Installing a winch rope is actually pretty easy, though you do need to spend a little time on the task to do it right. The first thing to do is to remove and discard any rope that is already on the drum. Don’t try to recycle any old lengths of rope, just get rid of them!
Secondly most winch cables will come with a small eye-let at one end. This will be attached to the locking mechanism inside the winch drum. It tethers the winch rope to the drum, though if you ever get to the point that the rope is being held on with this device then you are in trouble!
Once connected, the next thing to do is to get the rope wound onto the winch drum. This is where it really pays to spend a little time getting the job done right. Some winches will have a mechanism mounted to the front to help the rope to load evenly across the drum.
If your winch has one of these, thread the rope through it before you start to wind. If not then you will need to manually feed the rope from one side of the drum to the next, ensuring the rope is loaded up evenly across the drum.