Steel Cable or Synthic Rope

Synthetic every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

It's lighter, it's safer, it's a million times easier to re-spool, it's just as strong. Only downside is it less resilient to be scraped along a rock/tree, but cable doesn't handle that all that well either. That's where straps, sleeves, and snatch blocks come in.

 

Ok, besides the safety issue. Its there anyone on here that has synthetic rope on theirs that doesn't use their winch on an every day bases. More like maybe once a month if that. How well has it held up and have you cleaned it like it should be?

 

My buddy has synthetic rope and a very good point on it is that it is a hell of a lot easier to wrap back up than steel cable. I don't know about his maintenance routine though, he barely uses it.

 

We had it on our jeep for years and only used it when needed. Probably once a month or less. It never really got dirty....other than regular usage. We may have sprayed it off with a hose after being submerged in mud.

Don't over-think it. If it were that complicated to deal with, nobody would recommend it.

 

I use steel but I use the winch on my runner for tree removal for my buddies business as well for wheeling. Otherwise I would use synthetic.

 

Absolutely no question.

Synthetic winch line.


Take care of it, wash it every once in a while.

 

I've heard cable is better for work. For instance, it is great for plowing. But, when it comes to off roading I've heard synthetic is awesome. As the others said, it doesn't fray and just falls to the ground when it breaks. I am running cable on my winch on my atv and literally hate it. I am switching to synthetic when I have time to take the winch off my quad and replace the cable with the rope. I don't like the cable for a couple reasons: Kinks, frays, bends, it's heavy and snaps when broken, which is sooo dangerous.

 

Warn's "winching techniques" on the M8000 page tells you to lay a heavy mover's blanket on the center point of the non-tensioned cable.

http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/images/1842/62885A6_Domestic-read.pdf

page 10

I went with synthetic, due to the front end weight being less. Haven't used it yet, because I'm in the process of installing my bumper and winch, and haven't even bothered to do the initial spooling, yet.

 

Synthetic rope is my choice as well. It's safer, easier to drag out or re-spool, floats on water, and just a lot less hassle overall. My winch is less than a year old and has already been used several times (to pull a car out of the ditch, pull down a brick column at an old house for fun, etc) with no problems.

My plan is to replace the winch cable (synthetic rope) about once every two~three years, or earlier if visibly damaged.

I tape (waterproof duct tape) black plastic (unopened garbage bag) tightly around the rope itself to keep the sun off. The plastic comes off easily when I need to use the winch and is eventually replaced when I get around to it afterwards.