Winch cables

[North Country Tough]

Forever now I have had winches on just about everything,gettin old, gettin weak,I go thru alot of cable,it gets broke,frayed,twisted and unusable.And once again the winch on my Avenger is in need,now I see they are using a fiber of some kind winch rope for lack of a better word,i was wandering around a place in Sudbury Ont today and seen a package from warn containing a "rope" cable couldn't see a tensile strength marked anywhere but the price tag made me put it back on the shelf before anyone thought that I could afford it somewhere around a hundred and a bunch of change,what is the deal are these things that good I need some feedback before i lay grocery money out for a replacement cable "rope".Cheers NCT

[thebuggyman1]

I love the synthetic rope. It is made from a material that is strong like Kevlar, I think the brand name is dyneema. The rope is stronger than steel, but subject to abrasion/cutting. You will need to change the fairlead to an aluminum one and use a rubber stopper to keep it from damage(I'm using 2). The cables come with a 6 foot (2 meter) sheath that you can slide down it in case it will rub on a rock or something similar. Check Ebay, there are cheaper brands of them, but I've heard they don't get the UV protection applied that the Warn ones do. Cheaper=cheaper. The other complaint I've heard is they can freeze when wet in the winter.

[msafi65]

The rope is great stuff and floats well. Had it on several machines for years now. Spendy but nice to use but manufactures don't want roller fair lead. Not sure why had a warn with rope from factory with roller fairlead in the box.

[JohnF]

There are also plastic fairleads or if you already have a roller fairlead you can replace the steel rollers with UHMW rollers made of tube.

The dyneema rope is safer than steel rope too. It does not stretch and therefore does not store a great deal of energy. When it breaks it mostly falls to the ground.

They use this kind of rope on cranes now and in the maritime environment.

[North Country Tough]

Great feedback fellas and thanks,the only thing that sticks in my mind is Buggyman,s comment as to freezing up,this could possibly be a issue as the winch is mostly tasked with wintertime work plow, etc,and the machine sits outdoors most of the time sorta covered and in temps from -40 to +38 in the winter,I reverse the wind on the spool in the winter to spool off the top for the snowplow it save,s the cable from a sharp bend,but it would suck if the rope was fused together with ice something I have never dealt with on cable,What ya think anyone with that experience.Cheers NCT

[rcn11thacr]

Cant speak to the frozen part since i live in sunny florida...

With that said, i have the rope on mine also. Really like the fact that i dont have to worry about getting slapped in the face with a cable if it breaks. As a suggestion, you could take a waterproof bag to cover the winch when not in use? I do the same for mine just to keep the sun off mine and all the sticks, leaves, etc out of the winch. I dont see any reason why it wouldnt do the same in your case

[Deedeelin1]

b

[Rock Doctor]

My 2 cents. When I see tow trucks pulling out big rigs with synthetic rope, when I see big cranes on top of buildings lifting concrete to pour, using synthetic rope, then I will change to synthetic rope. That has not happened. If synthetic rope is so good and strong, forget the cost of it being more expensive, why hasn't that happened. Just my 2 cents. 1 vote for steel cable.

Synthetic Hoist Rope the New Wire Rope |

Synthetic Winch Lines for Tow Trucks, Wreckers, Carriers




RD

[Deedeelin1]

B

[Buzz]

something to consider, it seems like you'll frequently need a longer reach that the drum on your winch can provide. In that case, additional rope is what is used usually. I definitely would not carry extra cable in this case when rope does the trick. You're only as strong as your weakest link, and we've never had problems with rope. There are some fine choices in rope nowadays. Also, synthetic line is so much easier to work worth and has no strands that can stab you. I always have a snatch block and a shackle that the winch runs to, and then nice long coil of rope to really reach out and find a more convenient anchor if need be.
Hard to vote against rope. We never use cable or cable come-alongs on the jetboats either. Rope and rope versions it is. Always works and much easier to repair.

or...just run tracks...you knew that was coming

[Deedeelin1]

b

[Buzz]

as long as you have something you're good to go lol

[rcn11thacr]

Considering rope is and has been used with tug boats for some time moving large container ships and many other things being moved by tug etc...i'm not too concerned about the rope being the weak link.

[riotwarrior]

all things equal, a quality synthetic WINCH line compared to a wire or steel winch line of same diameter, the synthetic will always be stronger and safer, however it's also far more abrasion susceptable.

Our winch lines being 3/16 or 1/4 there isn't much to abraid prior to KA SNAP..

JM2CW

Oh the winch for my truck a 10K PTO takes 250' of 1/2" line and in synthetic I save considerable weight, and safer and much stronger....albeit at about 4-5 times the price ....

[scott8x8]

Great points to consider