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11
Winch Brake
The winch brake is located inside the gearbox. The winch brake will only operate in one
direction, ensure the winch is orientated and installed correctly with the cable pulling from
the lower position of the drum close to the mounting bolts as per the arrow labels provided
on your winch. Do not reverse the cable on your winch drum or the brake won’t work.
The winch brake is a ratchet style, a bit like a sprag clutch. It applies when a force is pulled
back against the winch. The harder you pull, the tighter the brake will grip. This style of brake
is incredibly strong and reliable for 4x4 applications which can see water submersion and
challenging environments. It also keeps the heat from the brake away from the drum and
sensitive synthetic fibres.
To apply the brake, the brake shoes need to ‘set’ and this is achieved by winching in,
stopping winching and allowing the weight of the vehicle to fall back, causing some counter
rotation of the winch drum. The brake should ‘set’ and hold the vehicle.
If winching down a hill, the winch brake won’t ‘set’ when the ‘winch out’ button is released
and users should always rely on their vehicles pedal brake as the primary method of braking
the vehicle. If the winch brake is not applying, it is likely due to winching out prior to
activation. To ‘set’ the brake, ‘winch in’ and allow the brake to reset.
If testing the winch brake on a small slope with minimal counter force, it is possible for the
drum to slowly rotate backwards and the brake not to ‘set’. This can also be seen if winching
on flat ground towards a fixed load, the winch may not hold tension once the winch button is
released. This is due to the low stretch and resulting low opposing force. This is normal as
the brake is designed to hold the weight of your vehicle on an incline when you need it.
The winch brake can be noisy as it tries to grip and some drum rotation before it grips is
normal. The brake design is such that it will provide years of trouble-free service without the
need to replace the brake shoes. The brake design is different to other winches and may
take users time to get use to how it operates.
