Synthetic winch line. 5/16 or 3/8?

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scrowley

scrowley

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I have a engo 12k and I'm going to switch to synthetic line. I am going to go with a amsteel line. My question is which one? 5/16" or 3/8". I was about the check out with a 100' 5/16" but figured I would ask what ppl have found works first. Thanks
 
I just bought 100' of 5/16 synthetic masterpull line. I haven't used it yet but through my research I found that it should be sufficient with our vehicles. Get the protector sheath for the first 5'. I would have preferred the larger size but cost was an issue.
 
I purchased the MasterPull 5/16" syn line from Slee as it was advertised as 13000 lbs, which is substantially more than the 9000 lb rating of my EP9.0 Superwinch. However, I later found out that the 13000 lb figure was the breaking strength of the syn rope. As others have said, for a 12000 lb rated which, I would get the 3/8" rope. For some interesting reading on the subject of "load" ratings checkout my post below from the Winching/ Recovery section.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/winching-r...-master-pull-winch-rope-have-2t-wll-hook.html

Updated links to the Barry website.

http://www.barry.ca/center-excellence/publication-en.htm

http://www.barry.ca/helicopter/service-life-of-synthetic-helicopter-longlines.htm
 
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to cover or not to cover

Not to hijack this thread or anything ;p but do any of you cover your winch line or whole winch or just leave it uncovered? I run synthetic line, and usually leave mine uncovered, but not sure if the sun, ice, snow, salt from roads...etc...would at some point start to take its toll on the fibers of the winch line, true?

just looking for some input, opinions...
thanks
 
scrowley said:
I have a engo 12k and I'm going to switch to synthetic line. I am going to go with a amsteel line. My question is which one? 5/16" or 3/8". I was about the check out with a 100' 5/16" but figured I would ask what ppl have found works first. Thanks
Click to expand...

Either one will be far beyond what the steel cable is rated to. (The steel cable on my EP9 was rated at 980kg working load limit...barely 2000 lbs.)

For the marginal cost difference I went with the 3/8". Gives a bit more buffer as the rope ages and gets dirty, UV degradation, etc.
 
canman said:
I purchased the MasterPull 5/16" syn line from Slee as it was advertised as 13000 lbs, which is substantially more than the 9000 lb rating of my EP9.0 Superwinch. However, I later found out that the 13000 lb figure was the breaking strength of the syn rope. As others have said, for a 12000 lb rated which, I would get the 3/8" rope. For some interesting reading on the subject of "load" ratings checkout my post below from the Winching/ Recovery section.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/winching-r...-master-pull-winch-rope-have-2t-wll-hook.html
Click to expand...

Yes, this is the dirty little secret of the offroad winching industry. They sell a 9500lb winch with 5/16" 7x19 wire rope that has a minimum breaking strength of 8520lbs, add a little shock load to pulling a 5-6000lb vehicle and it's just too dangerous for my taste.

On my tube buggy (3300lbs) I had a Warn 9500HS with 3/8" Amsteel rope and it never failed and I put it though some heinous recoveries.

On my FZJ I run a 10k winch with 3/8" wire rope (12,200lb BS), and for my uses that's acceptable, AND I don't have to worry about dragging it over rocks, or it deteriorating from UV.

Different applications demand different solutions.
 
liquidman said:
Not to hijack this thread or anything ;p but do any of you cover your winch line or whole winch or just leave it uncovered? I run synthetic line, and usually leave mine uncovered, but not sure if the sun, ice, snow, salt from roads...etc...would at some point start to take its toll on the fibers of the winch line, true?

just looking for some input, opinions...
thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, synthetic line does deteriorate from UV, as well as dirt and mud that can abrade the fibers while on the drum. You can visually inspect the rope for damage, and you can also splice in a new section of rope to replace a damaged area with little compromise in strength.
 
Roc Doc said:
Yes, synthetic line does deteriorate from UV, as well as dirt and mud that can abrade the fibers while on the drum. You can visually inspect the rope for damage, and you can also splice in a new section of rope to replace a damaged area with little compromise in strength.
Click to expand...

In the links I sent previously, testing done by Barry, suggested a loss of strength of helicopter long lines made of Dynemma rope of up to 20% of their initial strength after only 1 yr!
Mind you this is an extreme example, but one should expect the syn rope to degrade over time even if it is not used or abused... Myself - I would keep the syn rope out of the sun. Even our exposed spare tires should be kept out of the sun to reduce damage caused by UV.
 
Roc Doc said:
Yes, this is the dirty little secret of the offroad winching industry. They sell a 9500lb winch with 5/16" 7x19 wire rope that has a minimum breaking strength of 8520lbs, add a little shock load to pulling a 5-6000lb vehicle and it's just too dangerous for my taste.
Click to expand...

The rated, or working strength is not the failure strength. There is a safety factor to account for manufacturing tolerances, age, damage, etc... I personally would not be worried by a steel cable rated at 8250lbs on a 9000lb winch, but I'm using synthetic.
 
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1FZj80 said:
The rated, or working strength is not the failure strength. There is a safety factor to account for manufacturing tolerances, age, damage, etc... I personally would be worried by a steel cable rated at 8250lbs on a 9000lb winch, but I'm using synthetic.
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True. But that's the actual breaking strength of a 5/16" wire rope. About 8000 lbs.

5/16" synthetic fares better at 13k break strength. But I'm using 3/8 Amsteel rated at 21k break strength on my ancient warn m8000 winch.

My winch rope is almost 5 years old now and due for replacement. No way I'd go any smaller than 3/8" synthetic. If you're worried about the extra 15' of line capacity that you would get with 5/16" rope you can get an extension line. I have 40' extension of 3/8" line and I very rarely use it.
 
1FZj80 said:
The rated, or working strength is not the failure strength. There is a safety factor to account for manufacturing tolerances, age, damage, etc... I personally would be worried by a steel cable rated at 8250lbs on a 9000lb winch, but I'm using synthetic.
Click to expand...

I know that, that's why I posted the failure strength of the cable to show how close to the edge you are when you use 5/16" wire rope.

I work in the entertainment industry and we use a 5:1 safety factor here in the US, and some other places use a 7:1 or even 10:1. So for example, we would never use 5/16" wire rope for anything over 1700lbs of static load, but these winch manufactures are selling their winches loaded with that cable and a big 9500 on the box, that leads people to believe that they're going to be fine pulling out their 4500lb Jeep. I've seen wire rope break under load and it's not pretty.
 
Thanks for the info. I ordered a 3/8 amsteel 85'
 
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