Keep Your ATV Winch in Tip-Top Condition With These Tips

A winch or tow hitch is an essential part of your ATV or golf cart, especially if you use it for heavy-duty work in landscaping, hunting, fishing, or off-road work around the farm.

Winches also come in handy for those who like to take their ATVs out to one of many ATV-friendly parks in South Carolina. Should you end up stuck in the mud, a good winch can get you out in no time.

For such a hard-working addition to an ATV, a winch doesn’t get a lot of attention or require much maintenance. Once it’s done the job, the cable is reeled back in, and the winch ends up overlooked. There are a few things you can do to make sure your ATV’s winch remains in tip-top condition and on-hand to help when you need it.

1. Wind the Winch Carefully

After you’ve used your winch a few times, you may start to notice the cable winding back up at a slight angle, leading to a ‘crooked’ look.

Allowing the cable to remain crooked will eventually damage the winch and make it less effective over time. Fix this issue by simply pulling the cable off until almost completely unwrapped, and then very carefully and slowly wind it back on correctly, taking great care to ensure that the cables line up with one another.

2. Check the Connections

A winch operates by pulling power from your ATV’s battery, and if it starts to have issues, the battery connections are the first thing to check.

Make sure the cables that attach your winch to the battery are secure and totally clean, so that the power source is uninterrupted. Since bad connections can also damage your solenoids, you’ll also help keep the parts inside your ATV in great shape, too.

3. Fraying Cables Need Replaced

Even the strongest steel cable will eventually begin to fray. Frayed cables can pick up unwanted debris, pulling it into the winch drum and damaging the whole thing even further — plus, you may find yourself subject to cuts and pricks on your fingers from frayed lines.

You’ll need to replace the cable entirely once the steel lines fray.

Need an ATV Customization That Gets the Job Done?

At Go With Garrett’s Golf Cars and Specialty Vehicles, we don’t just sell new and preowned golf carts and ATVs — we provide the service and repair and customizations needed to ensure that the vehicle you bring home is exactly what you’ve been searching for. Reach us by phone at (864) 862 7709 for Greenville, (803) 407 2687 for Columbia, (843) 881 8894 for Charleston, or contact us online at any time.

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