Synthetic Winch Line

[Bob R1]

Watching all the You Tube Vehicle Recovery video one can find. Most who use a winch a lot recommend Synthetic Winch Line. Safety being the biggest reason, closely followed by Weight. A THIRD Reason why one might want Synthetic Winch Line is LENGTH. Sixty Feet of Steel Winch Line (FIFTY FEET USE-ABLE) runs out in a hurry. Using Synthetic Winch Line EIGHTY Feet is the normal length. I have read where One Hundred Feet of Synthetic Line is do-able. I can see where having an additional Twenty or more feet of line would or could be handy.
We have looked at the Positives of Synthetic Winch Line. Weight, Ease of Use, Safety, Added Length, and Safer to Handle. One additional benefit is the ability to use the new Aluminum Do-nut Snatch Rings, instead of the heavy Steel ones.

Now for the Negatives. How much do you use your Winch????? This is going to depend a lot on what you do with your Roxor, and even where you live. I would not say that I will never do a vehicle recovery on my own vehicle with a winch. However where I drive, and how I drive, needing to do a self recovery is not going to happen very often. Snow can add a lot of potential for winch recovery use however. The how much will you use your winch question has a very important reason. The Galvanized Steel Winch Line can stay spooled on your winch for ever, and still be as good as new when you need it. If your Winch will run, the Steel Winch Line will perform. From what I read a Synthetic Winch Line is not the best choice for someone who will only need their winch once in a Blue Moon. UV will ruin the Synthetic Winch Line is probably TWO to THREE Years. This can probably be extended out longer if you keep your winch covered. You should wash your Synthetic Winch Line now and again also. Synthetic Winch Line does require a little more attention than Galvanized Steel.

So is changing to a Synthetic Winch Line a good idea???? My thought on this would be, this depends on just how much you will use the Winch. I am sure that most Winches are very seldom used for anything. A new Bright Blue, Red, Yellow, or Purple Synthetic Winch Line is Pretty all spooled up on your Winch. However if the Synthetic Winch Line is rotted down by UV before you use it the first time, changing to Synthetic Winch Line was probably not a real good idea. On the other hand if you do use your winch frequently, the Safety, Lighter Weight, Longer Length, and the ability to use Aluminum Do-Nut Snatch Blocks might justify Synthetic Line.

I am currently pondering the question, will I use my Winch enough to justify changing out my winch line every TWO YEARS???

I would like to start some discussion on Winch Recovery, and what are your thoughts on Synthetic Winch Line.

Bob R

 

[Gabe]

Yes. We have never done the synthetic for these reasons. I don't want to go and use it and the line be in poor condition. Some of our vehicles are old and so are the winches and never needed to replace the cable. If you have a vehicle sensitive to weight up front then it may be a choice. Nothing wrong with synthetic at all just didn't want the maintenace and the need to cover the winch.

 

[txroadkill]

You forgot the ability to easily mend the line if it breaks. Fast Fid

here’s some info on rope maintenance Care and Maintenance of Synthetic Ropes
winch line selection. Choose the Correct Size Winch Line

I’m running 125’ of 3/8 rope on my winch. I believe your line measurements are short. I thought on 8k winches 80’ was pretty much the standard length cable/line regardless of material type. Perhaps I’m wrong.

I’ve had my line for about 4 years now. My winch gets dusty but never muddy. Plus I keep the Roxor in a barn so the amount of light I’m sure is lessened. Whatever the skylights let thru is what it gets most days. The line still looks new and I don’t cover the winch. If it does break I’m sure it’ll be one of the outer layers that I can then mend and keep using till I get a new line put on. I’m not too worried about it breaking from UV damage. More likely to break from rubbing on something or the grit inside the line grinding the individual strands. Buy a quality rope and don’t worry. they should all have some sort of UV protection.

I went synthetic for lighter weight and ease of use. It’s nice not having to wear gloves to rig line. And I have a beast of a winch and it helps keep that weight down. 125’ plus of steel cable adds up quick. I used Tactical Recovery Equipment for my line. I like the safety thimble they have. That thing is the cats meow. But if I was to replace today I’d probably go with the masterpull superline XD.

 

[USMC]

I feel Deflated Tx, Seeing a Bronco pulled out of rocks. Not that I care for the new broncos but I am a fan of the older ones.

I will think of this photo if I need to pull a Tesla out with my Roxor!

 

[txroadkill]

To be fair that’s an essentially a bone stock bronco cept for lots of skid plates. He only had it about 6 weeks and this was its maiden run. unfortunately his rocker armor didn’t come in in time for this trip so we had to be extra careful. We were both new to this park and came across this creek crossing with huge boulders. He about freaked when he saw me rock bouncing my way thru. I knew he was gonna struggle due to lack of ground clearance. And I was right. He hung up on a rear control arm mount. I think he could have made it with more attempts but the risk of body damage was huge. Thus I winched him up and over. We had to stack rocks several times to gain enough clearance. I had to snap the pic. It’s not often you see a Roxor recovering a bronco.

