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[Tim Scully]

a winch can be friend and foe. Most people take them for granted and that is what will get you hurt.

A few points:

I always load my new winch cable and let it stretch for several hours. This allows the cable to twist together and could remove any memory from its unloaded state.

I try to do this on a hill so the weight of the vehicle increases the load as I spool it in, some people add in some p=brake to add more load.
Properly spooling the winch is essential. If you put a load on the drum of the winch and the cable isn't spooled on tightly and properly you could damage the cable permanently on the first use of it. This leads to freys in the cable and flattened strands of the wire, weakening the cable.

It is best for the winch to remove a greater portion of the cable from the drum when recovering something that is heavy laden. I typically like to get down to the last layer on the drum, leaving at least 5-10 wraps on the drum.

Most people think that the cable or line is destroyed when you get a flat spot on it or a frey. It is weakened but not always destroyed. I typically unspool my winch after some hard use, attach it to the uphill tree, and load it up. wearing good leather gloves, I inspect the length of the cable. If I find a flat spot I use a 2x6 that is approx 16 inches and I use a hammer to softly tap the cable against the wood to help it assume its original roundedness(is that a word). If there are any freys or wires sticking out I will try to reshape them or break them off so they don't stick out possibly catching my hand or clothing during recovery/respool

I am pretty anal about how I use my winch and will stop several times during a recovery to respool it so the cable isn't laying over itself and potentially causing damage.

Lots to winches this bearly scratches the surface. Warn and others have great safety infomation on there sites to help as well. I think United 4wd also has some good tips for safety when winching.