- 10,436
- 6,486
- 113
- Location
- Camp Wood/LC, TX
Any tricks to untangling this? Burn it off? Pry bars? The cable goes under a subsequent wrap. Thanks Army. On 916 drag winch, 45K.
-
Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!
Ugly Birdsnest on Winch
- Thread starter NDT
- Start date
- 2,096
- 646
- 113
- Location
- Orlando, FL
Hook it to a tree and drive away. Then look to see if the wire rope is damaged.
- 16,697
- 23,916
- 113
- Location
- Burgkunstadt, Germany
Or hook it to a large truck, and drive the truck away. But in anycase, that's about it. If damaged part is near the start of the cable, cut the damaged part off, and replace the end.
- 2,102
- 30
- 38
- Location
- Delta Junction, Alaska
That condition makes a good winch man shudder. Of course, a loosely wound winch is the cause when a heavier then usual pull is applied. A procedure that can cause a loose wound winch (that is hard to detect), is to do a "power-out" (as if letting down a load), but "power-out" too far. It will loosen everything/all wraps, but still look nice & even - then the next Guy comes along.....
IIRC, the TM says to not unwind with power but instead to drag the cable out. Is this why?
- 10,436
- 6,486
- 113
- Location
- Camp Wood/LC, TX
These DP hyd winches do not have freewheel out. The tangle is about 12' from the tailhook. I tried the unwind against a fixed object, that only tighened the knot. Someone here had new cables, does anyone remember who? I think this cable is hopeless.
Aussie Bloke
Well-known member
- 725
- 373
- 63
- Location
- Lost, out bush in OZ
G'day everyone,....
Drive up a hill/incline and attach cable to a fixed object, release brakes and let vehicle roll backwards while you unwind cable.
Once cable is fully unwound, let vehicle hang on the cable while you wind it back up!
Aussie.
Drive up a hill/incline and attach cable to a fixed object, release brakes and let vehicle roll backwards while you unwind cable.
Once cable is fully unwound, let vehicle hang on the cable while you wind it back up!
Aussie.
m109a2
Member
- 624
- 1
- 18
- Location
- lake charles la.
Hello NTD,Wow not good I know nothing about a 916 but I have worked on a winch or two if I was you i would spray a crap load of penetrating oil for a few days and lightly tap all over the bind with a mall after a few days try to pry without damage to the wire rope.Remember the more stress per surface area will cause a kink this will cause further problems.Al.
- 1,964
- 215
- 63
- Location
- Arizona
You have to try pretty hard to mess up that bad.
I would caution against securing the winch to something and driving away - This bypasses the winch's hydraulic bypass that prevents it from being damaged internally. I suspect that my winch was damaged from doing something like this. Or maybe dropping a loaded M870 trailer with enough cable slack so it doesn't quite reach the ground. Either way, I think the damage done to my winch was done by means other than winching stuff.
The input shaft of the winch is snapped/twisted into two pieces. The planetary is damaged also and these two pieces were *quite* expensive from DP Winch.
Perhaps you can cut the tail end of the cable just before it goes under the other wrap and hammer it through and then try to unwind it from that point. Or maybe you can get something underneath the tail just after it passes under the other wrap and pry it through. Maybe try to cut the line where it is over the tail.
I think it did take a lot of force to damage my winch, but I don't think I'd test it for what replacement wire rope costs vs a replacement winch or replacement parts. I suspect you want to replace the rope anyways.
I would caution against securing the winch to something and driving away - This bypasses the winch's hydraulic bypass that prevents it from being damaged internally. I suspect that my winch was damaged from doing something like this. Or maybe dropping a loaded M870 trailer with enough cable slack so it doesn't quite reach the ground. Either way, I think the damage done to my winch was done by means other than winching stuff.
The input shaft of the winch is snapped/twisted into two pieces. The planetary is damaged also and these two pieces were *quite* expensive from DP Winch.
Perhaps you can cut the tail end of the cable just before it goes under the other wrap and hammer it through and then try to unwind it from that point. Or maybe you can get something underneath the tail just after it passes under the other wrap and pry it through. Maybe try to cut the line where it is over the tail.
I think it did take a lot of force to damage my winch, but I don't think I'd test it for what replacement wire rope costs vs a replacement winch or replacement parts. I suspect you want to replace the rope anyways.
wrenchturner6238
Active member
- 325
- 29
- 28
- Location
- Beaver Oklahoma
[h=2]OD1984[/h]
This guy has new wire rope I am not sure he has it in the classifieds on here but I do know he had several spools. Send him a PM and he will get with you.
This guy has new wire rope I am not sure he has it in the classifieds on here but I do know he had several spools. Send him a PM and he will get with you.
- 18,539
- 5,834
- 113
N A S T Y !!!
Yet it still seems infinitely better than finding an Ugly Wench sitting on your Bird Nest.
Jus' Sayin'.
Carry on.
Yet it still seems infinitely better than finding an Ugly Wench sitting on your Bird Nest.
Jus' Sayin'.
Carry on.
wrenchturner6238
Active member
- 325
- 29
- 28
- Location
- Beaver Oklahoma
O crud he has wire rope for the front winch on a M939. My bad
red
Active member
- 1,988
- 25
- 38
- Location
- Eagle Mountain/Utah
The cable on my front winch was like that (my cable is trashed).
