Winch Rope

I'm on my 4th rope and after three wire ropes, I went with 100' of 3/8" of the Amsteel synthetic rope at

which is about the best deal I have seen. Safer, won't fly back and kill/maim someone if something breaks, and the

3/8" synthetic has a 19.6K lb. breaking strength. It's a good rope, required in sanctioned rock crawling events and I highly recommend synthetic rope.

Jerry

jbjeep wrote:

They say "Caution! We recommend using only fairleads designed for use with ropes! Ordinary roller fairleads can snag and damage winch ropes!" What's the difference between the fairleads?

Probably product testing, more than anything else. Maybe a few minor alterations after the first round, to correct a problem of pinching the rope and snapping it right off. Most consumers have no idea, how important product testing is. They think that engineers can predict everything.

Earle

The difference in the roller fairleads were that they were made from delrin instead of metal... Considering how scratched a metal fairlead can get with cable going through it, I don't think it would be good for a rope to use the same fairlead without replacement... I think I'll stick with metal... I don't like their temperature limitations of 150F for the rope... I live in Houston and once you combine a 100+F day with the heat from the asphalt, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't get up near there during the day...

$79.95

Please note; Delrin = plastic

Isn't there an overheating issue with some winches using that rope?

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

if I'm not mistaken Amsteel rope has some sort of heat shield on the first so many feet... rope is so nice to use but I was told to be careful when winching in over rock, it can damage the rope... a lot of the guys in our club use it as will I next time I need to change.

Jeff

The heat issue doesn't exist for typical winching activities. Heat only builds up enough to damage the rope if you're using the brake to back down a steep obstacle, it doesn't happen during normal winching-in operations. The heat comes from the brake which on most winches, is inside the hub. It's not an issue at all for the Warn 8241 winch which uses a different type of brake.

So it's not ambient heat that hurts a synthetic rope, it's only when braking backwards down a hill that can cause a heat problem for synthetic ropes. So for normal winching, you can use synthetic without worry. Besides, if that were an issue for a few of you, you can buy a synthetic rope from Warn (but which is VERY expensive) that has its first 15-20 feet made of a heat resistant material.

The heat thing is such a non-issue that synthetic winch rope is required by sanctioned rock crawling competitions for all competitors, even in the desert when it's 110 degrees.

Jerry

Grumman-581 wrote:

Dave, they want you to avoid using standard a standard roller fair lead with synthetic rope because it can get caught in the corner and become damaged, or a steel hawse that has become damaged from wire rope so it might have sharp edges on it that can damage synthetic rope.

The usual choice for synthetic rope is nothing more than a polished aluminum hawse (fairlead). Fancy Delrin-coated roller fairleads are now available too. Avoid pure Delrin hawse-style fairleads as they can deflect under load and allow the rope to be dragged across the frame underneath.

Jerry

Dave Milne wrote:

Interesting, thanks, all of you !

Dave Milne, Scotland '91 Grand Wagoneer, '99 TJ

Straight from Warn this morning when I asked about using rope on my XD9000:

That is what I thought I read somewhere. I have the HS9000i and I have 'powered it out' in more ways than one and I certainly would not want to have that limit placed on my winching abilities.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

Another point scored for worm-drives.

Thank you all for your input. I ordered some Viking combo line from the

4x4rockshop yesterday. That an a new rope fairlead.