It's unlikely that lifting a plow puts enough force on the cable to wedge it down between the spool and the edge of the frame. So in that application, about the only way I could see it happening is if you got so much slack in the cable that you ended up with a tangled bird's nest, threw a loop over, and the tangle provided enough drag to pull the cable down. Plus, typically when you are raising and lowering a plow, you are sitting right there and can see a problem before it becomes severe.
I'm not saying the 2500# winch is worthless. They are a great value if the power and speed suits your needs (especially if you use one of the coupons to get it at $50). You just have to be more careful to make sure it's spooling properly. You may run it dozens of times without a problem, but that one time that it doesn't quite spool back properly can be a real pain in the butt if the cable pulls down outside the spool. With the wireless remote that comes with these winches, there is more of a chance you will not be standing right by to see it happen and stop pulling in time to avoid the problem. HF Badlands 2500# winch is not the only one that shares this design. Northern Tool sells an
Ironton 2500# ATV winch of similar design that has the same problems. It just seems to be a feature of winches at that price point (I would not be surprised if these winches are made in some of the same Chinese factories).
This is far less likely to happen with the 3500# and larger Badlands winches. It's just a trade off: is it worth more $$ to the end user to avoid those problems (and get a bit more power and speed) or not. In some applications, it will make no difference.
