What are the pluses and minues of running synthetic winch rope instead of metal cable? Seems that most people think this is the best way to go, but I don't see too many actually running it. Are there any winches that come with synthetic rope standard?

 

Synthetic is lighter then steel cable, and if synthetic ever snaps, it loses it's stored energy quickly, so it doesn't whip like a steel cable. Only down side is you might not be able fit as much synthetic rope on the winch as you could with a steel cable. Here's two winches that I know of that come with syn. rope.

I have the Warn and love it. It's light and easy to operate. Only downside is it only has 50 ft. of rope, but living in PA, I'm always within 30 ft. of a tree or another vehicle.
And there's also the...

I'm sure there's more, and almost any winch can take synthetic rope. HTH

 

Thanks guys, very informative!

I think I'm leaning towards the synth rope, but 50 feet doesn't sound very long. Any options other than the Warn that POTO mentioned that might offer more capacity with synth rope (even if it doesn't come standard with the synth rope)?

 

I run a ramsey 8000 lb with synthetic rope and have since it was new. As was stated earlier you can use synthetic on any winch you choose. The only thing to remember is to keep at least 6 wraps on the drum since the only attachment to the drum is a crimmped on lug which will pull out easily. My winch came with 100 ft of steel cable and I replaced with 110 ft of synthetic. So pretty much pick your winch and replace with synthetic. When you get ready for synthetic do a google search for Amsteel blue dock line winch rope. You can cut your cost by about 500 dollars. Hope this helps.

 

Does the fairleed come into play with the life of a steel cable? Such as a roller verses standard. As does the synthetic rope which fairleed to use?

 

http://www.winchline.com/

Best stuff for the money. Guys in my local club as well as a bunch of others use it. I used it on my Warn 9.5XP without any issues.

 

the U.S. Navy has been using synthetic line to tie our ships up for years. If it's good enough to hold a ship to a pier, it's good enough to haul my rig out of the mud. i'll be running synthetic. i've heard amsteel blue makes a decent line, and it reputedly even floats!

 

I can confirm that it does float. It is not bouyant enough to support the hook and steel eye but if your carrying the hook across the creek the line floats across instead of draging the bottom getting hung up. Chris

 

iv been told that the amsteel blue line can be damaged by temps over 150 degrees. If this is true then I wouldn't think its the best choice for a winch. The same person that told me that told me to get X-line. Anyone else know anything about this?

 

The drum of a winch doesnt heat up in normal use...unless you are powering out for a long time (working against the brake.