How Do I Attach My Synthetic Winch Rope to My Winch Drum?

If you just purchased a new TRE Synthetic Winch Rope to replace your worn out, kinked, frayed, and rusty steel winch cable, you may be wondering how it will attach to your winch drum. Most standard self-recovery winches use a screw on style drum attachment on either side of the drum flange. Many times these are in the form of a crimped on electrical lug, a pressed aluminum tube, or a crimped terminal in the case of steel cable. While the drum attachment screw should never see a load, these inferior style winch rope drum attachments leave a lot to be desired. Also, very few, if any synthetic winch rope resellers include the necessary hardware to help finish off your installation! You can damage your winch if you use an attachment screw that is too long!

 

 

pressed aluminum tube
Inferior style winch rope attachments: pressed aluminum tube
Cable drum attachment
Standard Cable Drum Attachment
crimped on electrical lug
Inferior style drum attachment: crimped on electrical lug

What is Special about Tactical Recovery Equipment Drum Attachment?

Our unique drum attachment design is secured to the winch rope by sliding over the tail end of the rope. It is then locked in place by pushing a 7″ to 8″ length of the rope tail through the braided ropes center. Once attached, it cannot be removed unless you physically pull the tail lock out, unlike all of the previously mentioned styles of drum attachments. The reason for the short length of tail stick-out is to lay across the width of the winch drum surface. This enables the first layer of spooled winch rope to bed and grip the tail which creates the strongest drum attachment! The T.R.E. Drum Attachment is laser cut from 12 Gauge Grade 304 Stainless Steel. They are then media tumbled to remove any sharp edges. Our Drum Attachment comes pre-installed on our new synthetic winch ropes AND includes the hardware to fit most winch drums. We include a correct length metric M6 screw, a SAE 1/4-20 thread screw, and a 5/32″ Hex Allen key tool to help ease your installation. We also have the Drum Attachment with hardware available separately if your current rope doesn’t have one, or if you simply want to upgrade how your current winch rope attaches!