Insert the operating handle onto the side lifting lever until the handle fully engages and swing it backwards and forwards to pull the rope through. As the load comes on, make sure the stuck vehicle's handbrake is off (you may laugh!) and perhaps in gear with wheels turning slowly to assist if necessary.

Stand with the side of your body next to the winch so that you push the handle forwards and away from you. At the end of that stroke, you pull the handle back to you. Operating the unit that way will ensure you don't twist your back.

To lower the load backwards, or to simply take the load off the wire rope so as to uncouple, move the operating handle to the lowering lever which protrudes through the top slot in the centre of the unit and 'work' the handle in the same way.

When winching is complete, open the jaws again by pulling back the release lever so as to pull all the wire rope back out through the unit. Finally unclip the release lever so as not to leave a load and hence weaken the 'jaw' springs. As a safety feature, you cannot release the load via the release lever, until the load is taken off.

With the Brano you can pull at any angle you like, on any secure point on an end or side of the vehicle. On a drum winch you must of course only pull in the cable square to the drum to avoid problems.

If you have a particularly heavy recovery and you just happen to have two of these hand winches within the group's equipment, then you could always consider using both simultaneously to halve the load on each. Or you could use a Superwinch swingaway snatch block to double up the wire rope and bring the hook back to the same anchoring point that the Brano is attached to.

Make sure your wire rope is always in good condition, not only for safety's sake, but also damaged wire rope will not 'run through' the 'jaws' of the Brano. To ensure that you get no kinks in the wire rope, when taking the rope off the carrier, drop the hook end to the ground and walk forward unrolling the rope. Simply dragging the wire rope off the side of the carrier will cause all sorts of problems of untwisting of the lay and kinking. You have been warned!

Index [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006