 

[Bob R1]

txroadkill your Roxor looks very capable. My 2024 is the same color, and is equipped pretty much the same as yours. My Hi-Lift Jack is on the Hood. I would rather have your body style than mine. Is your winch a Warn? A friend has one like that on a RAM Charger I believe it is called. Dodge or Plymouth version of a full size Blazer. The Bronco owner probably needs to stay on an improved road

txroadkill I did some checking. Steel Winch Cable lengths are all over the place.
My Brand New 2025 Badlands ZXR12,000 # Winch comes with 65 Feet of Steel Cable.
My Warn M8 that is on my Wrangler MOAB is supposed to have 100 feet of Steel Cable.

The Badlands replacement Synthetic Cable is 3/8 x 80 Feet. Reviews are 94% positive. Probably not a bad choice for the money. $130 Retail, $110 Inside Track Club Price.

Stegodon 3/8" X 100 Feet Synthetic Cable has a 4.5 out of 5.0 Positive Rating (753 Reviews). Comes in Black, Blue, Green, and Orange.
Looks to be pretty much the same Synthetic Winch Line as FieryRed.
UHMWPE, 12 Strand Cable, 23,809# Tensile Strength
One Year Warranty on the Synthetic Line
Under $100 on Amazon (at the moment anyway)

I watched a You Tube Review showing 100 Feet of FieryRed 3/8" Synthetic Winch Line being installed on a Badlands ZXR 12,000 # winch. The winch line had about a finger width clearance with all 100 feet of line installed on the drum.

Another consideration is Pulling Power. The more wraps of Winch Line on the drum, the less pulling power the winch generates. The same principal as putting taller tires on your vehicle. The taller the tires, the less power the vehicle has without a gear change. With this in mind a very long winch line might not be the best plan if you need maximum pulling power on short length spool out pulls. The more winch line you have spooled in, the less pulling power you will generate.

I looked over several Name Brands of Synthetic Winch Line. Factor 55, Bubba Rope, Tactical Recovery Equipment, Yankum Ropes, and Custom Splice. The 3/8 x 100 Foot Synthetic Line Prices were more that I plan to invest in a Synthetic Winch Line for no more than I will use it. The prices ranged from Yankum @ $375 THRU Factor 55 (Warn Top End) @ $616.
Are the Name Brand Synthetic Lines Better Quality than Amazon Chinese Synthetic Winch Lines ?? Probably
Are name Brands worth 3X -5X more than an Amazon Synthetic Winch Line?? Good Question, that only the buyer can answer.

For my uses, I might Spend $110 + Tax (Harbor Freight Inside Track Club Price) on a Badlands Synthetic Winch Line. OR under $100 on a Stegodon or FieryRed Winch Line.
I probably would continue to use my Steel Winch Line before spending $375 Plus Tax Plus Shipping or even more on a Name Brand Synthetic Winch Line that I will not be using daily. Just My Two Cents.

EDIT: The main use of my winch is pulling Trees over, etc. It is very unlikely that I will do much if any Trail Recovery with my Roxor. Where I drive my Jeep or Roxor I have a very low chance of needing recovered. Snow might be an exception, and we have not had enough snow to worry about in years. I agree that for any serious Vehicle Recovery a Yankum or other Name Brand Synthetic Winch Rope would be a safe choice. For my infrequent use of my winch, and considering my winch use, I am not really concerned that a cheaper rope will cause me any issues.

Lets hear more of your experiences or opinions.

Bob R

 

[txroadkill]

It’s a warn 8274.

 

[Bob R1]

I believe the Warn 8274 will hold 150 feet of 3/8 Cable, if I remember correctly. You can get a long way from your work with 150 feet of Winch Line.
It might take a little thought to get 150 feet of Synthetic Line on that winch cheaply. The cheapest route might be splicing Two 80 Foot Lines.
Anyone stocking Bulk Synthetic Line, who can make a 150 foot NON-SPLICED Synthetic Cable, will no doubt be expensive.

Looks like you have a 42" Stubby Bumper on the front. Do you have the Cecco Farm Bumper on the Back?
Where did you get the Rock Rails? They look pretty good in the picture.
I really like the Grill also.
With a Twin Stick you would be close to perfection.

Bob R

 

[txroadkill]

I have the cecco tire carrier and bumper that is no longer available. The rockers are also cecco. and the 8274 can hold 150‘ of line. in regards to winches and lines don’t just settle for cheap. Remember it could very well be possible that your rig and life are dangling from a cliff, do you want cheap or quality? I’m all for saving a buck but I won’t do so at the expense of quality. Spend once cry once.

 

[USMC]

Got to agree on your reason for the quality of the cable Tx!

