Manually operated hand winches are a great option for lifting or pulling heavy loads with either web straps or wire rope. So, in this article, we're going to show you how you can set up your hand winch to properly operate.
To start off you're going to be needing to mount your hand winch to a wood or metal mounting surface, such as a post or a wall.
We’re installing the Tiger Lifting Automatic Brake Hand Drum Winch to a treated 4x4 post, using four 3/8-inch bolts that are long enough to protrude all the way through our post.
Before mounting your winch, go ahead and loosely pre-install your cable clamp to the outside of the winch spool.
Using your hand winch as a template, mark the holes where you're installing your hand winch.
Remove the winch and drill your holes all the way through to the other side.
Place the winch over the holes and use your selected mounting hardware to secure the winch, making sure that your nuts are tightened.
Using a wrench, mount the handle to the hand crank.
Next, we'll install our cable into the drum wheel. First, crank the reel until the catch hole and cable clamp are accessible.
Pass the seized end of your cable through the large pass-through hole, then through the cable clamp with about a diameter worth of cable protruding out the back of the clamp.
Using an Allen wrench, tighten the set screws until the cable is secure. At this point, the cable should be running over the top of the drum.
Next, we're going to spool our winch and feed the cable onto the drum. While holding the cable taut in one hand, begin to crank the handle so that the cable makes its first initial wrap around the spool. Continue to feed the cable onto your spool working your way from left to right, then right to left so that each wrap sits neatly beside the other. Be sure to maintain constant tension on the cable as you're spooling. Failing to do so may result in your cable wraps coming loose.
Once you've completed your wraps, make sure the wraps don't exceed two diameters below the drum flange.
Once the winch has been fully spooled, you're now ready to pass the cable through any pulleys or other rigging fittings in your rigging assembly. If you're not ready to do so, then we recommend clamping your cable to your mounting surface to prevent your cable from unwrapping on your spool.
Need more info on Tiger Lifting Winches, check out the product blog here.
