K4 Trailer, RV & Truck Accessories is a family-owned business, and we have been proudly serving customers since 1998. Our team wants to help you get the best results from your trailer, so we offer a wide range of accessories to let you customize and enhance it to suit your exact needs. One of the most popular types of accessories we offer is trailer winches, so we have put together this article to explain how they work.
What is a winch?
For those who aren’t familiar with the term, a winch is a machine that is used for hoisting or hauling heavy loads. Trailer winches typically consist of a rotating drum or spool, a cable, rope, or chain, and a hook.
How do trailer winches work?
Many other types of winches are attached to stationary points, but trailer winches are attached to the beds or walls of trailers, which means that they can be easily moved around to different locations. When you need to hoist or haul something, you can park the trailer, unspool the cable to make it long enough to reach the load, and attach the winch cable or chain to the load you need to move. Once the load is securely attached, reverse the direction of the winch’s spool to make the cable wind back up again. As the cable tightens, it will drag or lift the load toward where you want it to go. Tow trucks use trailer winches to move cars, and winches can also be used to move things like fallen trees and other heavy loads.
