Thinking of switching to synthetic winch line

[Johno753]

Picked up a winch which should work with the bumper I have, but the steel line on it is knackered. So what's everyone using ?

[Trevor]

I just switched to synthetic on my Disco. Getting rid of the roller fairlead gains me about 1" of approach angle...and an inch is important don'tcha know!

Still running cable on the Camel. No plans to change that a it's still in good shape.

[ugly_90]

Some winches might generate too much heat for a synthetic line? Which winch do you have?

[pechanec]

And steel still wins if you routinely abuse your winch line

Sent from my XP7700 using Tapatalk

[Red90]

If you are planning on doing a lot of vehicle recovery winching, do it.  It is so much easier to deal with.  Get at least 3/8".  Have a good tree strap, a few shackles, an extension line and a snatch block or two.

The downsides are the cost and it needs to be replaced much more often and you need to clean it.

If you are using the winch for "work", which involves pulling things to you, steel is a lot better.  If it will just sit on the winch and only get used once in a blue moon, use steel.  The synthetic gets damage from sun and dirt.

[Matt H]

I like the synthetic rope for the following reasons.

You save a lot of weight on the front of your 4WD with a synthetic rope. That makes life easier on the steering and suspension components.
 
It also doesn't stretch and hold tension like wire rope so if it fails it won't cut you in half.

Synthetic rope is stronger than wire for a given size. Like wire it can fail & break but can be spliced easily without loss of strength or significant length.

Another plus is it is much nicer to handle. When the small wire rope strands break they make incredibly sharp slivers that can puncher straight though your gloves.

Doesn't rust like wire can. Wire rope needs maintenance as well to remain serviceable.

It won't kink or birds-nest like wire.

It floats!

I like wire rope because it's cheap and more resistant to sunlight, heat & abrasion......that's about it.

I'd go synthetic if you can spare the extra $$$. Especially since good quality rope has come down in price in recent years.

My 2c.

[binch]

For the safety alone I much prefer the synthetic rope.

But John and Matt covered all the big points.   

Trevor-bubba......he doesn't care as long as the trail tune are good (and LOUD) ;D

[Trevor]

Trevor-bubba......he doesn't care as long as the trail tune are good (and LOUD) ;D

True dat!

[Johno753]

Ok looks like I should stick to a steel line for the amount of time I use it

[Red90]

A few good take aways.

- Keep everyone well clear of the path of the rope all of the time.
- Make sure the rope is the weakest item in the chain.  The last thing you want is a flying hook or shackle due to a connection failure.
- Synthetic stretches just as much as steel, so it is still dangerous.  The much lower mass results in less energy to cause damage though.
- Steel rope is really easy to cut when it pulls over hard objects.  Don't assume it is a lot tougher for dragging things.  Use a chain (much stronger than the cable) if you need to lay onto parts of the vehicle.

[binch]

That...was a great video!   I didn't realize the synthetics carried as much energy.    I always thought they stretched but didn't recoil as much.   But the steel cable, and steel shackles...those are just plan leathal!!!!

Good find john ;)

[Matt H]

Did they have a Winch blanket on the synthetic line? I've had a synthetic line fail on me and it didn't whip anything like that. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have wanted to get hit with it but it didn't react like the one on the video either. 

Not sure what the point of passing cables through, beside and over the top the vehicle was as it relates to a regular recovery situation but it certainly highlights the massive forces involved and carnage should anything get in the way. Very interesting video.

[Red90]

They wanted to show the damage when the hook hits the windshield and it was a way to force it that way. But the wire rope kept breaking as it rubbed on the vehicle despite having a sling that breaks at one tonne load at the hook end.

Earlier they showed that the winch blanket did nothing to stop the cable.  It might slow a hook though.

The breakage on the synthetic was a full load breakage on a new line so was a lot of load.

[Matt H]

Good point. Mine was a long way from being new when it failed so it would have taken less force I suppose.

[Red90]

The rule of thumb I use is the line should have a new breaking strength at least twice the stall rating of the winch. All rigging and attachment points should have a breaking strength at least four times the winch stall.  The working load stamped on proper lifting rigging is one fifth of breaking.

This ensures that if anything fails it is the line. And, as long as you are careful to keep the line clean and inspected, it should not break as long as your do not run it across something under load.

It also means you should never run anything smaller than 3/8" line on a truck winch.