Winch ropes ?

Can you explain your formula for the strength of the rope Jan as it doesn't make much sense to me?
My understanding is that for a rough estimate of the SWL of normal rope you use 'diameter squared' but of couse syththetic winch rope is far stronger than that. Normally when working out a safe working load you would take the tested breaking strain & divide by a safety factor not multiply it?. Of course for winching a SWL is not used at all anyway only for lifting.
Many synthetic ropes advertise a minimum breaking strain of 17,500lb or 8 tonne.
Cheers Craig..........

Hi Craig,

Peter here the formula is a guide to obtain the approx. SWL
but the breaking forces are then added on depending on the use of the wire rope
also how many wires there are in a strand then how many strands in the wire rope. if you look up Nobles lifting gear they have tables for all ropes.

Wire rope on winches is called aircraft wire normally 7 strands of 19 wires which is strong but still you uses the rule of thumb formula if its a 10mm dia. rope

10 x 10 x 8 for steel = 800 x the breaking force of winch ropes is 5
800kgs x 5 = 4000kgs breaking force when new

Synthetic ropes are manufactures breaking force strength when they give you
the size say 8000kgs it will break approx at 8000kgs when new
.
The problem with synthetic is that nature and man does a lot of damage to it ie
dirt, sunlight, heat of the engine, friction, oil and grease they all break it down you need to was the stuff all the time in soapy water hassels, also you dont know when its going to break, whith wire it does warn you it starts to sing like a humming sound been there 55mm dia went off one day on the job.

hope this helps long live FSWR i love it , any more info required please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards Peter

I agree Craig with what you have said, another benefit of the synthetic rope is that it does not have the dangerous shock recoil that the wire rope has should it break under load.

I went synthetic mainly due to weight saving.

Do you mean Amsteel Blue??? This is the rope I have had on my winch for 6 years and it is great - no sign of any damage. Bought mine from okoffroad in the US. Great company and very easy to deal with. I actually sold my wire cable for more locally than it cost to get the Amsteel blue from the US inclusive of an aluminium hawse.

Yep ,the same , had it now for round 5yrs so the old brain could not remember the exact brand name ,lol , came with a polished alloy hawse gratis.

"saves close to 30kg"
Might pay to get your scales fixed. The whole winch only weighs between 45 to 60kg. On my scales 30m of cable & a roller come in at under 15kg, still a great saving for something that doesn't need to be there.
A 12,000lb on your Rodeo would near near lift it clear off the ground :-) A nice sized winch.
Cheers Craig.............

Hi Dave

I purchased the Tigerz with the synthetic rope and in my opinion the
rope is of fairly poor quality, after one use the rope ended up with a lot of broken fibres and the dye used to colour the rope is not permanent, except when your hands turn blue from using the rope! A better option would be to put the money saved into buying a good quality synthetic.
Mine has been replaced with 3/8" Rugged Ridge Synthetic rope from CSE offroad in the US.

Chris

Personally recon that the weight of a winch hanging of the front is negated by the fridge ect loaded in the back lol , as for rope degrading ,its no more so than some of the rusted/splintered wire ropes u see in use , its all about maintenance for either one,. bloke on Ebay is flogging off a cradle that converts a b/bar mounted winch into a portable for $99.