Hawse fairlead- what material is best?

**POD** · 13th May 2021, 09:05 AM

I'm planning on swapping the wire rope on my rear winch for synthetic, already have synthetic on the front, and will replace both roller fairleads with hawse type. I'm planning on making the hawsers myself- just because I can.
I've had a discussion on a metalworking forum, mainly about best tool for rounding over the hawse slots, but of course all manner of opinions about everything have started to come out. Several people have postulated that the hawser is a wear item and should be made from soft material and that hard material will damage the rope.
My understanding of these things- based on very little- is that it is when a running surface like this gets damaged that it will then damage the rope that runs over it, so a harder-wearing material is better as it will stay smooth and not damage the rope.
Wondering if anyone has any good info on this? Most of the hawse fairleads on the market are aluminium but I suspect that is just because it is cheap to machine. I have seen a few steel ones and obviously they are more expensive but I'm intrigued as to whether there is any evidence as to which is better on the rope? I can punch out a couple of alumimium ones fairly easily, but I also have some 4140 steel here that would be much slower to machine but could then be surface hardened and probably last forever, but if the rope will suffer for it that would be a waste of time.

**W&KO** · 13th May 2021, 09:13 AM

Billet aluminum would be a good choice.

**101RRS** · 13th May 2021, 12:31 PM

Just buy them - they are cheap, work where what you make will be more expensive and maybe lead to a failure at the wrong time.

**W&KO** · 13th May 2021, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by 101RRS

Just buy them - they are cheap, work where what you make will be more expensive and maybe lead to a failure at the wrong time.

I had a custom one made by Nugget as I have a PRO winch which has a wider drum than your standard electric winch.

While I was collecting Nugget showed me an off the shelf one, it was a cast version which had failed. Who know what material it was made from.

I certainly feel more comfortable with one made from a solid piece of ally from a known source.

**POD** · 13th May 2021, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by W&KO

I had a custom one made by Nugget as I have a PRO winch which has a wider drum than your standard electric winch.

While I was collecting Nugget showed me an off the shelf one, it was a cast version which had failed. Who know what material it was made from.

I certainly feel more comfortable with one made from a solid piece of ally from a known source.

What was the failure? I assume it had broken in the middle or similar?

**W&KO** · 13th May 2021, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by POD

What was the failure? I assume it had broken in the middle or similar?

Yes, from memory it was towards the middle through the bottom section.

**loanrangie** · 13th May 2021, 05:05 PM

Cast iron is for steel cable , alloy for synthetic.

**POD** · 14th May 2021, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Cast iron is for steel cable , alloy for synthetic.

Are you able to unpack that statement a little?

**W&KO** · 14th May 2021, 09:42 AM

Originally Posted by POD

Are you able to unpack that statement a little?

I used a cast iron hawse for my wire rope, suppose it couldn’t be used for Dyneema. Although it’s pretty rare to see a hawse on a wire rope.

**loanrangie** · 14th May 2021, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by POD

Are you able to unpack that statement a little?

Not much to expand on, the cast iron ones were designed for steel cable in place of rollers and alloy for synthetic rope. Of course you could use cast iron for synthetic but you wouldn't use alloy for steel.

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