They were trying for lethal injuries. On the trail, it would be the equilvent of some standing straddled over the winch line when it went. Most people tend to stand back. So chances of something happening - probably slim, but why take chances?

 

I think it would be lethal either way, because the line wouldn't dissipate most of its energy until it something significant such as the ground, tree, or a vehicle. I think if you were standing close it might not have the momentum to initially tear through out, but the back surge in energy when the end hit would saw right through you.

Those guys really do test for a specific scenario which I guess makes sense, but they do usually try to duplicate a real life scenario.

 

Everyone needs to keep in mind Synthetic has a life of about 2-3 years.. The UV breaks it down pretty fast... After replacing synthetic on my last jeep about 4 times... I'll stick with my steel cable..

 

I have a personal experience of synthetic winch line snapping into two during hard pull. My Defender SafariVan slid down a steep rived bank, ending nose down into river. When another rig on other side riverbank was pulling me out, synthetic snapped. For a while we were wondering where did it disappear, then noticed that most of this line out between these two vehicles was neatly on face of this pulling rig. Amazing thing was that it did not cause any noticeable damage at all. It snapped in two at about two feet front of my rig and line flying was about 40feet long. I believe if someone had been standing near by being hit by line to anywhere else except to face would not have suffered any injuries. But never try, this is just personal observation of one case we are not able to duplicate ever.

 

I've experienced seeing both steel cable and synthetic line snapping.. Both recoil with about the same energy... But I can see with the weight of the steel cable it would be more dangerous..

 

this is BS.
i wheel with a guy who has had his synthetic rope for 7 years now. his rope has survived melting through 2 hawse fairleads. now he uses a regular aluminum roller fairlead.
he says he has made around 50 pulls with it - so he uses it. this could be the difference here. he uses it enough to prevent it from sitting on the drum too long that it dry rots.

 

I wish I could recall the EXACT source, but I recall looking at an online winching tutorial (Warn's website, maybe?) and there were pics of an XJ with a broken steel cable THROUGH the windshield, THROUGH the driver's seat headrest! If anyone had been in the XJ at the time of the line snap, they would be missing a head!

Supposedly (and I can't speak from personal experience on this) synthetic has less rebound energy during a snap, so there's less potential risk. However, synthetic or steel, safe winching technique suggests that you lay something over your cable to mitigate the potential rebound in a line break accident.

 

I've used both...synth the past 6 yrs, same one, still looks great.

For those of you who didn't notice...the test was done wrong, looking for the wrong thing, under the wrong conditions.

I have ALOT of experience with wire rope, I made the stuff, I worked for companies that used it, I made treatments for it, and I've been offroading with it since the '70's.

I was PERSONALLY wounded by a wire rope that snapped while replacing the clutch on a 150' boom crane...it almost killed me, except that I leaped backwards without looking the instant I heard it go....and flew 20' backwards off of the crane before hitting the ground (About 10' of the 20'...)

One of the unfurling wires cought me on the face in mid-air....sliced me open like a weed whacker.

I've SEEN wire rope incidents while winching happen to people....its not that the wire rope will cut you itself really on that size rope, a slice, sure, but not fatal...

The REAL deadly part is the stored energy....the one's where the rope pulls the tow hook off of the rig, and the rope hurls the hook like lightning...super hard and fast.

I've seen hooks (mostly steel horse come to think of it...) go right THROUGH the bed gate of pick-up trucks, through the hood of rigs, through winshields and seats, etc...

Any person standing between the hook and its target would be either killed or impaled, etc.

People who've seen one go like that are shaken if they were close...like, holy sheeet!...I could have been KILLED!

Now, if the pulls are soft, and the wire did not stretch much before breaking, or pulling off the hook, etc....sure, its not dramatic...there's no stored energy.

That's why they sell weighted bags to throw over the wire ropes...so if they snap, or a hook comes loose, etc...they do not throw the damn thing through your head.

We used heavy blankets most of the time, etc.

I have seen synthetic rope snap....I forget the type, some canadian dude had a nasty sandy spool that looked like he had left it on their wet and dirty for maybe a year or something (No idea really, just looked like that...).

He was pinned behind a big rock after slipping off his picked line, and wanted to winch OVER the rock....a heavy load given the wheel chock fight type leverage, etc...and it snapped....

Nothing happened, except, his truck slid back a bit, and the line just dropped and lay flat...no drama, despite the heavy load.

I looked at the line, it was nasty...and he said it was maybe 4 yrs old.

So, the synth is newer, so I have not had time to see more than about 6 - 7 yrs of use to compare to wire rope as to longevity.

My synth rope is the same diameter as the wire I took off, but has close to 20K lb - vs - 9.5K lb strength, and it is coated with a UV protectant layer, which is also armor-like, in that its very abrasion resistant....so it seems to take a lickin, and keep on tickin...

afterall, I've seen too many wire ropes snap to even count.

I did get a rock sleeve for it, but I've never used it.

So-In my experience, about 30 yrs so far, the synthetic IS ALOT SAFER, and stronger, and LIGHTER.

(I saved about 45 lb going to synthetic and an Al fairlead instead of the wire and roller fairlead the winch came with.)