What is the difference between synthetic line and a cable line? and which is better

 

synth line is lighter, floats, can be repaired on the trail, will not fray and stick into your hand like steel cable and most importantly, if it breaks, it will not hurt or kill anyone. the only real downside to synth line is that it costs more and dragging it across rocks can cause it to get cut.

 

Synthetic is lighter and will not kill you if it breaks

 

Most if not all off road competitions have banned the use of steel cable. They are dangerous. Steel cable stretches significantly under load. If it breaks it can recoil. The recoil can injury people or damage things. Think along the lines of a steel whip with enough energy to cut someone in half. Synthetic rope stretch is negligible.

I've broken synthetic line. Totally my fault in doing a sideways pull with the rope rubbing the fairlead and repeatedly stalling the winch. I was standing next to it when it snapped and the rope dropped to the ground. I've seen a steel cable snap and fly. Fortunately no one got hurt.

It's funny how they tell you to always stand clear of the cable when winching and then give you a remote with a 12' lead on it. Sorry that's a different discussion.

Rope is a lot lighter. It can be damaged over time by the sun. You do not have to wear gloves to handle it. It can be damaged on rocks and trees. Rope can also easily be repaired, even spliced back together on the trail. I wouldn't try fixing a steel cable except to maybe make it shorter which isn't an easy trail fix.

I will never again have steel cable on one of my winches.

 

I contacted WARN and asked why they don't offer their winches with synthetic in place of wire, and their statement was that it was a price point issue. In order to do this, they would price themselves out of the market. I guess they feel it is o.k. for us to continue to purchase their winches, and throw the damn cable and roller fairlead away and pay for synthetic and a hawse fairlead out of our own pockets. I am leaning toward the Supewinch for this reason alone.

 

Under what conditions would a steel cable break and how common is it to happen?

 

I have run steel cable for decades and never had a problem. You have to understand its limitations. i will be shifting to synthetic line on my next winch and will know its limitations. Overall Synthetic is safer than Steel but they both have limitations. If your budjet will not support Syntehtic just get knowledgable on the steel limitations and cautions and go wheeling.

Ya gotta have a winch to do serious wheelin!!

 

I thought Warn did offer winches with synthetic? At least I've seen new ones for sale that way, maybe it was the reseller that made the switch. For some reason Warn wants $500-$600 for the same rope others are selling for $200-$250. The warn name used to be able to charge a premium but I think they are overpricing themselves out of the market.

 

Weight, weight, and oh ya weight. When you replace the cable and roller fairlead with a syn rope and hawse fairlead you lose around 30lbs. This is a lot on a jeep. Also, when working with less weight makes the task easier. There is less mass to do harm when a break occurs (weight).

The only drawback is a syn rope gets damaged easy and will fade from sun/weather. My combo of a warn HD (12K) and syn rope is unbelievably light plus I got to color match the rope to my jeep.

 

I understand your aggravation. I did not feel bad because I have a warn 12K on my F350 so, I now have a spare cable and fairlead (yes I have went through more than one wire rope). But, by that logic you should not buy a jeep either. Why buy a vehicle and change out so many parts?