New winch rope recommendations

[guruvetim]

Hi All,

I've decided that it's probably high time I replaced the 25yr old steel cable on my OEM winch with a synthetic rope.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a decent rope and advise what length and diameter would be the best fit.

Not looking to spend a crazy amount of money, the winch has only been used 3 times since 1998 and always to rescue others, but I don't want to compromise safety.

Cheers

 

[Gary Stockton]

Dyneema synthetic if you can get it! Depends on the winch but I think you can fit 30m of 11mm dyneema on a 9.5 winch.

 

[Gr8Yota]

There are lots of synthetic ropes for sale on eBay but most will come out of China with no certification. Likewise I recall asking David Bowyer of Goodwinch for his certification and was told “he sometimes tied a length to the back of the Range Rover and couldn’t break it” !!! (Not sure how the MoD would have felt if I’d put that down on the tech docs!)

So I recommend buying rope with certification or at least a known brand. The Marlow rope I had however was super expensive, about £20 per m retail! You need to replace with same length you have or shorter, average winch has 80ft /25m of rope On the drum. Diameter will depend on the rope you buy but typically 9mm for a 9.5-1200lbs winch (min break of this will be 8-10,000kgs depending on specification.

There are still some advantages of running steel rope though, not least that the age should not matter too much as it does not degrade like synthetic. It would be worth pulling it off and inspecting for damage and applying a layer of oil (you can buy specific oil) if it isn’t super rusted up and it will continue to be more than serviceable.

 

[guruvetim]

Dyneema synthetic if you can get it! Depends on the winch but I think you can fit 30m of 11mm dyneema on a 9.5 winch.

Thanks Gary

 

[Bmonck]

There are lots of synthetic ropes for sale on eBay but most will come out of China with no certification. Likewise I recall asking David Bowyer of Goodwinch for his certification and was told “he sometimes tied a length to the back of the Range Rover and couldn’t break it” !!! (Not sure how the MoD would have felt if I’d put that down on the tech docs!)

So I recommend buying rope with certification or at least a known brand. The Marlow rope I had however was super expensive, about £20 per m retail! You need to replace with same length you have or shorter, average winch has 80ft /25m of rope On the drum. Diameter will depend on the rope you buy but typically 9mm for a 9.5-1200lbs winch (min break of this will be 8-10,000kgs depending on specification.

There are still some advantages of running steel rope though, not least that the age should not matter too much as it does not degrade like synthetic. It would be worth pulling it off and inspecting for damage and applying a layer of oil (you can buy specific oil) if it isn’t super rusted up and it will continue to be more than serviceable.

I didn’t know that. what oil do you use pls? Doesn’t that just run the risk of oil collecting sand and dust which won’t help in longer run?