Winch Rope

[N Hamelin]

Has anyone had any experience with plasma or poly winch rope? If yes, where did you get it and what did it cost? What are your thoughts about it?


Thanks, Neil

[DaveB]

No experience using it, but I've heard both good and bad. I saw a photo in one of the Rover mags from last year showing a melted plasma rope due to using a roller fairlead, which somehow got hot. The recommended fairlead is aluminum and just a slider, no rollers.

Also very expensive. You can expect to pay about 2-3 times the price for it. I found CanWest Wire Rope in Port Kells (200-9323-194th Street, Surrey, 882-0777) to be very reasonable, and they can install a rotating hook on your cable end when they swage the cable. they do alot of heavy industrial, like bridges and such, so they know what they're doing.

But, back to plasma... One of the primary manufacturers happens to be in Bellingham, Washington, though, so perhaps we should be checking them out... http://www.masterpull.com Masterpull also has a variety of special winch packages that include various protective wrappings.

Dave

[red90]

Yes, it is much nicer to use and generally much safer. The main down side is that is is easily damaged from abrasion. You need to be careful if dragging it. It is best to have an abrasion guard.

The two cheapest places to get it are:

http://www.rockstomper.com/catalog/recovery/ropes.htm

and

http://www.okoffroad.com/

Trust me that many people have tried to beat those prices buy purchasing in the country, but all have failed.

My suggestion is for 3/8" line for up to 9000 lbs and less and 7/16" up to 12000 lbs. This goes for steel and synthetic line.

[PaulC]

Hi Neil,

The synthetic winch line is a very good product, safe, light weight, stronger than wire rope of same dimensions.

Cons — expensive about $300.00 cdn for 100ft.
can be damaged by heat.

Pro’s — very light weight
very safe
can be sourced locally

Typical winch design such as Warn 9000’s etc, dissipate heat through the cable drum, its possible to burn the synthetic line under very heavy duty continuous winching. I’ve had the opportunity to work/play with synthetic line for about the last year, I’ll not go back to wire rope anytime soon. It can be damaged by heavy abrasion, just as wire rope can be, granted it’s more sensitive to abrasion, but not by much & is usually easily managed with a some kind of pad.

At the 2003 Jeep Jamboree, I saw a synthetic line snap (synthetic line doesn’t recoil like wire rope, once it snapped it just falls to the ground) during a single line pull trying to recover a huge jeep in extremely deep mud up hill etc. The synthetic line was very well used & abused before it snapped & I was astonished to see the operator simply tied the 2 broken ends in a knot & continued winching himself out.

I just spent the last 3 months working for Land Rover University during the LR3 launch in Québec.
I (the new guy) was one of about 13 driving instructors who among other things prep trails for these kinds of events. Most of the instructors are all ex-Camel Trophy winners, competitors…& almost all of them use synthetic winch line. And did we ever use this stuff hard, skidding trees, pulling huge boulders etc etc. Of course many of them are winching with Superwinch equipped vehicles which don’t dissipate heat through the drum. However even the Warn winches where equipped with synthetic line, it is just so much safer.

I do have a local contact I can put you in touch with. Its in Langley, they’ll make up what any length you want , expect to pay about $300.00 swaged, safety hook included for 100ft of 3/8.

PaulC

[N Hamelin]

Thank you for the response. It does sound like the synthetic is the way to go. The cost is the only thing holding me back. I had a hard enough time convincing the wife that I had, yet again, found a deal I'd be an idiot to pass on when it came to this winch in the first place.(she is beginning to become suspiscous of my incredible luck when it comes to once in a lifetime deals!) I may just be pushing my luck by telling her it's going to cost me another $300.00 before I can use it. Even though it is safer, my personal well being takes a back seat to her(our?) savings account balance!

Also thank you Dave for turning me on to Can West, $37.00 for 125' of 5/16 cable and $10.00 to swage the hook and terminal end on.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Neil.

[Green Giant]

Buy real winch rope,not this poly stuff,all it takes is a tarp,sand bag,or a jacket over real cable to deaden it if it breaks

later

Karl

[kRiS]

and if the steel cable is thick enough it will never break.

[PaulC]

and if the steel cable is thick enough it will never break.

Ok that sounds fine…the Kevlar reinforced poly winch rope I have been using is 2.5 to 3 times stronger than wire rope…so the wire rope may snap long before the poly rope does.

Another great thing about poly is… cabling in…in the end you want a nice tight wrap like with wire. But you can spool poly in, with very little care as to spooling up unevenly etc. Even if you load the line & pull trough a couple of wraps on the winch drum it won’t pinch the cable & make an instant weak spot as can happen with wire…but it still costs $300.00 :shock:

Did I mention it cost $300.00 :)

PaulC

[DaveB]

$300 ..................... $37


:roll: Hmmm, think I'll wait till someone is giving it out as a prize somewhere.

Dave

[PaulC]

That should sell a few tickets Dave. I'll be buying that's for sure.

[DaveB]

Ha, I wish.

Is one of your affiliates contributing it? :wink:

Dave

[PaulC]

Sorry…Not at this time, I do have one hanging in storage for next year…but they’ll probably notice it missing, when they don’t see its pretty purple winding on the winch. :o
My goody bag is pretty empty right now. :cry:

[DaveB]

No problem Paul. Just kidding you. You guys have been generous to us as a club.

Dave