Using some rope, tie the rope of the front stake to the second stake at ground level, then the same again between the second and third stakes. The flat of the T-section always faces the load.

Using a Snatch Block

With an observer standing to one side of the ground anchors, take the strain up on the wire rope and get back into the vehicle. Try winching only at first, which will tend to pull your vehicle up and on top of the mud. Doing this will help lift the axles clear of the ground.

However, sometimes, through necessity, you have to winch and drive to take the strain off the winch. You will have to balance the revs of the engine with the speed of the wheels. Don't get carried away as 4000rpm will not give you any extra amps over 2000rpm but it will certainly dig you further into the ground which will ensure you get even more stuck!

If you are that stuck, now is the time to get that snatch block out, but this time you are going to use it for a double line pull. People often think that using a snatch block doubles the pull of the winch. This is not quite true. If this was the case, and the snatch block doubled the pull of, say, a 9000lb winch, I would hate to be hearing what the chassis members are saying to themselves!

In reality, the use of a snatch block in a double line pull situation ensures that the winch draws only about half its normal current draw at any particular line pull. Therefore, even allowing for a slight loss of efficiency when using a pulley block you will reduce the current draw by nearly half.

Considering you are very reliant on your battery set-up and alternator, I can assure you that if you have a lot of heavy winching to do, using a snatch block is going to ensure you can winch much longer than you could without one.

Right: back to our scenario of being very well stuck in a boggy piece of ground. Your snatch block of course halves your available length of wire rope, which gives you a maximum of only about 46ft (14m) reach, allowing for the first few turns of rope on the drum. This is where another accessory comes in useful, in the shape of an extension wire rope.

When extending the reach of a winch, always be careful, as using any old bit of tow rope, tow strap or single length of webbing stop could build in a fuse which could let go at any time - with disastrous results, especially with shackles in between. You have been warned!

If a load is obviously very high, hang an old coat or heavy blanket over the wire rope to deaden a flying end should the worst happen.

Getting in a Strop

Quite often when your vehicle sinks in a bog you are going to need every trick in the book to get you out. Take up the tension first on the wire rope, ensuring of course those first few turns are laid neatly and tightly together or that every layer built up on the previous layer gives a flat drum type surface with no gaps in it.

While keeping an eye on your observer standing to one side of the ground anchor, start winching in anger. If the vehicle barely moves forward, you could have a problem! Never let your winch reach a 'stall' situation. By that I mean let the drum come to a halt while your finger is still on the button because if you do, sure as eggs are eggs, you will burn out your winch motor, leaving you not only stranded in the mud, but much poorer, too. When you burn out a motor, you blow the segments out of the armature commutator, which in turn rips out the brush holder unit.

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(c)Goodwinch Limited 2006