Uh? Synthetic winch line melted? What happened?

[e9999]

School me, please. I've been really intrigued by synthetic winch lines -mostly because of the lower recoil in case of breakage and lighter weight advantages- but don't actually have one just yet. Then I was watching this vid. First pull with his new winch and synth line. And it got me to wonder now. What happened to his line? Check out at 9:40. Any idea what was the cause? Looks like it just melted. He may have screwed up something when using it but still, it's a bit concerning after just the one use. And especially given how expensive these things are. Thoughts?

 

[Redland]

School me, please. I've been really intrigued by synthetic winch lines -mostly because of the lower recoil in case of breakage and lighter weight advantages- but don't actually have one just yet. Then I was watching this vid. First pull with his new winch and synth line. And it got me to wonder now. What happened to his line? Check out at 9:40. Any idea what was the cause? Looks like it just melted. He may have screwed up something when using it but still, it's a bit concerning after just the one use. And especially given how expensive these things are. Thoughts?

 

[ChaseTruck]

School me, please. I've been really intrigued by synthetic winch lines -mostly because of the lower recoil in case of breakage and lighter weight advantages- but don't actually have one just yet. Then I was watching this vid. First pull with his new winch and synth line. And it got me to wonder now. What happened to his line? Check out at 9:40. Any idea what was the cause? Looks like it just melted. He may have screwed up something when using it but still, it's a bit concerning after just the one use. And especially given how expensive these things are. Thoughts?

So he cooked the rope. Difficult to be sure how it happened, but I'll venture a guess that everything bunched up on the motor side of the drum where the heat is. That might explain why it's cooked flat. Personally (and I'm not a guru on winching) I try to see how the rope goes onto the drum, and stop/reset if it's too uneven. I'd also say that the notion that "...the winch didn't turn itself off from heat, so it was probably ok..." is not a good guide to go by.

Oh, and that rope looks to me like the $90-on-Amazon-for-85ft-of-3/8" variety... I have that on one of our trucks, as well...

 

[e9999]

well, it's probably a HF rope, so likely not the marine high quality type either. I also wondered if the HF winch was maybe hotter than usual perhaps due to the specific design. Oddly, it looks like there was damage quite far from the end, so not obviously the last wrap either.

Regardless of the cause, this is not a plus for synthetic ropes if it's that easy to melt them, unless this is really a very unusual incident. Of course, the reason I noted this was that I was indeed surprised.

 

[ChaseTruck]

In the video, I couldn't really make out a reason why the rope would go to one side of the drum and bunch up there. But I thought that was the best explanation of the pattern of heat damage on the rope.
But I've seen Amazon-sourced ropes hold up just fine in pulls where the winch seemed to be stalled from load (we stopped, reset, and were successful freeing the truck trying a slightly different approach). Now, is that really comparable to what's going on in the video - most likely not.

Synthetic rope is more vulnerable to abuse. I've managed to get rope caught in a not-so-great quality snatch block, and it frayed the rope in some spots. But I am a lot more comfortable winching with synthetic rope (broken strands in a steel rope are not fun to pass through your glove when winding in the cable...), and it's at first difficult to accept that synthetic ropes are consumables with limited lifetime. Those in my possession (initially sourced here from Southeast Overland... ) have lasted a lot longer than the one in the video.

 

[renago]

might not be the best synthetic rope , but also the best Dyneema 75K rope , will be damaged if heated and pressed .
must accept that heat is a big limit to all synthetic ropes .
in this case the heavy duty 12500 lb winch has done its job of pulling ,producing too much heat for the rope .
as simple as that

 

[e9999]

^ Well, I can certainly agree to the notion that there is a limit as to what the rope can handle. However, I would also hope that the rope and winch are well matched. As in if you put a rope in a powerful winch that can generate X amount of heat, the rope should be designed to handle that. If it can't under normal use, then there is an inherent problem with the "design" of the rope, meaning it's not a good material, not big enough etc for that winch. Of course, any material can fail, but you want to choose a material that can handle normal expectations. What complicates things is the issue of the winch itself. Maybe this winch gives out more heat or dumps it in a worse spot then others and that could have created the problem.
I guess it goes back to the question of how frequent an occurrence is this. If it's frequent, then possibly the rope material is not well chosen. If very infrequent, then it's a question of other benefits vs the unlikely possible problem.
One way to look at this, I guess, is:
- if he screwed up somehow, then of course it's his fault and the rope is not to be blamed. But would be good to know what he did wrong.
- if he didn't screw up, then there is an issue (unless this is a very rare fortuitous occurrence). Surely, having it be common to fail on the first pull would be unacceptable for most.
(All this speculation, of course, is best limited to this particular combination of rope and winch.)



oh well, it's either wondering about the meaning of (rope) life or doing my taxes... no contest...

 

[John McVicker]

I’m a fan of wire rope...BUT...my ‘guess’ as to what went wrong in this video is an inferior synthetic line. That was not a hard pull at all.

Now I don’t pretend to know much about synthetic rope, maybe the damage we saw doesn’t really impact the rope. You would think that it would tho.

 

[Eyedaho]

I haven't watched many of that guy's videos, but he seems a little click baity to me. Any possibility that he wanted a dramatic video for clicks?

 

[ChaseTruck]

I’m a fan of wire rope...BUT...my ‘guess’ as to what went wrong in this video is an inferior synthetic line. That was not a hard pull at all.

Now I don’t pretend to know much about synthetic rope, maybe the damage we saw doesn’t really impact the rope. You would think that it would tho.

That particular piece of rope is for cutting up and practicing to tie button knots for shackles and the like.

 

[John McVicker]

Nah, I’ve seen some of his stuff, seems pretty legit.

 

[John McVicker]

@ChaseTruck Agree. I would not want to trust it.

 

[Shortpencils]

Uh, it's Harbor Freight... It lasted for one pull... Seems like normal service life to me...

 

[Skniper]

Well, I for one, am glad to see Coach Taylor outside doing something he enjoys since his Friday nights are quiet now.

 

[Eyedaho]

Well, I for one, am glad to see Coach Taylor outside doing something he enjoys since his Friday nights are quiet now.

I don't think Coach Taylor was quite as preachy, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Real4x4]

Firstly, this is all China made junk he's dealing with. Too bad for USA workers and too bad for his safety. Secondly, he noted that he reeled it out to inspect it and noticed it then. He likely melted it some other time while winching out heavily which is when the brake is engaged on the drum and this is what makes lots of heat in a winch, it is not the motor nor "power" of the winch. It's safe to assume the China made winch has pretty poor design features that make the China made rope melt even easier than on other winches. I dont know where the brake is on these models but that is pretty much the only way that kind of heat would be generated.

Also be aware that Dyneema rope can flatten out to some degree when pinched and put under massive stress, but it will often go mostly away after being used again and the strength wont be affected much. I can't tell how truly "melted" this stuff is but it may not be as bad as it looks. Btw that heat guard looks really cheesy.. another benefit of Chinese made recovery gear.