Ram 2500 2017 Owner's Manual

Operating Your Winch
WARNING!
Failure to observe any of these warnings regarding
proper winch usage may result in severe injury.
•Always use supplied hook strap to hold the hook
when spooling wire rope in or out.
• Never use as a hoist.
• Never use to move persons.
• Never exceed winch or wire rope rated capacity.
• Always wear heavy leather gloves when handling
the wire rope.
• Never touch wire rope or hook while in tension or
under load.
• Never engage or disengage clutch if winch is under
load, wire rope is in tension, or wire rope drum is
moving.
• Always stand clear of wire rope and load and keep
others away during winching.
• Always keep hands and clothing clear of the wire
rope, hook and fairlead opening during operation
and when spooling.
(Continued)
WARNING! (Continued)
•Never wrap wire rope back onto itself. Always use a
choker chain, wire choker rope or tree trunk protec-
tor on the anchor.
• Never attach a recovery strap to the winch hook to
increase the length of a pull.
• Never attempt to tow a vehicle with the recovery
strap attached directly to the winch hook.
• Never use bungeestraps that develop tremendous
and potentially dangerous amounts of force when
stretched.
• Always disconnect the remote control when not in
use.
• Never winch when there are less than five wraps of
wire rope around the winch drum.
• Always pass remote control through a window to
avoid pinching lead in door, when using remote
inside a vehicle.
• Never leave the remote control plugged into the
winch while free spooling, rigging or sitting idle.
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General Information
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 wire
rope to slip through your hands when handling the
rope.
• Only the operator should handle the wire rope and
remote control.
• Think safety at all times.
Vehicle Recovery Using The Winch
CAUTION!
•Always Know Your Winch: Take the time to fully
read and understand the included Installation and
Operations Guide, and Basic Guide to Winching
Techniques, in order to understand your winch and
the winching operation.
• Always inspect winch installation and wire rope
condition before operating the winch. Frayed,
kinked or damaged wire rope must be replaced
immediately. Loose or damaged winch installation
must be corrected immediately.
• Always be sure any element which can interfere with
safe winching operations is removed prior to initiat-
ing winching.
• Always keep remote control lead clear of the drum,
wire rope and rigging.
• Inspect for cracks, pinches, frayed wires, or loose
connections. Replace if damaged.
• Be careful not to pull the Winch Cable Collar
through the rollers. Watch and listen to Winch for
proper snugness.
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1. Inspect the winch, winch mount, and wire rope fordamage. Do not use the winch if the mount is loose or
rope shows excessive wear or damage. 2. Put on gloves.
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.
Winch Rope
Free Spool
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4. Free the winch hook and attach the hook strap. Free thewinch hook from its anchor point. Attach the hook strap
to the hook (if not attached). 5. Pull the wire to the anchor point. Pull out enough wire
rope 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
Pulling Wire Rope
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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 withstand
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 recover-
ing 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 disconnect the
remote control when not in use.
Clevis/D-Shackles
Winch Box Remote Control Connector
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10. Put wire rope under tension. Using the remote controlswitch, 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. 12. Check wire rope. The wire rope should be neatly
wound around the spooling drum. Improper winding
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
Pulling Wire Rope Under Tension
Wire Neatly Wound Around The Spooling Drum
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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.
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 engine on
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 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.
No People Zones
Using The Remote Control
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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 draw-
ing into the inner wraps, binding and damaging 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 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.
Rewinding The Wire Rope
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WARNING!
To prevent serious injury, NEVER put your fingers
inside the hook area as you are powering-in.
NOTE: How to spool under no load: Arrange the remote
control lead so it cannot be caught in the winch. Arrange
the wire rope so it will not kink or tangle when spooled. Be
sure any wire rope already on the spooling drum is wound
tightly and evenly layered. Tighten and straighten the layer
if necessary. Keep the wire rope under light tension and
spool the wire 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
forefinger and attach the hook strap. Hold the hook strap
between the thumb and forefinger to keep tension on the
wire rope. Walk the wire rope towards the fairlead, care-
fully spooling in the remaining wire rope. By pulsing the
remote control switch. 18. Store the hook on the most outboard loop of the tow
hook.
19. 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.
NOTE: Always store the remote control in a protected,
clean, dry area.
Hook In Stored Position
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