Harbor Freight Winch Warning

[meatplow5150]

I used to work in a GE refrigerator plant, the only difference between a GE and a hot point is the superficial items like shelves, door panels, all of the components put in to them that had to do with functionality came out of the same box with the same part number.

Not surprising, considering that GE owns Hotpoint.:eeks1:

 

[Harvo]

As far as wraps go, the winch has 3 layers all the way across. I was only halfway into the 2nd layer. There was alot left on the spool hense the drum friction comment I made in the first post. Friction from all the wraps left on the drum should have been enough to keep it from happening, but on this winch, it wasn't. Alot of the force from the pull was transferring to the retention bolt.

That is why you need to respool new winches tightly. It creates the tension and friction betwen the drum and the cable. I did that when the winch was new, but I'm thinking maybe the cable is too fat to get a good bight on the drum. Not sure really why so much force was on the bolt, or why the drum slipped the cable when it broke, but it did. So if you have one... be warned.

 

[olivedrabcj7]

if it was spooled on there properly, 3 wraps on the last layer shoud be enough to hold it even with a broken bolt. Thats why you need to stretch the cable hard by pulling your jeep with it multiple times under hard load with the cable spooled out. It stretches the cable out to keep it from being loose on the drum.