2011 Dodge Ram 1500 Crew Cab Owner Manual - Page 382

STARTING AND OPERATING 381 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 drawing 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. 16. Secure vehicle. Once recovery of the vehicle's is complete, be sure to secure the vehicle's brakes and put the transmission in PARK. Release tension in the wire rope. 17. Disconnect the wire rope, and disconnect from the anchor. 5