Winch cables

draff,

I just stick with cable. The synthetic stuff I am told doesn't like getting dirty or gritty and has a tendancy to melt when the winch drum gets hot plus it is very expensive.

But there are many advantages I believe also.

I think that my ideal setup would be to have both. I'd keep the wire cable on the drum, and use a polymer rope as a winch extension.

There is, I believe, a difference in what temperature some of the various brands can endure - some are better than others.... IF you are going to replace the wire rope altogether.

Polymer rope is light - and floats on water, so in my mind is ideal for somewhere like the Cape for water crossing duties. Being light, it's also great for the navvy to grab hold of and scramble up that 'lil hill in front of you...................... without the complaints ;)

I don't know what is available for 4wd winch but if that's similar to what is used for mooring systems of oil & gas facilities then here are some characteristics you may want to consider:

- lightweight
- low resistance to abrasion
- low resistance to UV
- elastic behaviour
- probably low resistance to high temperature but in mooring they are usually under water so not sure about that one.

Sly.

For the same price as plasma i can have 46 x 8 mts of wire rope on the winch and 2 x 48 mtr spares in the 4wd .

Thanks for all the responses. I should give some more info on what this is going tro be used for. It is to be used on a winch which will be mounted to a Road Accident Rescue truck. The main use of the winch is in vehicle stabilisation so it won't be used as a recovery winch(hopefully). What we are after is safety, ease of use, resistants to abrassion. Because of the environment this will be used for we were thinking to low recoil, having no sharp edges etc would be a benefit but I have never used them.

No experience however it is lighter and stronger.