Fransgard winch drum problem

[dpalmer]

Hello,
This is such a great site!
I have a problem with my fransgard v-4000 winch. The winch line drum won't hold the cable anymore. I have never taken the winch appart so I don't know what the mechanism that holds the cable is suposed to look like or how it is suposed to work. My late father was always the person that worked on this winch. The steel that is on the inside of the drum is all mangled. I would like to cut it off and weld on whatever it needs but i can't really make out what it is suposed to look like. Does anyone have any pictures? How exactly do you fasten the cable to the drum? is there a clamp or ferrul or somthing that goes on the end? Or do you wrap it around the drum in a specific pattern to make a "knot"?

Thanks for any help,

Dylan

[thecfarm]

Welcome to the forum dpalmer.Can't really help you.I have a Norse.Do you have a dealer close by to look it up there?On my Norse there is a hole on the drum and a good sized set screw that holds the cable in place,there is no way that I could pull anything with the cable all the way out.I must keep a couple wraps on the drum at all times or I would pull the cable out of the drum.I think I know what you mean by the steel on  the inside of the drum.Sounds like it's kinda made to keep the cable close to the drum.Mine has it on the drum too.Hard one to explain.Mine is bent up,but it's purpose is there to do the job it was intendeded to do.

[bitternut]

Welcome Dylan. I also have the a Norse but I have looked at a few Fransgard winches and I am pretty sure that they attach the cable in the same manner as described by thecfarm. I am not sure what you are referring to about bent metal but I assume that they are guards to keep the cable from wrapping over the edge of the drum. Maybe you could post a picture of the drum and the bent metal pieces.

In my owners manual the instructions say to stretch out the length of cable and feed the tag end through the pulley and fasten to drum. The drum should have a hole that you can pass the cable through and clamp the end. Then you can hold the cable with a leather gloved hand to put some tension on the cable while you pull in a couple of wraps of cable around the drum. Then you pull the rest of the cable in by attaching the hook end to a solid object ( a tree ) and pull the tractor backwards with the winch. This will give you nice tight wraps of cable on the drum. If the cable is wrapped loosely on the drum it will pull down into the lower wraps when a load is applied and you will not be able to pull it out. Pulling the tractor up a gentle grade works the best. You can also take an oily rag to oil the cable while pulling it in. Just be careful of wires sticking out from the cable. They can be nasty.

Hope this will help you out for now. I would contact Fransgard and get the owners manual for the future. Maybe one of our members with a Frangard can help you out more.

[dpalmer]

thanks for the quick reply's.
The drum definatly does not have a hole in it. I have the whole assembly appart. The manual shows a "wedge" that somehow holds the cable. Other than that it is pretty vauge (sp). It does mention to leave a certain number of wraps on the drum.  Our dealer that we bought the winch from went out of buisness a couple years ago. I don't know if i can weld a piece of pipe in there then run the cable thru that and put a ferrule on the end of it. When I get this back together I am going to spray paint the end of the cable that is close to the drum so when we are pulling the cable out and are close to the end we will know it.  I will get a picture of it and post it up here.


Thanks again.

Dylan

[Ed_K]

Dylan,my manual shows a locking wedge that locks the rope to the side of the drum. You feed the rope thru a cut in the drum insert put the wedge in from opposite side and pull wire and wedge back till its tight. This on the v-2800 series

[dpalmer]

Ed,
Thanks for the help. My winch doesn't have a "slot" in the side. I have attached pictures of what the drum currently looks like. I tried to find a local dealer and i didn't have any luck. Is there someplace online i can buy the wedge? I will have to figure out what the drum is suposed to look like. I would liek to cut the current mess off and weld on new steel so everything is the way it is suposed to be.

Thanks,
Dylan

[Ed_K]

 I lost the wedge on mine the second time i pulled the cable out. What i did was run the cable thru the hole and put a cable clamp on the end and try to keep a couple of turns on the drum to keep from pulling the clamp off, which i've done too.

[dpalmer]

Thanks for the help. I can't figure out this image thing. I put an image in my photo gallery of the drum. But i don't know how to make it a part of the post.

Ed, do you think i can just cut the screwed up metal out then weld a piece of pipe to the drum. Then run the cable thru the pipe and then cable clamp it. ?

[beenthere]

Good pic (click on your pic in your gallery, then click on the line below it that says something like "Click to copy photo insertion code....." and then just paste (Ctrl-V) it into your message (or copy the image code highlighted under your pic and paste it in the message). Should say much the same under Help, and then photo tutorial.

As here:


Appears the bent metal shown is where the cable end was to be secured, but someone tried pulling something when the cable was all out, wrenching it loose and bending the metal. I think I would look at either making a new hole, and patching the old, or re-work the old hole to take the cable end. Or try the pipe.
From what is shown, the bent metal must be rough on the cable when it is wound on the drum.

[dpalmer]

beenthere,
Thanks for the directions. I think i am going to try to find a new wedge so i can figure out how big the new hole will need to be. Then weld somthing up.

Thanks for the help everyone!!

Dylan

[PineNut]

It has been a number of years since I worked with a large winch. But the ones we used had a slot in the drum. The cable went through the slot and the end went back through the slot. A wedge was placed in the loop and it was firmly seated. If you lost a wedge, it was simple to take a piece of steel and cut out another one. With a smaller winch like this one, you may be able to weld a rectangular loop on the side and loop the cable through it. Then place a wedge in the loop. If you should use this approach, make the rectangular loop so the cable will not hang up on the outside of it.

[Ed_K]

 Grind off all that old metal and weld a piece of 3/8 x 1" wide x 3" long on a 45 deg where the old one was. That was about what it looked like before the cable was riped out. Then do like everyone said and make a 3/8" thick wedge to put in the loop. Make sure that the end of cable is on the bottom against the drum.
If getting thru this is bad, wait till you go to put it all back together  . Have an extra pair of hands around to push the bolt back thru the sprocket,clutch plate, drum and takeup column. I had blue steam coming out from under mine before I figured it out.