When to replace your winch cable

[Joel Wilson]

I was given an old Sidewinder winch for free. I really don't need another one, but free is free and it's an odd duck, so I found a book and tore it apart. One part had some water intrusion but that cleaned up easy enough, all the gears are good. Having the starter motor gone through, Albright solenoids are on the way. I will redo the electrical cables when I finally decide where I'm going to put this thing. My question is when should you replace your winch cable? The only part of this cable that is bad is the eye at the end. And what annoys the crap outta me is the hook is a permanent fixture of the cable. They pressed the eye together with the hook in place if that makes sense. It looks like someone ran the winch just a tad too long and put stress on the eye. So can you cut the end off of the cable, back say 5 feet and have an new eye pressed on it?

Joel
norcal

 

[Bent77]

I have repaired the end of my own cables. If you have to pay to have it done, inquire the cost of the whole cable

 

[sweetk30]

i have been running B/A products winch cables for a long time now . started using them in the towing world and loved them .

here is the style i run . the full loop hook is the best clamp i think and also swivels .

they do 35 50 / 75 / 100 / some 125 / 150 foot lengths in 3/8" both full steel or fiber center for a more flexible cable and little less strength .

fiber core center : https://baprod.com/shop/towing/wire-rope-assembly-with-self-locking-swivel-hook-fiber-core-towing/

steel core center : https://baprod.com/shop/towing/wire-rope-assembly-with-self-locking-swivel-hook-steel-core-towing/

and these guys seem to have the best prices for the cable : https://zips.com/products/winch-lines-hardware#["department|Winch Lines & Hardware "]

 

[sweetk30]

you can redo the end 2 ways . find a shop that can swedge the cable and steel crimp it ( I DO NOT TRUST aluminum crimps had them pull out before )

or the old cable clamps . but they suck over time . and dont forget do NOT saddle a dead horse .

 

[Joel Wilson]

I pulled the entire cable off the drum today and there was at least 2 other bad spots on the cable, so that cable is going bye bye. Think I might go with synthetic just to save on weight since this will be a backup/utility winch. Really leaning towards mounting it on a 2" hitch. Thanks for the info

Joel
norcal

 

[ZooMad75]

If it is a Hickey Sidewinder winch it's probably less than useful if you try to mount it to a hitch. Also, the sidewinder uses a smaller cable. I think it was only 5/16". The drum on those are pretty narrow so you can't stack up a lot of thicker cable on it.

If it's a backup, you might find somebody is more than willing to pay some decent money for a working sidewinder.