viking winch line

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It usually helps to post a comment with the smart ass rolly eyes.

Anyway, yes, rolling friction and sliding friction is very different, however, why chance it? I would stick with aluminum or polished steel.

Another thing...don't get any petroleum products on the rope. It affects the strength of 90% of plastics in the world.
 
Just curious, why would you want to slide a syn rope over a hawse fairlead vs a roller fairlead? Isn't this process creating lots of heat that's detrimental to the rope? Edumacate me....
 
Just curious, why would you want to slide a syn rope over a hawse fairlead vs a roller fairlead? Isn't this process creating lots of heat that's detrimental to the rope? Edumacate me....

I can't say for sure, but I have heard reports of increased pinching of the line in a roller fairlead, leading to a fray, which then leads to failure. If your hawse remains burr free then you can avoid this issue.

I know this isn't a great reason, but it is one I have heard.

Just do it because hawse fairleads are cooler looking :grinpimp: and much closer to the body than the rollers:flipoff2:.

TR
 
now im really cornfused.... I still have to get a wench for my new arb.......
now what?? what is the mavic 517's of wenches?
 
now im really cornfused.... I still have to get a wench for my new arb.......
now what?? what is the mavic 517's of wenches?

Serving wenches or cooking wenches?
 
I just got mine in this week. Looking forward to installing it.

rope.jpg
 
synthetic line=good
even if it does wear out sooner than steel, I'm impressed. Last week we pulled through a few miles of goopy mud. It meant re-rigging the line at least 10 times. Each time was a breeze, just grab the line, coil it up quickly, throw it over the shoulder to trudge through the mud, then re-rig. With steel cable it would have taken much more time and sure resulted in some cut hands/shoulders. not to mention the time when we crossed a river and simply threw the line across the first time -it floated downstream, the one "problem" with synthetic line. The second time, I tied it to the dog's collar (loosely) and she swam it across to my buddy on the other side. I wouldn't try that with steel.

In between recoveries, we could coil the line and tie it to the front bumper with a little bungy cord. If it tangled a little... no big deal, just untangle on the next rigging. With steel line, if you introduce some weird warps, it all goes to crap when you try to pay it out and you've got to get the potential kinks straightened out before you pull or you'll get a permanent kink in the cable that is a potential failure point.

The winch line did gouge a small depression into the plastic hawse fairlead on one very hard, very not-straight pull. But I figure I can grind it out if needed. Polishing the delrin is really easy-- a little sandpaper and maybe a light kiss with the torch to flame-polish it to perfection.

The rope was also pretty full of mud and grime. I hosed it off pretty well, which seems to have cleaned it up a bit. I think that I'll run it through the washing machine with some mild soap, in a pillow case, just like I used to do with my climbing ropes. I wouldn't try that with a steel cable either!

One thing that I don't like very much with the synth line: when powering the winch-line out, the drum gets hot (in-drum braking). It gets hot enough that I worry about the synth line, so instead of doing longer power-outs, I exit the vehicle, disengage the clutch, then manually spool it out. It is probably a lot better for the charging system on the cruiser as it gives the winch motor time to cool (less resistance) and it gives the alternator a little time to recharge the battery. It does mean I've gotta get my feet wet.... but I can live with that! Besides, most of the time there was plenty of line out anyway as we were too lazy to spool it all onto the winch and instead just coiled it up real quickly.

The "coiling it up quickly" really is, to me, the big advantage of the synth vs. the steel. If you haven't used a winch much and want to get an idea of the difference-- go to the hardware store and ask them to spool out 20 ft of steel cable that is about 1/2" in diameter. Try to coil that up (you might want gloves) in a circle around your elbow. Then grab some nylon rope that is 3/4" diameter (way bigger than you would use). Coil that around your arm. The difference is huge. Not just the comfort- new steel line shouldn't have many stray wires yet, but will eventually- but also the weight.



