NW WA Meet / BS Thread

You guys are my neighbors. Well, at least from 7 to 4, Monday thru Friday. I work in the building right behind Tapatio restaurant on the QFC strip.

 

And I am just down Coal Creek where it turns into Renton City. I have been busy the last couple of months and missed the meets but I do need to pre stretch a synthetic winch line if somebody has time to help.

 

um, not sure what this is?
Do tell.

 

Are you refering to this? Initial installation of the winch line should have tension so that its not loose on the inner rings of the drum.

 

^^^ This. We have a small slope on our street. I tie up to a large tree which is slightly uphill, put the car in neutral and winch.

 

I'd be glad to give you a hand as well.

 

Sounds like a synth winch party...

 

I'm up for it on a weekday. I'm out of town the next two weekends...

 

Yes, Something like this. My street is pretty level and busy so it makes it hard to do myself. Warn install instructions say "Tensioning the rope is critical to ensure a long product life. " Also looking to meet some of the neighborhood Tacoma owners.

Weekdays are good for me






"

 

Cool. I should have my truck back within the next week. Let's schedule something once I know I'll have a vehicle.

 

dealio!

When I got my 03 Taco, it had some $hitbird ol' full-o-fray synth.
scrapped that into Waste Management's finest and swapped in, by hand, 50' of Smittybuilt 10k synth and changed the fairlead out.

 

Sounds good. I have an extra fairlead if anyone needs one. Couldn't stand the polished aluminum on a black bumper. I will probably put it up for sale unless someone needs it.

 

Don't want to shit on your guy's potential party..

But, applying that much tension to a new synthetic winch line really isn't necessary..

Even installing it on the big boat winches, the only thing that I usually do is have someone else run the controls while I have both hands applying pressure to the line as it's spooling on the drum. The most critical thing is ensuring your wraps are evenly spaced, and that there's minimal over-wraps. That has the potential to cause a backlash..

It IS critical with wire rope. That's because wire has an elastic "memory" to it. If it's spooled on incorrectly the first time, you might as well throw the entire length in the trash. Although, with the cheap Korean 7x19 wire that most manufacturers use; it's garbage anyways..

That's the beauty of synthetic rope.

As far as fraying - it's perfectly normal. You're rope will lose overall volume as it ages, although strength doesn't begin to become compromised until a strand is cut. Even then, most times it can be fixed by removing the section with the broken strand, and doing a butt splice. Winch line manufacturer's definitely cornered the market into thinking that it's impossible to splice your own winch line.

It's stupid easy. You'll save about $200..

 

Synthetic rope has almost zero stretch..

Warn is full of shit if they're telling you guys to stretch it before install.

You'll stall your winch before you get any stretch.

 

Good information Jake! Have a good trip.

 

Whats the word from the dealership?

 

Good to know. Now I need to find new reason to have a party.

 

I totally agree with most of what your saying. The Amsteel has no stretch for sure but if it is installed lose it could get messed up when you actually use it. The reason I did it the way I did is because I couldn't run the controller and hold it with both hands. There was hardly even a slope there.

And You are totally correct about splicing. I spliced mine myself and it was very easy.

 

Anybody down not this weekend but next weekend for a snow/trail run? Johnson Ridge or Tonga?

 

Picked up a low mileage 1UZ-FE tonight, should make for a fun swap into my '87 4runner. If any of your guys have experience with these wiring harnesses, I'll need some help!