What is the primary action to prevent crushing, pinching, or diving of wire rope on a multi-layered winch drum?

Maintaining load tension on the rope is the primary action to prevent crushing, pinching, or diving of wire rope on a multi-layered winch drum. When tension is applied to the rope, it ensures that the wire wraps correctly and evenly around the drum. This proper alignment helps prevent the wires from crossing over each other, which can lead to wear, damage, or failure of the rope.

Without sufficient tension, the rope can loosen on the drum, causing it to stack improperly. This improper stacking can lead to operational issues such as crushing or pinching between layers or even creating a scenario where the rope dives into itself, which could ultimately result in catastrophic failure during a lift.

In contrast, simply increasing the weight on the winch does not guarantee that the wire rope will behave correctly on the drum, and using a single layer of wire rope may not be feasible in all scenarios, especially when the required lift exceeds the drum's capacity. Reducing speed during retraction may offer some safety but does not address the fundamental issue of maintaining rope tension that is critical for the effective operation of multi-layered winch systems.