Thread: Synthetic rope winch - offset hawse - mounting and downward load issues?

Just cut the hole in the bullbar bigger to clear the standard hawse.

Regards Philip A

I was able to switch position on the small connecting bars on my milemarker. I can't see that as an option on your pics but I do reckon that when the winch is mounted inside the bar it no longer has a use, the bar keep the winch together. You could remove that small bar and be done with it. Perhaps removing it up front makes installation a bit more of a pain, not sure and removing it once install might also not be the easiest route. I trust you'll figure that one out

Now, as far as loading goes, you would be putting considerable strain on the hawse and rope. I do not believe there to be a problem with the loads on the winch itself, it was designed to be able to handle the full rated load but pulling a rope over a hawse at that angle gives extra friction and wear. On the other hand, how often does one winch in an exact straight line?

Cutting a bit out of the bar should not be a problem I think but I have no experience with that type of bar.

Cheers,
-P

^^^ As above this is just a trasport/packing/not required bar. I got a Ridge Rider (for a good price) for my D2 and it had a similar bar which in the instruction was detailed to remove. I had to fit a offset Hawse as well due to location of hole in Xrox bar. Your 4 mounting bolts will hold that side of the winch together and you should still have 2 substatially larger bars on the reverse side. Hope that helps.

BTW I had to rotate the gearbox 90 degrees as well.

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Just cut the hole in the bullbar bigger to clear the standard hawse.

I think this will be my course of action. I don't like the angle of the winch rope or constant loading on the hawse if I use the offset one in place. It means I can leave that support brace in place for whatever little difference it might back.
I checked the back of the bullbar and no reason why I can't enlarge it there. It's only single layer thick there (compared to where the winch mounts which seems to be double or triple).

Originally Posted by prelude

I was able to switch position on the small connecting bars on my milemarker. I can't see that as an option on your pics

Yep, not an option on this one, only has hole and place for mounting where it it.

Originally Posted by prelude

I do not believe there to be a problem with the loads on the winch itself, it was designed to be able to handle the full rated load but pulling a rope over a hawse at that angle gives extra friction and wear. On the other hand, how often does one winch in an exact straight line?

While your point about a straight line pull being rare is valid, using the offset hawse means it's always rubbing at the bottom in the same position. At least normal winching operations shares it around a bit.

Looking into this rubbing issue online I found Factor 55 < https://factor55.com/product/hawse-fairleads/> and Warn (Epic 1.5" Epic Fairlead (Black) 100730 | WARN Industries | Go Prepared.https://www.warn.com › Winch Accessories › Epic Accessories ) are both now offering 1.5" thick hawses (approximately twice as thick as the common normal ones). The reason for this is the theory that the surface that the rope rubs over should be at least 3 times larger than the rope diameter to spread the load.
Both are also offered in a Type III coating which apparently is the hardest wearing and also helps to protect the hawse and rope over the life of use.

Originally Posted by ChookD2

BTW I had to rotate the gearbox 90 degrees as well.

Already done!

Fair point with the larger diameter hawse. Reducing the bend radius of the rope helps a lot. A mate of mine uses an old style roller fairlead meant for steel with his rope. Not recommended but it works well since the rollers are quite big. Also no rubbing or much less since, well, it is a roller

Regarding the rubbing in a single point: I am not convinced this is as much of a problem as it seems. Rope tends to turn around slightly when beeing used. It is not as stiff as cable that way. Also, when winching it will move from left to right depending on where you are winching from. My experience has been thus far that winching almost always ends up with the rope on one side of the hawse and one side of the spool (due to the anchor point always beeing at the side of the road). A good thing I guess since that forces me to unspool and properly redo my rope

So, although I do not share your concern there, I do share your concern on the high angle. A hawse is usually only rounded on the outside, not the inside. It is expected that the drum is pretty much in line with the hawse and there might be your biggest issue. Personally I would cut out that bit of metal to simply avoid that problem. The alternative would be mounting a hawse on the inside as well if you have the space. There would be a gap between both units so you would have to check for sharp edges. Also, this would increase the angle even more.

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it is either no bother or simply cut the opening to match

Cheers,
-P

I have an ARB deluxe bullbar fitted to my D2a and the hawse is also somewhat off-centre which leaves a small portion of the steel protruding into the hawse opening.
I have used the winch in anger dozens of times now with absolutely NO damage to the synthetic rope as when using the winch I usually pull a couple of winds of rope off the winch thus making the drum diameter smaller which alleviates the problem.
I did buy an offset hawse but that only made the problem worse.
My advice is to fit the standard hawse and NOT to cut into the bar as that can only weaken it
BTW Good choice of winch with the Domin8tor, I fitted one to my D2a 3 years ago and it hasn't missed a beat

Other possible option

The strongest pull is on the deepest layers

Because rope is so easy to work with there is some logic on only have 20m of string on the drum.

Turn the cut off 10 into a short extension and buy a 30 or couple of 30s as long extensions.

With that offset Hawse and only a few wraps on the drum, I don’t think you’ll have an alignment problem (obviously lose the little bracing bars)

I don’t even use shackles to join rope - tie a bowline with a longtag and crank away

I’ve had a “12ooo lb” winch stalled with one wrap on the drum joined to other ropes via bowlines and had no drama untying at end of session....

It really is that easy

Originally Posted by roverrescue

Other possible option

The strongest pull is on the deepest layers

Because rope is so easy to work with there is some logic on only have 20m of string on the drum.

Turn the cut off 10 into a short extension and buy a 30 or couple of 30s as long extensions.

With that offset Hawse and only a few wraps on the drum, I don’t think you’ll have an alignment problem (obviously lose the little bracing bars)

I don’t even use shackles to join rope - tie a bowline with a longtag and crank away

I’ve had a “12ooo lb” winch stalled with one wrap on the drum joined to other ropes via bowlines and had no drama untying at end of session....

It really is that easy

Understand your reason for using a bowline knot to join ropes, but you must keep in mind that a bowline knot reduces the ropes strength by about 25%.