Now that your Warn winch is fitted on your 4×4, you are now ready to go off roading out on the trail where you will be splashing around in mud, crossing the occasional stream as well as driving across a few rocks along the way.

For this sort of experience you must be equipped with a fully working winch and it is essential you are familiar and comfortable using your winch and are fully aware of how it operates should you need to put it into action. The first step is to familiarise yourself with each component of your Warn winch.

Motor

Typically the winch motor is powered by the vehicle’s battery. The motor provides power to the gear mechanism, which turns the winch drum and winds the wire rope.

Winch Drum

The winch drum is the cylinder onto which the wire rope feeds. The drum is driven by the motor and drive train. Its direction can be changed using the remote control.

Wire Rope

The wire rope’s diameter and length is determined by the winch’s designed load capacity. Wrapped around the winch drum and fed through the fairlead, the wire rope is looped at the end to accept the hook’s clevis pin.

Fairlead

When using the winch at an angle, the fairlead (or wire lead) acts to guide the wire rope onto the spooling drum. It prevents damage to the wire rope while it goes through the winch mount or bumper.

Gear Train

The reduction gear converts the winch motor power into a large pulling force. The gear train design makes it possible for the winch to be lighter and more compact.

Braking System

The brake is automatically applied to the winch drum when the winch motor is stopped and

there is load on the wire rope. The brake prevents the winch from paying out line, which in turn holds the vehicle in place.

Clutch

The clutch allows the operator to manually disengage the spooling drum from the gear train, enabling the drum to rotate freely. By engaging the clutch the winch drum locks back onto the gear train.

Control Box

Using electrical power from the vehicle’s battery, the control box solenoids relay the signals it receives from the remote control to the motor, enabling the operator to change the direction of the winch drum rotation.

Remote Control

The remote control plugs into the winch control box, allowing the operator to control the winch direction, as well as stand well clear of the wire rope while operating the winch.