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Synthetic Winch Rope


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I have Amsteel Blue 5/16" synthetic rope on my Warn M8 8000 lb winch.  Bit of overkill with break strength of over 13,000 lbs.  I went with Amsteel because known reliable brand.  Now just browsing Amazon I'm seeing numerous companies manufacturing synthetic winch ropes with Dyneema (the polymer which is the strength of this rope) for half the price of Amsteel.  Anyone have any experience with any of these "off brands" and would you trust them?

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28 minutes ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:

If it's a life or death, then Amsteel wins, for winching your car up with someone inside ready to hit the brakes, then the lower price would probably work.  But ask David (Georgia/Hybrid) first....

After reading about the ramp breaking by a poster, no one will be in the car winching up or down.  I plan on using my replaced rope as a second emergency rope attached to the car in case the winch rope were to break.  That way it would roll down the ramp but would stop with the second rope.

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Isn't Dynema the chemical name ,like 'kevlar', amsteel is a manufacturers branding?

Samson or New england ropes are the more popular companies with sailors

 

spend time on marine/sailing forums  they are the rope guys, or maybe the commercial tugboat people.

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Oh I just remembered - knots reduce the line strength by 50%(Some knots are better then others) .If you need to maximize loading learn to 'splice' ,U tube has videos.

Also the sheave diameter of the pulley(on our clearance arm) is critical, it is expressed in multiples of rope diameter.Thats why a bigger rope going over a small sheave is actually weaker in the long run.

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1 hour ago, hone eagle said:

Isn't Dynema the chemical name ,like 'kevlar', amsteel is a manufacturers branding?

Samson or New england ropes are the more popular companies with sailors

 

spend time on marine/sailing forums  they are the rope guys, or maybe the commercial tugboat people.

Ralf,

Yes Dyneema is a patent name for the polymer fiber and Amsteel is a manufacturer of the ropes.  Will check some marine sites.  5/16" Amsteel 75' is $200.  Like I said Amazon has some names I wasn't familiar with for half the price for same size and length.  Said it was made with Dyneema, but I'm always wary of no name manufacturers unless someone has experience with that brand.  Kind of like knowing Goodyear tires but hearing of Sailun for half the price.

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Bed Build by "JW Morgan's Custom Welding"

2017 DRV 39DBRS3

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4 minutes ago, J-T said:

Best if Amsteel is kept clean.  Sand and/or storing it on a rusty winch drum is not good for it.....sharp particles will wear the core of rope out.

 

Yep, try to clean my winch and rope periodically.

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Carl

Myself when it comes time to replace the wire I will look into the anchor / dock rope .

Modern synthetics are designed to not stretch whatsoever ,high performance sailing is not what I need ,I want the shock absorbing characteristics of dock/anchor line ,also meant to be exposed to sunlight for years.I understand it might be too big in diameter however.

A good line for us will be a synthetic with a dacron cover , what sailors call halyards- resist sun and abrasion and easy to splice, which retains most of the line strength.If you knot it research the most appropriate knot, each manufacturer has a recommendation.

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Ralf,

I've watched the video on repair and weaving of synthetic rope.  Pretty fascinating.  Thanks for the suggestions.

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5/16 Dacron- 5/16” rope        2600 pounds                 1770 pounds                         black        double braid

http://www.kf7p.com/KF7P/Dacron_Rope.html

Dacron is a Brand name like Amsteel, but there are enough other manufacturers to find decent pricing.

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New England ropes.  More than you ever wanted to know about ropes.  Also Rock & Ice magazine has numerous tests of knots and ropes.  35 years of climbing has taught me "live to tell" are words to live by.

"There are No Experts, Do the Math!"

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5/16" Amsteel (or equivalent) breaking strength is 13,700 lbs.  Marine polyester only 2600-3000 lbs.  Climbing rope not much more.  Gonna bite the bullet and stay with winch rope.  Now back to the original question.  Anyone had experience with any of the off brand winch ropes?

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Carl,

You know that mine snapped and I also know of another couple that had their cable snap in the last couple of weeks. Mine right now has the Warn replacement cable but the next one that will go on the winch will be either Mile Marker Synthetic rope or Warn Spydura rope in a slightly larger size and the cable will be shortened to 40' from the original 50'. The problem is that the synthetic does not wind up evenly and gets pinched between to other wraps. That will flatten the rope and cause it to snap.

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I'll just keep driving on......

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8 hours ago, NoDirectionHome said:

FYI: At 22 degrees ramp angle your 2100 # Smart needs only 800 # pull. (as i remember)   Jus Say'in

This^ and use the biggest sheaves practical,tight turns make high tech rope break sooner then old fashioned dacron(low stretch) or nylon (high stretch).

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9 hours ago, NoDirectionHome said:

FYI: At 22 degrees ramp angle your 2100 # Smart needs only 800 # pull. (as i remember)   Jus Say'in

Understand.  Warn recommends 5/16" synthetic for my 8000# winch.  I know it's massive overkill with 13,000 # break strength.

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9 hours ago, J-T said:

If you are not looking for it to float :) then I've used Tech-12 instead of Amsteel.  Close to the same strength but 30%-40% less.

Breaking strengths are an average, not ultimate.

 

Thanks.  Will take a look.

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Bed Build by "JW Morgan's Custom Welding"

2017 DRV 39DBRS3

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"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first!"

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Carl

I don't know if this applies to synthetics but in the towing industry all hooks and wire rope have a working load limit.  It is usually about one third to one quarter of the breaking limit.  You can go up to that number endless times but continually go over and you start to fatigue the product and risk failure at any time.  So in my mind your rope is not overkill for the winch rating.  Mind you we are not doing overhead lifting.

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from the off-roading world here, like someone said, most winch rope fails are cuts and melting or sun. I prefer 3/8" or 7/16" line and shorter line on the winch spool. Make sure you have a smooth fairlead and not a roller fairlead, as it will cut the rope. When we competed in rock crawling competitions, we only used amsteel and masterpull rope. Customsplice.com is a great resource for Amsteel and will get you any custom length you need. Masterpull has very nice products as well.

https://customsplice.com/

http://www.masterpull.com/synthetic-winch-lines/

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12 minutes ago, lockmup68 said:

from the off-roading world here, like someone said, most winch rope fails are cuts and melting or sun. I prefer 3/8" or 7/16" line and shorter line on the winch spool. Make sure you have a smooth fairlead and not a roller fairlead, as it will cut the rope. When we competed in rock crawling competitions, we only used amsteel and masterpull rope. Customsplice.com is a great resource for Amsteel and will get you any custom length you need. Masterpull has very nice products as well.

https://customsplice.com/

http://www.masterpull.com/synthetic-winch-lines/

Thanks, I found both of those sites in my research.  Nice to know someone has experience with them.  I do have a smooth fairlead not a roller.  Appreciate the help.

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Not to beat a horse too much Carl ,but what is the radii of the fair lead? How many degrees of 'turn' are you making over what distance?The winch manufacturer is assuming a straight line pull.

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