Rednroll

Just finished installing the bumper and winch. I moved the winch solenoid control box under the hood, right in front of the battery and got the wireless remote. Just waiting on that synth line, fairlead, and cover to arrive in the mail. Winch doesn't pull so well without the line but it's fun making the spindle turn.





P.S. Looks like a nice spot for an LED light bar on that bumper in front of that winch. Does it ever stop?

Jeek.OlllllllO

If you guys read the manual for your winch, it says it is recommended to be swapped every year due to elements.

Even if you wash it, it will always have dust particles in it, I guess it's personal preference in SoCal we play in rocks so I prefer wire. Just my 2 cents

whitejeepjk

Have you guys got this rope yet, how does the quality appear?

karls10jk

Mine was the eBay special but the quality appears fine. It's got the correct feel to it (I have amsteel I bought for my hammock). I don't "see" any visual cues that sobering isn't right but time will tell when I put a good pull on it.

Not that it's a 'good' pull, but to spool it onto the drum I winched the jeep uphill and dragging the parking brake.

03Rider

I am new to the off-road scene, and after much research went with synthetic over cable. After many years of Rock climbing trusting my life to synthetic ropes and Draws I more than trust the strength. The advantages of the lighter weight, don't forget about having to lug it up hill. The safety, and the cool colors more than offset the cost. That being said. I will wash, and inspect after every use. Always cover when not in use, be mindful of sharp edges, and replace if it ever comes in contact with gasoline, antifreeze, or oil. Oh yeah, and it comes in cool colors. I do wish they would weave in some reflective strands in like they do for rescue rope.

Rednroll

I just received the rope this past Friday delivered by UPS. I was in the middle of packing the JK for a weekend camping trip when it arrived. I did take a break from packing to throw on the fairlead and spool in the rope onto my winch. The quality seems very good to me. In addition to the good quality, there were a couple of things that I especially liked about this cable.

1. Protective Heat sheath on spool side of rope. I expected this from the pics and glad this rope includes it.

2. UV Protective Black covering sheath on eyelet end of rope. I wasn't really expecting this, but I'm glad it has this. I was wondering where I was going to hang the end of the rope when not in use. Since it has this protective UV sheath, I'm able to spool out the rope far enough to hang the rope from my front bumper's D ring and the rope remains covered by a black protective sheath which should guard against UV light.

The 94' length is perfect like Karl previously described. I put a pair of gloves on and wound the rope in slowly while holding it taunt and it just fit onto my HF 12K winch.

My 1st impressions are that I would recommend this rope and would be the rope I would buy if I needed a replacement.

I can tell you, I'm so glad you guys convinced me to use synth rope. Just spooling my steel cable out and trying to wind it up in a nice spool was tough working with the steel cable. I received the synth rope in a 10"x10"x10" cube box and by the weight/size of the box I had no clue that this was the rope and fairlead since it was so small and light. Saying the synth rope is 10 times lighter and much easier to work with than the steel cable seems like an understatement.

I also picked up 3 of these tree straps on Amazon for $14 ea. to go with the 3 snatch blocks I already have, and they seem like a great quality strap as well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

larry0071

You will be very unhappy if you use the winch with the rope loose like that. You need to get on an incline (not a cliff) and wind that rope very hard/tight, otherwise the outer loops pull down into the inner loops and can friction burn it as well as get it stuck so tight that you can not get it pulled out by hand. I made that mistake when I first went to synthetic, now I attach to a telephone pole at the top of a pasture and I pull the JK up the hill with the winch while I use my body to manipulate the rope so that it is wound tightly against each previous loop. You want to have that rope hard and tight, doing it by hand or even leaning your entire body back on it is about a useless amount of tension.

When you get a chance, pull it out and do it again using the weight of the JK in neutral while pulling it up hill (engine running) to get it pre-loaded good. I have my 10 year old sit in the jeep in case something freakish were to happen and the brakes need hit, I would recommend you do something like that as well if at all possible.

Rednroll

That kind of sounds like a nightmare waiting to happen trying it that way by myself. Knowing my luck, while attempting to do that, the line would break and backwards down the hill would roll my JK out of control or something freakish as you describe. Gonna have to have the wife help me if I do it that way.

There's got to be a some other way to get similar results that doesn't require 2 people to do it?

P.S. Now that I have the synth line, is when you guys are going to tell me about all the pitfalls that come with it?

karls10jk

I wound mine by pulling the weight of the jeep towards a tree. Slight incline, but not much. I did drag the parking brake to maximize the weight it had to pull in and based on the amount of compression in the suspension, I'm not concerned with the spooling. When I'd release the tension you could see the jeep lift a solid coupe inches.

Mike H.

I am new to the winch scene, and after much research... then talking with the seasoned vets around these parts, wire was the way to go. Again, pretty much all we have is rocks, often sharp/jagged in nature.
One story from a veteran really shocked me, he witnessed a fatality of a fellow wheeler using synthetic line... and in his experience/opinion both wire and synthetic are dangerous, taking that whole variable out of the equation.
I work in the construction industry, cranes, heavy come-alongs, safety rails, shoring systems... all steel cable.
I'm not trying to convince anyone, and understand the benefits/drawbacks of the 2 systems, just relaying how I came to "my" decision.