All said: I can afford to replace the line every 2 years vs. every 10 years if that is the "major drawback" to synthetic. Based on the lack of visible wear and tear from this last trip, I'm guessing that it'll last more than 2 years anyways. The convenience and ease of use of the synthetic is wonderful. From what I read, the synth line is also much safer in the event of a break in the line, which is a nice plus as when I'm out in the muck with my friend, my dog, my wife, and my cruiser..... I'd really rather none of the above suffered injury from flying steel cable.
 
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Great real world use and comments regarding the differences. I'm glad I got synthetic and am not looking back.

TR
 
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I'll be looking into synth line for the handling reason also.


I get to say something though...

I TOLD YOU SO.

Plastic on plastic....ate the haus. I'll stick with my rollers and use synth line.
 
I'll be looking into synth line for the handling reason also.


I get to say something though...

I TOLD YOU SO.

Plastic on plastic....ate the haus. I'll stick with my rollers and use synth line.

Get the aluminum hawse fairlead and save yourself some weight and clearance.

TR
 
So is there any real consensus on the proper fairlead? Is a new, non-burred metal roller fairlaid right out?
 
This is the fairlead I have: http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/products_recovery_winches.htm.

I'd like to see the synthetic line that cuts through this.

I saw a fairlead fail on a show about the Rainforest Challenge. It appeared that they did not have a single piece of aluminum and the line pulled the fairlead appart and caught the edge and tore it all to pieces. Not sure why it was made like this instead of one piece. I'll go watch it again and see if it broke.

TR
 
well... "tore it up" is maybe a bit strong-- there is a very slight depression where the friction seems to have eroded and/or melted the delrin fairlead.
I figure that I can fix the damage pretty easily.

I'm sure that part of the problem is that the superwinch feet are pretty spaced out in relation to the drum position. the Hawse fairlead is mounted on the same bolts as the "bottom" feet. This places the opening on the fairlead just a little bit lower than would be ideal (superwinch recommends a roller fairlead).

The lower position, combined with the nose-down attitude of the cruiser on this particular pull is probably what made the rope pull tight against the fairlead. FWIW: the fairlead is also a tad narrow compared to the drum on the winch.

Eventually I'd like to replace the fairlead with an AL one, that is offset a little higher than the mounting points, and wider than the current fairlead... but I'm going to wait till this delrin fairlead dies completely first, which I suspect is going to take a little while.


I think that an AL hawse fairlead would have been unmarked, but I also think that a small burr on the delrin fairlead is unlikely to cause me any trouble, whereas a burr on the AL fairlead could destroy the rope in short order.
 
So, I rewatched the show. The fairlead was metal, and oval ring with what appeared to be two tabs welded onto the sides. I broke clean in the middle of the ring on the bottom side after a very long and painful almost straight up winch with the anchor beyond the top on the flats. The failure occured as the front tires crested the hill giving the maximum pull and angle on the bottom of the fairlead.

The design of the fairlead was different from the one I got from Slee.

As for burrs, not sure why my aluminum metal would burr inside the lip that has been routered out.

TR
 
I don't get it.

PLastic was boviously melted or damaged, ok bad. Aluminum, if the metal doesn't wear the rope sure will, the softer of the two materials. I'll stick with the roller. A couple pounds is nothing in relation to what else is hanging off the front.
 
I think that the concern with rollers is the potential for the rope to catch and destroy itself... but that seems unlikely to me if the fairlead is well designed.

After looking at my winch and online some more, I've realized that the hawse fairlead that I have isn't designed right for the foot-forward placement of my winch on the ARB bar.... the slot on the fairlead sits too low. Also the 7" slot on that fairlead falls pretty shy of the width of the winch drum

so I'm thinking of putting a different fairlead on there- not sure which one I'll end up with, but the plastic roller fairlead seems like a pretty good choice, even though I prefer the low-profile and the cleaner look of the hawse
 

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