Winches - Cable vs Rope

[jet-6]

Bruce you should have bought one when i got those 4 sets, $380 each for "winchline" combo lines with fairlead, excel hooks, stainless crushproof thimbles, and HD sheathes

That included postage!

[turps]

I should have gotten onto that too. But I also should have brought from rockstomper when we where at 95c. Oh well shit happens.

[bundyrulz]

G'day All,

Sorry, just got home (12hr shifts).

Quality is great, I have the 3/8" rope on my 12,000lber. Had it hanging of it the other day at Wattos, up a descent rock climb as well.

As above, I have 2X 5/16" X 100', blue, Amsteel ropes. Each has a gal eyelet. $350.
1X heavy duty Hawse fairlead. $60. BTW they look great if painted satin black.

Bundyrulz

[GRPABT1]

If you were that worried about weight you shouldn't have put a 9500 pound whinch on the front of a sierra. Use cable for non competition duties IMO

I have seen more than one HImount stall out on a sierra.

If a perfectly good high mount winch is struggling to pull a sierra then I'd be more worried what's happening to the thin walled chassis that you are exerting that much stress on. Like I said, a 6500pounder will do the job and a snatch block can help. If it's competition then that's another matter and he probably doesn't have to ask.

[bogged]

Bruce you should have bought one when i got those 4 sets, $380 each for "winchline" combo lines with fairlead, excel hooks, stainless crushproof thimbles, and HD sheathes

That included postage!

yup, bargains always seem to come up when you got no cash...

[scratchedsafari]

If you were that worried about weight you shouldn't have put a 9500 pound whinch on the front of a sierra. Use cable for non competition duties IMO

agree.

30m of 8mm wire rope is about 7kg FFS. the weight issue is BS for recreational use. for comps where every second counts and the nav is doing several runs up steep, rough, slippery terrain, then yeah its hard enough work without any extra weight...

I've used my winch a fair bit over the years and the wire doesn't coil up when its spooled out.

seriously, who cares if it floats or not?

the safety issue is real though. but if you're sensible about it you shouldn't have any dramas. take your time doing the recovery to set it up properly. if its a difficult pull use a snatch block. always use dampers on each run of cable. stop regularly to keep the damper reasonably central on the rope. never cross a loaded wire. no people in the area etc.

the durability of wire rope is the big factor for recreational use. Its lower maintenance and will last just about forever. Abrasion isn't a big problem except on rock and its easy to carry a small offcut of timber to use if there is a rock ledge involved. and its less than 1/4 the price of synthetics.

[SIM79]

I like steel because its tough and very cheap compared to palsma rope.

[tarsuxs]

A few of the quicker boys at the outback challenge last year were using a very stiff rope, (nearly steel cable like stiffness) it seemed to be very good. On the multi winch stages they didn’t have any bird nesting tangles on the winch drum that a lot of the competitors had. I have no idea what it was or where to get it though