Since I bought my winch, I was going to replace the wire cable with a synthetic rope but after reading this article, I think I'll wait until I become more familiar with it.

Here's the article...

SYNTHETIC WINCH ROPES

The use of non-wire ropes is a fast growing trend amongst off-roaders. They were originally employed for safety reasons, on the basis that when they broke their low mass caused them to drop to the ground, rather that take your hand off. Other attributes are that they are easier to handle, possible to repair by splicing, when they break and the 10kg or so weight saving on front overhang meant that had less of an effect on the vehicles handling, compared to the heavier wire rope. However, there are a few disadvantages.

They are quite expensive, costing about 3-4 times that of one of our wire ropes.
They cut easily and generally have poor resistance to abrasion.
They are sensitive to heat, with deterioration begining at just 60C and can even melt with excesssive drum heat or friction.
Under extreme loads they can generate even massive side loads. I.e. up to 55 tonnes from a 4.5 tonne pull.
Now the problem of cost is a personal one, you pays your money and makes your choice, but points 2, 3 and 4 can be avoided by careful and correct winch practice.
Change the roller fairlead to a "hawse" type, as the frame of the roller fairlead can cut the rope. Then protect the rope from sharp or rough objects at all times.
If you have a planetary type electric winch drum heat is your problem, however, the H12 produces virtually no drum heat as the motor runs cooler and importantly braking is carried out remotely at the control valve. Correct spooling, as described below will help prevent frictional heat.
To avoid the "log-splitting" effect and the consequential jamming, friction and excessive side load problems, avaoid spooling the drum neatly and in a parallel fashion, as is recommended for wire ropes. The first layer should be put on under load (around 500kg) to capstan it on to the drum, all subsequent layers should be fed on tightly in a criss-cross manner so that each layer is at an angle of about 30 degrees to the layer below. This will prevent the upper layer from finding their way to the centre of the drum through the upper layers.
The effect of this rough spooling is that the drum will be filled more easily, so for the H12 we recommend 27 metres of 3/8* diameter rope (either 9 of 10mm if the rope is metric) and spliced 4 times, with a proper taper lead.

If you are just learning to winch, my advice would be to start with a wire rope and change to synthetic when you are confident you know what you are doing. I have seen people wreck a 200 rope on their very first pull, a wire rope is much more forgiving, more difficult to damage and cheaper to replace.

Anyone with opinions on this? For instance, the bit about weaving the rope back and forth at a 30 degree angle so not to let it pull to the cneter.

Mark

Come on Mark, that reads more like it's from an ad than an article. Then again, the spelling and grammer are so bad as to make one think it's written by a 12 yr old.

I think the part about losing a hand with the wire cable is reason enough for me to use synthetic.

Ken,

I agree, at first I thought it was more of a commercial but it's a website that sells stuff for winches.... winches, ropes, wire cables, etc, etc... and since they sell both, I couldn't figure out why they would try to discourage one product or another.

I guess I should have clarified about what I thought was interesting... that being the last thing I wrote about weaving a rope back and forth at a 30 degree angle. I guess the reason I was concerned about that is because if that's true, you obviously can't roll on as much rope thus shortening your length (something NO guy wants...lol)

I copied and pasted the whole thing, I was more interested in my original comment.

Mark

Some real beginner questions:

1. What's the best way to put the synthetic rope under load when putting it on the drum?

2. How do you get the rope to go onto the drum evenly without getting your hands near the drum and risk losing fingers.

3. What weight synthetic rope should someone buy to replace the wire on an H2? The ropes come in several weights. I have a Warn 9500 lb winch.

Thanks,

George SSSS

Paragon:

Thanks for the outstanding, practical advice.

George SSSS

Well, number 1 wasn't very complete. I put the truck in Neutral when I do this.

Also, invariably, you will have to stop and correct the steering angle or you will get really frustrated trying to keep it spooling the way you want.

I like the cross-hatched idea and it would be good practice to use that method every time. I've had mine bind down into the lower layers by slipping between.

The synthetic line is great! no cuts on your hands if you forget your gloves for some reason.

Also, you can store a spare line in your recovery kit, cable you really can't without it taking way too much room or ending up all over the place.

More good advice.
Thanks guys.

George SSSS

Damn, I knew I should have painted those floor liners "pink" before I sent them out http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Pink-Princess-Girl-Car-T...temZ8047238098QQrdZ1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TWEETY-BIRD-PINK-FLOWER-...temZ8048572100QQrdZ1

Np...It's a house-hold joke now anyways.