Thread: every thing about winches

Originally Posted by Mudsloth

Stay right away from the cheap Chinese winches. I had one and it snapped completely in half. They would be fine for mounting to a car trailer or maybe an electric hoist but cannot be relied upon in a serious 4wding environment.

How was it mounted? got any pics, you know the rules, it didn't happen if there are no pics, Regards Frank.

Originally Posted by KarlB

There seems to be several advantages to me. The obvious one is the weight of course. Because of this it is also much easier to spool out. The biggest advantage, to my mind, is that the rope essentially stores no energy.FALSE Cut a synthetic winch rope under full load and it will just drop to the ground. FALSE No whipping or flying back. Ever seen it let go? It does snap back. Its major advantage is lack of mass as it does. But I can tell you it stings like a ......... However - its unlikely to take you apart. Another advantage is that it is much kinder to your hands with no 'steel splinters'. Correct, but it will burn the heck out of your skin if its pulled across it quickly. Some synthetic winch ropes also float and this could be an advantages in a watery recovery. Yes, this is a great bonus.

There are disadvantages though. They are not as robust and need to be looked after more carefully than a steel rope. They are heat sensitive and as such are not suitable for some winches. They are expensive.

Yes and No.... Steel wire rope still needs lubing, cleaning and care. Kink a wire rope and you should throw it... I had my M10000 wire rope damaged performing a heavy recovery on a guy. 2nd ever use of the winch
Synthetic Rope has now been on 3 winches and going strong.
Synthetic needs washing (sand in the braid will wreck it) and you need to be careful about running it on/over rocks etc...

All winches run rope OK on spool in, models with spool out and the brake in the drum need care taken. There are heat sleeves to prevent the issue. Winch method can be modified to work in the limitations.

I've run amsteel on 9500XP, XD9000, 12,000lb TMAX and now on the Premier 9500 (which has external brake). None of these have had issues.

All that aside, they have been used in the marine industry for many years and proven to be up to the job.

Cheers
KarlB

Agreed

Originally Posted by Tombie2

Agreed

where is a good place to buy Amsteel?

Originally Posted by uninformed

where is a good place to buy Amsteel?

I brought mine here
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Ian