Thursday, Oct 18, 2007 at 10:13
Terry,
A strand here or there on your cable isn't too much of a drama. It won't greatly reduce the strength of your cable (I'm talking of the small single wires sticking out of your winch cable).
I would be much more concerned about flat spots and kinks in the cable reducing strength by a larger margin. If you are concerned it is best to replace the cable, with wire or synthetic, or get it checked by a 4WD
shop you trust, or a testing authority.
As for getting the wire back on the drum neatly. When I did my work 4WD training we were shown a great way to get the wire back on neatly.
Find a gentle slope with an anchor point that allows you to run out the full length of cable. Keeping six wraps of cable on you drum attach the cable to your anchor (tree). Winching safely, tree-trunk protector, rated equipment and dampner etc, begin winching.
The idea is to keep the wire coming in at ten degrees off centre. It is a little hard to explain but, if your wire is winding on from the drivers' side to the passenger side you would keep a ten degree angle on the wire off centre to the right. When the wire gets across the drum and starts to come back you turn the
wheels to move the wire ten degrees to the other side.
In effect the angle of the wire coming onto the drum pulls against the previous wrap tightening it up. You end up with a factory looking winch cable - neat - but tight on the drum. Winching with only 20' of cable out will not damage the lower layers due to the tightness of cable on the drum.
The synthetic rope can been put on 'less neatly' to make it easier to free spool out. The rope is hollow and won't crush like cable. It is heaps easier to handle - like ski-rope - and is terriffic in the snow. It is as easy as unspooling your cable and removing and replacing with rope and then re-spooling under load. Most manufacturers recommend a hause fairlead, not roller fairlead.
Some synthetic rope have a UV block on them to stop them breaking down in sunlight. Some of this is
water soluble so I went for a sheathed version. The sheath also prevents dust, grit and dirt getting into the rope which is bad - if left it will abraid the rope from the inside out. The upside is if dirty the rope can and should be washed.
Hope this helps.
Tim
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