I just bought some new winchline at Alaska Rubber and Rigging
I got 125' of Aircraft Grade Galvanized cable, a hook, and a eye crimped on the winch end of the cable for just under $56. The cable is domestic 7x19 cable which is the same cable which originally came on the winch. I could have upgraded to an improved 6x26 cable (import though), but would have paid at least twice as much and had to wait a week.
They do stock the improved cable in 3/8" and larger sizes if you're in need of new winchline. The improved 3/8" was something like $0.84 per foot.
Man, the 125' is quite the improvement over the 77' of old cable that was on the drum.
Good to know as mine is fast approaching replacement.
Huh. :confused:
Never heard of anyone paying for wire rope before. either get it for free from someone who upgraded to synthetic, or buy the synthetic yourself.
I guess you got a good deal, at least.
I carry 90 ft of steel line as a trail spare these days. Now that I have synthetic, I am constantly reminded of the great Manchu winchfest.
naturalbornmudder Wrote:.... Now that I have synthetic, I am constantly reminded of the great Manchu winchfest.
And now that I dont' have a winch anymore, I am always asking people to tug me out of the muck. :troutslap:
actually I was thinking of the other manchu winchfest. The one with me and lawson with Kev and Jon coming to the rescue.
However since you brought it up...
I dont think that I will run a synthetic winchline. I dont feel that the benifits outway the costs :confused:
lighter weight, won't kink, won't cut your leg off when/if it snaps, more consistent pull capacity along the line due to lack of corrosivity and oxidation damage....
But if you can justify buying 3-4 steel lines for the cost of one synthetic line that will outlast all 4 steel lines...by all means.
I've seen someone die with a steel cable. Were they using safe winching techniques? No. Was it moving a vehicle, no. It was pulling a horse drawn wagon onto it's trailer. It was a 2500 lb ATV winch (those wagons aren't all that heavy) and there was no winch weight. The Winch was mounted on the trailer with a wired lead to the truck cab. The guy in the cab running the system literally lost his head. The cable went through both front and rear windows of the topper, both front and rear windows of the cab, and cut both front cab arms (that go along the windshield from the roof to hood level).
The guy we worked for switched to a nylon strap in his winch when we got home two days later.
It's worth the few extra bucks for a safer line. But that's my opinion.
I have no faith in the synthetic line at -40. That stuff might be great in the summer but plastic gets brittle when it is frozen. I watched wagonburners rope break on a very easy pull in the cold. I would have no problem running rope in Florida but not here. I'll stick with the wire and use good winch practices.
Flawed Wrote:I have no faith in the synthetic line at -40. That stuff might be great in the summer but plastic gets brittle when it is frozen. I watched wagonburners rope break on a very easy pull in the cold. I would have no problem running rope in Florida but not here. I'll stick with the wire and use good winch practices.
I have never seen synthetic fail in the cold, even at -40
x2 for good winch practices. I bought synthetic for me. Like Mark, I have seen first hand the result of poor winch practices, although the one I saw didnt result in death. Synthetic breaks, oh ****, I just got hit with a wet noodle; Steel breaks, oh ****! I just got a limb severed. No thanks brothers.
The only failure I have seen with a syn. winch line was on the Great Manchu winchfest Part 1. Lawson and I went out to run Manchu 2 at -20. No problems, until we got further into it, about half way through. The weather warmed up to an unseasonable say 10 above with a lot of sun. The hard pack we were driving on turned soft and all of the sudden we were winching 90 feet at a time
Lawson was in the lead and I was winching to his tow point on the back. We were winching in with his syn, and the line was too slippery on the drum and it ripped off of the tab.
We were dead in the water until Kev came out on a snow machine with spare parts and food.
Moral of the story is I always leave 10 to 12 wraps on the drum when I use syn now instead of the recommended 6.
Kev's really proved how good it was during the Repp road winchfest recovery. He made over 14 pulls that night, and on one of the last ones I accidentally pulled it out too far and pulled it out of the tab. We were able to tie it back on and it held no problem. Was it cold that day? No, but being the guy that pulled on that rope many times that day, I'm glad it wasn't cable, the rope is so much easier to pull out. IMO