- 1,629
- 724
- 113
- Location
- Central NY
There's something else that has been dropped from the wreckers BII and 'use of' probably not taught any more.....
Marline Spikes
... may or may not damage cable, but at this point what else you gonna do?
and it won't do as much damage to surrounding (good) cable as hot cutting will.
Marline Spikes
... may or may not damage cable, but at this point what else you gonna do?
and it won't do as much damage to surrounding (good) cable as hot cutting will.
Last edited:
- 34,012
- 1,808
- 113
- Location
- GA Mountains
Some tension and some prybars, maybe a spud bar could help dislodge the kinks. Don't put too much tension if you are deploying prying agents. I would not be to critical of how this happened unless you know how it happened. You can't always control fleet angle and resources. This might be the result of a critical recovery.
Last edited:
- 2,657
- 2,180
- 113
- Location
- Sunman Indiana
Whatever you do, don't forget how much stored energy is on that big of a cable. Keep everything well clear, when you start cutting!
Think the only other option is to anchor the truck and pull with a much larger piece of equipment. However it will sound like a bomb going off and the shock load will likely damage the winch when you finally get finally get the cable to jump past itself...
M925A2 with dump hoist
Think the only other option is to anchor the truck and pull with a much larger piece of equipment. However it will sound like a bomb going off and the shock load will likely damage the winch when you finally get finally get the cable to jump past itself...
M925A2 with dump hoist
- 1,579
- 542
- 113
- Location
- Greenback, TN
There's another option. As pointed out by many, pulling on the birdcaged cable just makes the bundle tighter. Need to 'unwind' that tension somehow. That can sometimes be accomplished easily by winding another cable (smaller diameter is ok) around the drum backwards (repeat, backwards). Duct tape the starting end and then get plenty of turns on the drum, laid over the bad cable. Lots of lube is good, as is pounding on the bad cable with a big hammer. Important to use a hammer big enough to spread the blow, and upset the series of layers. Little hammers just dent cable. A wood buffer is good.
Lock the drum, then pull on this second cable tied off to immovable object, or use another truck to pull. Another winch is ideal. What this does is spins the cable bunch backwards on the drum, loosening the bind 'somewhere', but maybe not in the right place so you have to work it. Don't pull too far because any loose spots underneath will tend to kink. More pounding is good.
BTW, I have seen birdcages in winch drums with 25,000 feet of 1/2" cable on them (oilfield wireline). At $10 a foot we would spend days on the job if necessary to save the cable (with the dozing guy who over-ran the cable having to do all the heavy work!).
Bob
Lock the drum, then pull on this second cable tied off to immovable object, or use another truck to pull. Another winch is ideal. What this does is spins the cable bunch backwards on the drum, loosening the bind 'somewhere', but maybe not in the right place so you have to work it. Don't pull too far because any loose spots underneath will tend to kink. More pounding is good.
BTW, I have seen birdcages in winch drums with 25,000 feet of 1/2" cable on them (oilfield wireline). At $10 a foot we would spend days on the job if necessary to save the cable (with the dozing guy who over-ran the cable having to do all the heavy work!).
Bob
- 1,629
- 724
- 113
- Location
- Central NY
NB. Wrap an oily rag around free cable end before using grippy [Mole-] wrench.Start here then work slack back into drum to manipulate each wrap tangle. You don't have to thread the whole cable free end through - just enough to give you slack at the drum to chase the buried part.
Deleted "duh" comment on levelwind - I missed the finer points of the OP's post, namely the M#!!!
Last edited:
- 1,964
- 215
- 63
- Location
- Arizona
No level wind or tensioner on a M916...
- 1,063
- 11
- 0
- Location
- Warsaw, Indiana
You might be able to use an appropriate pry bar to pry on the cable just to the top of the wrap it goes under to try to get it to slide out from under it so you can get some slack to work with.
The way some of the other wraps of the cable look there is more damage to the cable than just being trapped under the one wrap. On the left the cable appears to be twisted such that the weaving is opened up. I also see possible damage elsewhere on other cable portions visible.
In other words, I think if you have too much trouble just cut it off and start with other cable. If you get serious at any time with the winch safety is the most important consideration. When cables snap, damage to nearby objects and possibly serious personal injury can happen regardless of what Ghost Busters said!
If you have a cable supply house close like we do in Ft. Wayne, IN they have good used cable taken off cranes and such that is in good shape but is taken off because they have to be changed out regularly by law regardless of wear. The prices are good. We always use wire core cable.
Regards Martin
The way some of the other wraps of the cable look there is more damage to the cable than just being trapped under the one wrap. On the left the cable appears to be twisted such that the weaving is opened up. I also see possible damage elsewhere on other cable portions visible.
In other words, I think if you have too much trouble just cut it off and start with other cable. If you get serious at any time with the winch safety is the most important consideration. When cables snap, damage to nearby objects and possibly serious personal injury can happen regardless of what Ghost Busters said!
If you have a cable supply house close like we do in Ft. Wayne, IN they have good used cable taken off cranes and such that is in good shape but is taken off because they have to be changed out regularly by law regardless of wear. The prices are good. We always use wire core cable.
Regards Martin