MLO + Come Up Winch - Stocking Dealer

COMEUP Off-Road and Industrial winches use a patented cone style brake.  A cone brake is a type of drum brake except instead of wide circular friction surfaces that operate radially (like the drum brakes in an automobile), the surfaces are in the shape of a cone.  The cone brake consists of two parts, a cup and a cone.  One part is stationary and one rotates.  The rotating part is attached to the main input drive shaft from the motor.  One part is made out of steel and the other part is made from a friction brake material.  (See figure to the right)

There are several advantages to a cone style brake.  Since braking capacity depends on surface area and the force applied between the cup and the cone, the angled surface of the mating conical components is greater than an equivalent pair of flat or curved surfaces.  This allows for greater braking capacity in a smaller area.  The cone brake requires less surface pressure than an equivalent drum or disc brake to operate.  There is a natural wedging action between the cup and cone which offers quicker deceleration when the winch is stopped under load.  The friction surfaces also tend to mate more equally than an equivalent drum or disc brake.

The ComeUp cone brake is activated by a cam whose ramp places an increasing force that pushes the rotating tapered surfaces together based on the relative motion of a load trying to turn the gears in the gearbox backward versus the motor trying to pay out rope.  This action also happens when the motor is stopped after a winch-out operation.

Since the cam causes a greater force driving the cup and cone together when the difference between the rotational speed of the gearbox input and a load trying to “backdrive” the gearbox increases, the brake is considered proportional.  In other words, the greater the load being payed off the drum, the greater the actuating force on the brake; therefore, the greater the braking capacity.

Heat is generated when the frictional surface rotate against each other when the cup and cone are forced together.  The same thing happens to your drum and disc brakes on a truck or car. ComeUp designed the brake so that it is not coupled directly to or inside the rope drum spool.  Because the heat from the brake does not flow directly into the drum, the ComeUp drum will run cooler than other winches where the brake is located inside the drum.  Therefore, heat sensitive synthetic rope will not be subjected to the heat from the brake,  Winches that have a brake located inside the drum can reach high drum surface temperatures that can severely damage synthetic ropes.  The ComeUp brake is the better design for use with modern synthetic rope.