture.

I made a thimble keeper earlier this year.

 

[JMT]

No cover on mine. It feels like it would trap moisture.

I made a thimble keeper earlier this year. View attachment 55293View attachment 55294View attachment 55295

Nice thimble keeper.

Nice license plate. :risas3:. People who wheel their Jeeps are not known for being friendly to license plates.

 

[jjvw]

...

Nice license plate. :risas3:. People who wheel their Jeeps are not known for being friendly to license plates.

It's proof.

When I first got the Jeep, I didn't know any better and bought a nice simple licence plate frame. It didn't last very long.

 

[Serbonze]

@jjvw I like that keeper. If I knew of a thumbs up emoji I would have inserted it here.

 

[Equilibrium31]

It's proof.

When I first got the Jeep, I didn't know any better and bought a nice simple licence plate frame. It didn't last very long.

I nabbed a flip-up license plate holder and it's worked out pretty well. It keeps your license higher up without getting in the way.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4AKOEB/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Still...I'm jealous of people who live in states that don't require the front plate.

 

[ThatRed97]

Well I’m glad to know I’m doing it the “normalish” way. How do y’all with the thimbles like them? How hard easy are they to use in a recovery? And has anyone ever used the factor55 type hooks?

 

[jjvw]

Well I’m glad to know I’m doing it the “normalish” way. How do y’all with the thimbles like them? How hard easy are they to use in a recovery? And has anyone ever used the factor55 type hooks?

Thimbles are safer. Lighter weight and fewer connections. But the Factor 55 design defeats the entire purpose of a thimble. The Safety Thimble is the one to look at.

 

[tworley]

No cover on mine. My thinking is along the line of Josh's, I think it would trap moisture. I put hook on the front tow hook and cinch it tight.

I need to do a better job at keeping my line taught and re-wound after each use. I have a nice kink in mine after pulling it out on the trail, then sucking it back in after deciding not to use it, and then pulling on it later in the day. The plan is to replace it with synthetic and a safety thimble.

 

[Neal]

I made a compact cover out of sheet aluminum just to keep the sun off my synthetic line. Won't trap moisture either.

In the photo above I have the hook attached to the bar on the winch plate. I didn't like the thimble up against the fairlead like that, so I made a polyurethane stopper out of a caster wheel - the cheap guy's safety thimble.