Atv snowplows are not nice, as most of us know, to steel cable on our winches. All of that weight working back and forth on the same 8" of cable begins to break the cable down/apart, it starts to fray, and eventually breaks the cable. So then you need some clamps and 1/4" ratchet to repair and get going again.
The new synthetic rope, while man’s gift to those of us who use the winch alot for riding, really isn’t upto par for atv snowplow lifting. Heat kills these ropes, and with all the weight of the plow, or weight of plow filled with snow in a bank, all that lifting pressure on the rope sliding over the hawse opening or roller places alot of friction on that contact point, which turns to heat, which breaks down the rope and eventually breaks it. Nice thing is a simple pocket knife gets you on your way again when it breaks, but breaking winch line while plowing is no fun, and even less fun if plowing either steel or rope breaks it down, but doesn’t snap until your stuck and trying to recover your atv or your buddy…adds insult to injury so to speak.
Alot of us know using a 2" strap is the best scenerio, wide distribution of weight across the strap and so long as the hawse or the roller are in great shape, it will last for seasons without issue.
That being said, this is how to retain you winch use for times your not plowing and decide to drift bust, all because some guys actually unspool the rope/cable off their winch and remove it completely and just install a chunk of strap for plow duties. I don’t like that since mines a worker, but also a toy, so quick change over is my preference.
I cut a good 4′ chunk of 2" strap (boat winch trailer strap or in this case, I used a 6’×2" wide lifting sling cut to about 4′. Frees pool your winch and pull out about 5′ of rope, then reengage winch selector from freespool to engaged. Match the end of the strap to the end of the winch hook.
I’ll then grab hook end and strap end, and walk back the strap to keep them approximately the same length to find where I need to attach strap to the winch line. Be sure to put strap under the rope so strap will be in contact with the roller or hawse and not the rope, the rope at this point is just along for the ride. Now I just fold 1 corner of the strap end over the rope, then fold the opposit strap corner over that previously folded strap corner, then I use electrical tape to keep the strap folded onto itself and wrap with tape out onto the winch rope to temporarily tack it into position
At this point, I’ll lightly hold the strap/rope combo and begin to reel it back onto the winch spool. Once it’s on the spool and has a few wrap it’ll hold itself strongly and you can really put some tension on it for final reeling in of rope/strap.
Last winters setup but couldn’t find my strap, prolly find it tomorrow
Then your free to lift your plow to check your handy work
Now the best part, when your done working and want to have fun in the white stuff but still want to have a winch just in case, unspool rope, remove electrical tape/strap, reel.back in, have fun. Took longer to make this post than it does to do this, take about 5minutes total to strap up or about 1 minure to remove.
