How Do You Use a Winch to Restore a Car?

There is a saying in the off-road circle: no matter how good three locks are, they are not as good as a bad winch. The reason is that the legendary "fifth driving force" of the four-wheel drive vehicle, the winch, is a powerful self-help artifact when your car is trapped and unable to extricate itself. It is the confidence of off-road people. With it, there is no worries. How to save yourself by winch? Remember the following!

Before self-help: calm, observe, analyze

Once caught in the car, remember: don't panic, calm down! When most people encounter a slipping car, their first reaction is to increase the accelerator to get out of trouble. However, if the road is slippery, the friction between the wheels and the ground will be lost, and the greater the power, the more severe the slip will be.

The correct way is: first try to steer left and right, let the wheels find a ground with more friction, and lightly oil. If you try twice and nothing works, please give up! Don't try blindly many times, it will only get deeper and deeper. In fact, in general, we can rescue the car according to the degree of the car trap.

Slightly trapped: the wheels are not too deep, you can ask a few people to help and try to push the cart. Sometimes, it is just a matter of this force, and you can get out of trouble with a push! Deeply stuck car: If the wheel is deep, at this time, it is often necessary to use rescue tools such as jacks to lift the body, and then lay stones under the wheel and in the direction of the wheel. When you are ready, remove the jack and try to get out of trouble.

What to do when none of these methods work? Use a winch! This involves a question that is not very clear to novices: when to use a winch? In fact, most cases need to be judged by experience, and there is no uniform standard. However, if you are new to a winch, there are some general principles to follow.

For example, when you hook up the low-range 4WD and try various driving methods, even using the differential lock (if you have one), plus digging with a shovel, using a sand board or something to pad the wheels If you can't find a suitable anchor point nearby, then you need to use a winch!

Self-help: tacit cooperation and adaptability

To use the winch to save yourself, you need to find a suitable anchor point for the winch. Usually, the best anchor point is: a hard-core off-road vehicle with a girder. Because it is strong and flexible enough (if conditions permit, it can be moved to the front of the electric ATV winch of the trapped car, which is the best location for the anchor point). Of course, if you are the only vehicle at the scene, you need to observe whether there are thick trees or rocks nearby as anchor points. In addition, please start the engine of the car with the winch. This is so that during rescue, the car engine can generate electricity for the car battery, so that it can provide sufficient power for the winch at all times!

If the car engine is not started, the winch will exhaust the original power in the car battery, and even damage the car battery, causing the car to fail to start, making it worse. With the following preparations, we can use the winch to rescue ourselves.

1. If the car is selected as the anchor point. Anchor cars need to apply the handbrake, preferably with the driver on the footbrake at all times. Place a triangular block or stone on the stressed wheel as a block. This is done to prevent the anchor car from being pulled over by the winch during the rescue.
2. The driver in the trapped vehicle should obey the command of the winch controller, engage in low-speed four-wheel drive, and cooperate to escape.
3. The winch operator should first click in the direction of the winch control handle in order to observe the situation of the trapped vehicle going out. Then, if you feel that the vehicle is struggling, reach the key point of rescue. Then change the pressing to continuous pressing, and at the same time, use gestures to remind the trapped people to step on the accelerator to cooperate and strive for success in one fell swoop. (Note: At this time, the winch is heavily loaded, try not to continuously press the handle for more than 30s.) If the rescue is not successful this time, in order to restore the battery power, it is recommended to let the winch rest for 5 minutes and then repeat the above operation until the trapped car can drive the car without external force and successfully escape.

Although, in many off-road rescue tools, the winch seems to be the one with high cost and low utilization. Some car owners who want to "play casually" will think that when a car is trapped, it can basically be solved by means of a sand board or a tow rope. Why install a winch?

However, the winch means you can explore more off-road fun. If you like rock climbing, mud puddles, and rainforests, you may even challenge no man's land. Then, at this time, it is necessary to install a winch on the car. After all, it is no exaggeration to say that the winch is the "last straw" when you are alone.