winch cable or synthetic?

[broncoman6524]

I know this has prob been covered. but i may be trading my cousin a set of stock f-150 bumpers for a warn 82-74 winch complete with bumper/brush guard...it needs the spooling and a solenoid. which do yall prefer for the cable? synthetic rope, or regular steel cable?

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

Synthetic, no question

 

[wayne]

Synthetic, no question

X2!!!

 

[Smitty]

125 feet of 3/8" synthetic works well on the 8274!

 

[ntsqd]

HD use or occasional recreational use?

If you plan to be the local off road recovery specialist who gets the 3am phone calls & charges accordingly I'd go with steel.

For anything less extreme go Poly. It costs less to haul around too.

 

[TeK]

synthetic. No questions asked.

I'll never use steel again.

HD USE AND REC USE REQUIRE SYNTHETIC

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

HD use or occasional recreational use?

If you plan to be the local off road recovery specialist who gets the 3am phone calls & charges accordingly I'd go with steel.

For anything less extreme go Poly. It costs less to haul around too.

Why go with steel line if you use it alot? Synthetic is stronger, lighter and safer. The only downside it that it is slightly more expensive. If you ever replace the line on a winch there is no justification to go with steel, IMO.

 

[ntsqd]

Steel lasts longer in a working environment. Poly doesn't like running over sharp edges, at all. Given the chance steel will cut a groove in sharp edges. I don't think poly is stronger when you remove all the Safety Factors and just look at Ultimate Breaking Strength. It wasn't when I looked at this a year ago or so.
I don't see poly on tow trucks. Cost driven? Life span driven? Who knows. When I start to see poly on a lot of tow trucks I'll re-think this.

Lest you think I don't like poly, the reason I looked at it was that I was looking to see if I could get away with running a smaller OD poly as a way to get more length on an unmodified winch drum. Two friends & I did some testing of 1/4" Amsteel (Not the higher strength Amsteel Blue) figuring that was the worst case scenario. It was pretty impressive stuff. Learned that no matter what you can NOT tie a knot in it. Knots create the same heat under load that a sharp edge does and the poly line just won't take that.

 

[sandawgk5]

Steel lasts longer in a working environment. Poly doesn't like running over sharp edges, at all. Given the chance steel will cut a groove in sharp edges. I don't think poly is stronger when you remove all the Safety Factors and just look at Ultimate Breaking Strength. It wasn't when I looked at this a year ago or so.
I don't see poly on tow trucks. Cost driven? Life span driven? Who knows. When I start to see poly on a lot of tow trucks I'll re-think this.

Lest you think I don't like poly, the reason I looked at it was that I was looking to see if I could get away with running a smaller OD poly as a way to get more length on an unmodified winch drum. Two friends & I did some testing of 1/4" Amsteel (Not the higher strength Amsteel Blue) figuring that was the worst case scenario. It was pretty impressive stuff. Learned that no matter what you can NOT tie a knot in it. Knots create the same heat under load that a sharp edge does and the poly line just won't take that.

I got 125' of 3/8" Amsteel Blue waiting to go on my winch but I gotta get a hawse fairlead for it first.

Ira

 

[Muddytazz]

Will stick with my steel cable.....I've cut/broke 5 synthetic amsteel blues

 

[broncoman6524]

the thing is we only play in mud/sand here. soo im leaning toward the synthetic bc im pretty sure i wont have to worrk TOO much about cutting it.

 

[Smitty]

the thing is we only play in mud/sand here. soo im leaning toward the synthetic bc im pretty sure i wont have to worrk TOO much about cutting it.

Synthetic will wear out over time, just like cable. That sand and mud will get inside the synthetic rope and wear it down. It's just one of those things that a person needs to plan on changing once in a while. I like the positive aspects of synthetic enough to pay the extra money to run it, but there are situations where I think cable would work better.

 

[danny7139]

synthetic is safer but not as good IMO but when i think of steel rope just hitting me in the face synthetic looks better to me

 

[ntsqd]

Synthetic will wear out over time, just like cable. That sand and mud will get inside the synthetic rope and wear it down. It's just one of those things that a person needs to plan on changing once in a while. I like the positive aspects of synthetic enough to pay the extra money to run it, but there are situations where I think cable would work better.

Same thing will happen to steel, but is will take longer.

 

[Smitty]

Same thing will happen to steel, but is will take longer.

Kinda what I was getting at .