Winch Maintenance and Service Safety

Content Source: 2020 RS1 Owner’s Manual (9930796 R02) > Winch Guide Chapter

IMPORTANT

The Owner's Manual for this vehicle contains warnings, instructions and other information you must read and fully understand before safely riding or performing maintenance on this vehicle.Always follow the warnings and instructions in Owner's Manual.

Click the CONTENTS link above for the Table Of Contents, or download a full PDF of the Owner Manual in the Owner Support area of Polaris.com

Winch Maintenance and Service Safety

WARNING

Improper or lack of winch maintenance and service could lead to SEVERE INJURY or DEATH. Always follow all winch instructions and warnings in this manual.

Always inspect your winch before each use. Inspect for worn or kinked winch cable. Also inspect for worn or loose parts including mounting hardware.
Permit your winch motor to cool down prior to servicing your winch.
Never work on your winch without first disconnecting the battery connections to prevent accidental activation of the winch.
For your safety, always replace POLARIS winch parts (including the cable) with genuine POLARIS replacement parts available at your authorized POLARIS dealer, or other qualified person.
Some winch models use wire rope as the winch cable. Other winches use a specially designed synthetic rope as the winch cable.
Never replace a synthetic-rope winch cable with a consumer-grade polymer rope such as can be purchased in a hardware store. Although they may look similar, they are NOT alike. A polymer rope not designed for winch use will stretch and store excessive energy when winching.

WARNING

Failure of a stretched rope under winching conditions will release all of the stored energy. This will increase the chances of SEVERE INJURY or DEATH.