WINCH GUIDE EXPERTISE - ANCRA CARGO

When choosing a winch for your trailer, there are several things you must consider.

- Do I want the winch permanently mounted?
- Do I need to remove the winch easily?
- Do I need a Standard or Ratcheting winch?
- Am I going to be using chains or straps?

Once these questions have been resolved, you should discover the appropriate winch that is right for your situation. 

Each winch consists of several separate parts which work together to give it its overall strength and lashing capacity.

WINCH PARTS EXPLAINED:

The Frame
The frame of the winch is essentially the body of the winch.
All the other components are housed inside the frame to make up the whole winch assembly.
Both Slide On and Clip On winches have the same frame with the  Clip On having extended legs for reasons below.

Pawl & Pawl Pin
The Pawl is the latch that locks the sprocket in place once the required tension is achieved.
The teeth of the sprocket are angled back toward the pawl.
Once the Pawl is engaged, the resistance against the Pawl locks the sprocket in place.
This maintains the required tension on the strap or chain. 
The Pawl Pin is the pin that attaches the Pawl to the frame.

Sprocket
The sprocket is the toothed wheel on the side of the frame that is wound around to create the required tension through the strap.
When the required tension is achieved, the Pawl falls between the teeth of the sprocket and locks it in place.
This may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer as to how many teeth they have.
The more teeth on a sprocket creates smaller increments of tension that are able to be achieved.

End Cap
The end cap is sometimes called The Boss and it is on the opposite side of the sprocket.
It is a cylinder that generally has 4 holes in it to accommodate a Winch Bar which is used to tighten the winch strap.
On a standard Boss winch, the winch bar is removed at the end of the downward stroke
and moved to the upper holes to continue tightening.

Ancra Cargo have taken this part of the winch to next level by Patenting the Silver-Cap Ratcheting Cap.
It allows the user to tighten the winch without removing the winch bar from the position within the Boss by having a ratcheting mechanism.

The Mandrel
Often called the Barrel, the Mandrel is the tube in the centre of a winch that the strap or chain is connected to.
This barrel rotates as the Boss is rotated and tightens the strap or chain. 
There are different variations from multiple manufacturers.

TYPES OF WINCHES EXPLAINED:

Permanently Mounted Winches

A Slide On Winch
is designed to be used in winch track or C channel that is fixed to the underside of the trailer or truck tray. Depending on the whereabouts that it is being mounted and what the tray is made of, Winch track can be both welded or bolted into place.

Once the track is installed, a Slide On Winch can be maneuvered into place within the track. Generally, the installer will allow a bit of room for the winch to travel from side to side for placement of the straps over the load. In many circumstances, some sort of stopper would be used to only allow the winch a certain distance to be moved within the track, thus restricting the position of loads to be secured.
This works well in a situation where the loads are often the same or similar sizes and therefore,
not much movement is required. If the general loads vary often in size, a larger area of
movement may be required.

Slide On winches are ideal for bitumen and highway driving as there is not the prevalence of
dirt and dust that can accumulate and clog the mechanism. Slide On winches can generally be
welded to headboards or tailgates for securement of gates or ply wood when not in use.
Gatekeeper winches are designed for exactly this purpose.

Removable Winches
A Clip On Winch has been designed to be mounted on the edge of a trailer or truck tray by hanging from the tie rail and combing rails on the trailer. The Clip On Winch has 2 protruding legs that use the tie & combing rails to lock into place. The legs have a concave section that goes around the tie rail and then press against the outside of the combing rail to secure it in place.
In environments where there is a high dust or dirt issue, Clip On Winches are easily removed to be cleaned and cleared of any dirt that accumulates on the winch mechanisms and therefore could jam the winch and render it ineffectual.

Standard & Ratcheting Winches
As well as the 2 types of basic winch designs outlined above, within those 2 groups there are sub groups.

Standard or Traditional Winches 
These winches have a traditional style of Boss on them. A winch bar is inserted into one of the series of holes in the Boss and rotated to tighten up the strap or chain. Once the downward motion of tightening has reached the bottom of the stroke, the winch bar is removed and replaced in one of the hole at the top of the Boss. This is repeated until the desired tension is reached. The Pawl will engage and keep the tension on the winch until it is released.
To release the tension on the winch, the winch bar is inserted back into the Boss and a small amount of tension is added so the Pawl can be removed from the Sprockets teeth.

Ratcheting Winch 
A Ratcheting Winch works the same as a traditional winch but has a Ratchet Boss. This allows the user to insert the winch bar into the hole in the Boss, but at the end of the downward stroke, the winch bar does not have to be removed and replaced. The ratcheting mechanism allows the user to simply reposition the winch bar into the upper position without removing it from the Boss.
Ancra patented the original Silver Cap Ratcheting Cap winch and have improved the mechanism over the years as well as streamlining the design.
To release a Ratcheting winch, the same process applies as the Traditional winch.

Winch Bars

Winch Bars are designed to be used with winches to tighten and release the tension on the winch. There are many different versions, styles and lengths of winch bars available to suit every user.

It is not recommended to use a length of “Reo Bar” or pipe as a substitute for a winch bar. It is also not recommended to use Gal Pipe or such as an extender for a winch bar. If you require more tension on a winch than a winch bar can give you, maybe you need to re-think what is required to lash the load.

Straps & Chain

Although not used as often, chain can be used with mainstream winches. Due to the high lashing capacity of chain products, most winches won’t be rated high enough to lash anything more than 6mm or 8mm chain.
The majority of winches being used are in conjunction with a winch strap. Ranging in sizes and lengths, there are many variations as to what combination you can use.

• Generally, a 50mm with a 2500kg Lashing Capacity replacement straps are commonly used in many lengths.
• 9 and 11 meters have become common lengths for strapping in the Australian trucking industry.
• For higher Lashing Capacity requirements, 75mm and 100mm straps may be required. 
  These will fit most winches.
• Generally, winches can hold 11 or 12 meters of strapping when wound up and not in use.
• Any length of strap can be used but not all lengths will wind onto the Mandrel completely.
• The limitation is the height between the frame and the Mandrel will only allow so much strap to be wound on. The remaining strap needs to be secured in other ways.
  
  For more information contact us on 1800 426 272