A Primer on ATV Winch

Learn the basics of ATV winch operation and understand why it is essential to every ATV trekking.

If the most important accessory for an ATV driver is the helmet, what do you think is the most important accessory of your ATV? My answer? The ATV winch.

Here I will be covering the conditions an ATV winch can be most useful, the aspects of an ATV winch and some techniques in using an ATV winch. After that, you decide for yourself if it is useful or not.

ATV winch is used not only for extracting trapped ATVs; it can be used for lowering your ATV down a treacherous ravine or going up a steep slope. Or you could use it to extract another stranded ATV if there are no suitable anchors nearby. Or you could pull some heavy equipment, or tow another vehicle or clear your trail. There are dozens of use for winches especially on ATVs.

Here’s a primer example on an ATV use.

Extracting an ATV with an ATV winch

Put on gloves. This is important since wire ropes have barbs after a couple of use. Disengage the clutch and free the hook. Attach the hook strap. Remember to always use a hook strap, hooks create a tremendous pull, and you might skewer your hand if you’re not careful. Pull the wire towards the anchor point. On selecting an anchor point, always choose a natural anchor. And it must be strong enough to withstand the pull. Most likely candidate should be a tree. Secure the choker around your anchor and attach the clevis shackle to the two ends of the choker and the hook loop. Now lock the clutch and connect the remote control. Put the wire rope under tension. It is wiser to create a considerable slack by free spooling the winch drum at the start of your winching operation. Once the rope is under tension, stand clear and check everything. That would include your anchor, your ATV, the connections and the surroundings. Also it is a safe procedure to lay something heavy midway over the wire rope, should the wire rope snap loose the object would bear the rope down.

If you are now confident with this operation, you will find that other situations aren’t as much different with this one. As long as you know the basics and most importantly, the safety measures, then you’re off to a pretty good start.

Some ATV Winch essentials

Winches are invaluable in situations when your ATV is stalled because they ran on batteries. So, pay close attention to the battery load before going outback. ATV winch accessories include the choker chain, tree trunk protector and the recovery strap. If you think that you will be damaging the anchor tree so much with the choker chain, then use the tree protector. Optimally, tree protectors are used for trees, but if you have boulders as anchors, you should use the chokers. Recovery straps are not advisable to use in most winching operations. Since they are stretchable, they are used to ‘snatch’ hard stuck vehicles.