 

[1BB]

Something else to consider is heat. Most synthetic rope is rate at around 275 degrees max but will start losing strength well before that temperature is reach, and an electric winch will get that hot pretty quickly under a long or heavy pull. If you have 100' of rope, and under a load, you're probably running just 3 to 5 feet a minute retrieval rate, and even if you're pulling the load just 30 feet of that 100', you have a good 6 to as long as 10 minute pull, and that's a lot of heat that winch will produce. You ALWAYS have to go with worst case scenario when planning for winching.

Plus, that rope will act as an insulator and keep heat in the drum, unlike wire rope which will help dissipate that heat.

You can get rope covers or sleeves made from Kevlar which helps with protecting the rope on each end. First end from heat from the winch drum, and secondly from UV and abrasions on the leading end. They keep your rope fairly well protected when sitting and in use. They also make cheaper PVC covers that work well too, from what I've heard.

Also, all ropes these days have some sort of built in UV inhibitors that do a good job in protecting it from the sun, and will last many years. They do have several types of UV protectant products made to spray on ropes, BUT I'd check with the rope manufacturer first and ask them about it.

Lastly, with all these wildfires, that's something to consider too. There are a lot of hot embers flying around and traveling long distances, and if you live in an area with fires, that's something to think about too. I'd hate to need my winch a few months after a wildfire, only to see part of my rope melted from an ember. This goes for campfires too.

For me, I use hydraulic winches, so heat isn't a problem, and wildfires are not an issue either. I keep my winches covered, and if I use them and the rope gets dirty, I take a little time one night and wash them up in a five-gallon pail.

Synthetic rope is very easy to splice or even tie together if it does break, unlike wire rope. Plus, if wire rope breaks, look out. When I went to a recovery school in the military, they had an M88 tank retriever that was being repaired from damage done to it when the wire rope broke on its main winch. I didn't see it happen, but everyone was talking about it, and they showed it to us.

The main winch was either 60 or 80 TON SINGLE LINE PULL winch, I can't remember exactly, and I think 350 feet of 1.5" wire rope.....and they broke it. It came flying straight back and punched a hole in the hull, more like MELTED a hole. It hit so hard that it went right through over two inches of steel hull and inside the retriever. No one was hurt, but it gave everyone a whole new respect for winching and learning how to winch properly.

Synthetic rope is much safer, should you have a catastrophic failure.

 

[Bob R1]

We are having some Fire Issues, but so far nothing huge or extremely serious around my area. I do have my 25 Gallon Tank and Spray Lines in the back of Rocky filled with water so it is ready instantly in case it is needed. We got a little rain and burned trash finally yesterday. We kept an eye on it, just in case. The local Fire Fighters are busy enough with out us causing the problem. I have a Yard Hydrant in the Barn to fill a stock tank. I have a 3/4" x 25 foot Hose coming in tomorrow to connect to it. This hydrant will flow enough water to fill the tank reasonably fast. I plan to have it hooked up, and on a hose rack so that I can refill the tank quicker if I end up using the Tank Sprayer to fight a grass fire. It is not a Brush Truck, but way better than nothing. I have enough Big Mouth Water Jugs to have it field refilled in a couple minutes giving me a 50 gallon payload.

BACK TO WINCHING
Another consideration would be a Winch Extension Line. What would be the best length? My thought was getting an 80 - 100 foot winch line and cutting it in half to make two shorter extensions. Putting a Loop in will use around 2-1/2 - 3 feet of use-able length from my research. Another consideration is keeping the end with the Thimble intact on the hook end of one extension, or not. My thought would be that the Thimble would limit the use of the Extension to some degree. It would hook to a Bow Shackle with out an issue I would think. (I have not checked this with a 3/4 Bow Shackle to be sure just yet) However the small hole would be more of a problem with soft shackle hook up. I am liking soft shackles better all the time. I have Four currently spread between my Wrangler and my Roxor.

So the 80 foot line will end up making Two Extensions approximately 34 foot long. A 100 foot winch line would make a couple extensions approximately 44 feet in length. The 100 foot Line could also be made shorter, and a few Soft Shackles could be made from it also. From my reading a Soft Shackle requires approximately 7 feet of Winch Line to construct. With a 100 Foot Winch line one could get two reasonable length Extensions, and Three Soft Shackles.

Keep in mind the closest I will probably get to a Rock Crawler Recovery is watching Matt's Off Road Recovery on the computer. I like watching recoveries for entertainment as well as getting ideas on how to rig things. I might need to do something creative winch rigging, pulling over a tree some day. I do have places that I can get stuck, I just try and avoid them if possible.

I have the day off Thursday. I plan to run by Harbor Freight and pick up a Badlands 80 Foot Synthetic Line. My Roller Fairlead is still in great shape, so I will use it with the Synthetic Winch Line. Unless I get a wild hair, I will probably reuse my existing Winch Line Hook as well. At least for the time being.

I will do more studying on the Winch Line extensions before proceeding.

Bob R