steel cable kinks (1 Viewer)

[jblueridge]

I unspooled all the cable on my pto winch. I found 2 places there are kinks.
The first is just plain bent.
The second looks like the cable un-twisted itself a little. There is a gap open on one side.

Are these a major problem? see pics below.

 

[sadam_husain]

I haven't used steel cable for 10 years its awful stuff compared to synthetic dyneema, if you want to reuse that cable I wouldn't be too worried about it there isn't any broken strands its only distorted in shape so there shouldn't be a significant reduction in strength


nice work you've been doing on the pto winch rebuild over on the 70 series forum

 

[jblueridge]

Thanks for the replies. When I got the cruiser 1.5 years ago it looked like the winch had not been used in a while. The seals leaked and there was a bunch of red silicone glommed on.

I'm gonna clean and re-use the steel cable but switch to synthetic when I get around to doing a new front bumper.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi all,

Looks like typical steel rope on a recovery winch that gets used!

No worries, get winching!

Regards,

Alan

 

[Hack]

Looks like typical steel rope on a recovery winch that gets used! No worries, get winching!

^^^ Yup. Seen much worse.

 

[woody]

respool under heavy load....that "should" stretch those spots back into shape.

a decent hill with the weight of the truck (in neutral) and maybe a bit of ebrake pressure too.

 

[Southeast Overland]

respool under heavy load....that "should" stretch those spots back into shape.

a decent hill with the weight of the truck (in neutral) and maybe a bit of ebrake pressure too.

As another poster said I've seen worse too - but - the steel cable will retain a memory (weakness) in the kinked spots even when straightened out. Think about a clothes hanger that is bent and hammered back into place - it will be weaker in that spot.

- Steve

 

[rc51kid]

Looks fine to use in my novice opinion. But I just switched to synthetic from Southeastern Off road. So much nicer.

 

[Tapage]

I've seen a LOT worse being used and abused with no ( yet ) problems .. that's the original Mr. T cable ..?

 

[canman]

Ideally should be replaced.

From Bill Vista/Pirate 4x4:

Wire Rope Replacement Criteria
The following criteria determine when a wire rope is no longer acceptable for service:

1. 12 randomly distributed broken wires in one lay or four broken wires in one strand in one lay (A rope lay is that length of rope in which one strand makes one complete revolution about the core)

2. One outer wire broken at the contact point with the core of the rope, which has worked its way out of the rope structure and protrudes or loops out from the rope structure

3. Wear of one-third the original diameter of outside individual wires

4. Kinking, crushing, birdcaging, or any other damage resulting in distortion of the rope structure

5. Evidence of heat damage from any cause

6. Reduction from nominal diameter greater than those listed in the following:

And Union Rope:

http://www.unionrope.com/Resource_/TechnicalReference/2536/WireCoHandbook_Form 1001M-low res.pdf

 

[mrsleeve]

looks ok to me, I just got a new cable for mine, but it was way worse than that (mishap pulling some Oleander bushes out at my brothers last winter LoL ) . I got mine from the local Logging/rigging/fastener supply for 60ish bucks, with a thimble on 1 end at 80' long

 

[Pin_Head]

The standards and SWL for overhead lifting are more strict than pulling a load.

 

[canman]

Yes, but it comes down to the safety of not only you but others that may be with you including children. I've been involved in two incidents now where winch cables have snapped due to neglect/misuse. One particular club I used to belong to would not let you use a winch if the cable was suspect. Wire rope is classified as a "machine" and as such needs to be cared for accordingly.
I recall also when I first came to the Dept of National Defence to support combat engineering equipment. They had something called the Bridge Boat Apapter which was used to transport and launch floating bridge sections. On board was a hydraulically powered winch. To my surprise the vast majority I saw at one base had buggered up cables, so I had them ground the fleet until the wire rope was replaced. You can't be fooling around with damaged cables when lives and expensive equipment are involved, so should it be in off-roading scenarios.

 

[peteinjp]

If that's grounds for replacement then get ready to replace your line every 10 outings (or probably less) or so. It's almost impossible to keep that from happening unless all of your pulls are in a perfectly straight line with plenty of distance and the winch is respooled under load after each use.

Yes it will be slightly weaker at that point but the judicious use of a snatch block will still get you out of a good stuck with the rope in that condition. If your getting that close to parting the line you're not far off from exceeding the breaking strength of the rope in perfect condition anyway.

Pete