New cable

[jrcat]

I put a new cable on my gearmatic winch yesterday and that thing is a pain in the rear. Its 5/8 swedge cable and everytime I pull it out or release the brake it unravels on the drum and makes a tangled mess. Is there any tricks to keep it from doing this or do I just have to deal with it? Is there any kind of "break in" procedure for new cable? Thanks for any input.

 

[treeslayer2003]

tighten the drag on your drum its a allen screw on top right hand side of winch

 

[northmanlogging]

Machinery's handbook says to spool your cable onto the reel the same way it comes off the spool (think casset tape). Barring that ( and who wants to respool a winch anyway) find yerself a big ugly heavy bastard of a log or three and spool all yer line out and winch it in hard, its a vain attempt to form the line around the drum, could work? that and adjust your brake slip so it doesn't free spool at will...

 

[lumberjack48]

Just wait until it turns in to a corkscrew, you'll pull it out 50', let go of it and it'll go back to the skidder on its own. I ran cable 30 yrs, most of the time running two skidders, i wouldn't run swagged cable, tried it one time, gave it away.

 

[treeslayer2003]

Just wait until it turns in to a corkscrew, you'll pull it out 50', let go of it and it'll go back to the skidder on its own. I ran cable 30 yrs, most of the time running two skidders, i wouldn't run swagged cable, tried it one time, gave it away.

swaged no good? always thought it'd be smoother. never had any. did try crane cable once, it got like a porcupine after a while but didn't break.

 

[jrcat]

That swaged cable is ok at best it has already started to fray by the ferrule at the end. I have also already puckered it up in one spot.