Heat sleeves make on full wrap around the drum to protect the rope from heat. It can be used as a guard but its actual use is on the drum.

Edit: let me clarify. I was just leaving work when I posted that so I was in a hurry. There is an abrasion guard and a heat guard. Heat guard wraps around your drum. Abrasion guard goes on the end of the rope that has your hook. The heat guard can be used as an abrasion guard if you don't want to protect your winch from heat generated should you ever need to use your power out feature. I, personally, would put a heat guard in place for those unknown situations assuming your brake is internal. Syn rope is far too costly to risk not protecting it properly. But that's just me.

 

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f27/w...eature-556710/

 

I suspect if you don't power out under load the entire cable, it wont get hot enough to melt it.

 

I'm not talking about melting it. High temps weaken the rope and over time it degrades the strength. I'd imagine the drum would have to be extremely over worked to melt syn rope. All of this varies though between the weekend trail rider and the hard core trail riders. It also depends on the rope you purchased. Best quality will obviously withstand more abuse.

Back on original point though..this is why winches are being made with brakes outside of the drum so it doesn't heat up and damage the rope regardless how long you use power out. If I had an internal brake I'd definitely invest in a heat guard because it is better to be prepared for the unexpected than trash your rope because you weren't prepared. The heat guards are cheap too.

 

Where can I get that deal??

 

Amazon is where I got mine. Maybe it was $350 I don't remember. Lol

 

Still not bad..

I was going to get the harbor freight badlands 12k..its 399 I believe...

Any thoughts on the harbor freight winches??

 

I avoid harbor freight stuff unless it's a hand tool. Way too many bad experiences with it.

 

That's the one I purchased. Reviews were saying their boxes were smashed but mine came in perfect condition so just depends on your shipper I guess. If you don't have a prime account then you won't get free shipping but if you Google the part number you'll find other places selling it with free shipping.

 

I have a Milemarker 8,000 lbs. that I'm about to put on my XJ. I got it several years ago for $229.00 brand new. I had it on my truck and just got one of the Q-series 11,000 lbs one from Quadratec. Anyway, for an XJ, you want at least an 8,000. More if you can afford it. Any name brand is ok. So far, I like the Q-series. I use it seveal times a week at work and so far, it has worked flawless.

 

My buddy has a mile marker that he got for a steak during some sort of sale or special they had going. He uses the thing ALOT. but other than what I see out of his and how great it works for him I hear alot of bad stuff.

He has his on a yj and I've seen it pull just about all my friends trucks and himself. And when he gets stuck he is stuck. Lol

 

I am not a big wench kind of guy. I like smaller wenches. I mean they still will pull hard enough to get you out. Sometimes you have to give the wench a little help. But as long as your machine comes loose then that is what counts.

Also smaller wenches are much lighter and you can mount them almost anywhere. Then add a ****** block and double the pull.

 

Ok, I'm sorry... But that was funny as hell.

 

Here's a warning I found for using syn rope on drums that aren't made for them.

Warning: Synthetic rope cannot be used on this off-road winch. Synthetic rope can only be used on winches with steel drums designed specifically to withstand the rigorous forces created-by synthetic rope; for example the Superwinch Terra Series, the Danny O'Day S4000, the S4000SR or the Talon Series. In addtion, the heat generated by the brake which is located inside the Tiger Shark drum exceeds the heat limitations of Dyneema synthetic rope. Many of our competitors will sell you a winch with a similar brake in drum setup with aftermarket synthetic rope and will not warn you of the damage which may occur to the winch, rope, vehicle or injury to the winch operator.

 

Serious offroad has a killer deal right now