dlong83

Was pulling out of a mild whole yesterday and my winch cable decided to let lose. I'm a firm believer in warn winches have had a couple on other vehicles but for the amount I was stuck and spent in the winch this should of never happened. So my question is to go to synthetic rope or stick with cable?

2000chersport

I'd stay with cable. The worst that can happen to it is kinking. The rope stuff can get damaged or frayed or cut much easier

Lowrange2

Go with rope. Stuff works awesome!

Which brand rope have you owned?

The worst that can happen is it can kink? The OP posted because his cable BROKE. I'm pretty sure that's worse than a kink...

Sure, it has the ability to be cut. If you take care of it the way it should be it is FAR superior to cable.

It won't kink, it won't fray, it's a lot stronger than the same size cable, IF it does break it can be spliced back together in the field and if it breaks it won't snap back and fly violently all over the place. It just falls on the ground.

I've had my winch rope for about 3 years now. I've done a LOT of hard pulls and it's never broke.

Keep it clean and don't let it rub on the rocks when you pull and you won't have a problem out of it.

Rock Toy

First, how old was the cable you broke? If it was older have you inspected it for corrosion and kinks? Was the cable installed correctly on the drum or was it a birdsnest? You stated that it let lose, what exactly happen did the cable itself break or did the something else happen?

Lowrange2

Title:

"Warn x80001 cavle snaped"

I'm betting that means that his cable broke...

Rock Toy

It could have, or the loop could have came apart, or he could have had to much cable out and the mount could have pulled out of the drum, or the cable could have actually parted.
5/16s cable with no defects shouldn't have any problems with a 4000 or for that matter a 6 or 7 thousand lb rig, that is why I asked the obvious question.

dlong83

I had maybe 10 feet out of the winch there was no frays corrosion nothing. Cable appeared to be in great shape. I've herd good and bad about the rope.

Lowrange2

What have you heard bad about the rope?

If you take care of your stuff then you'll never have an issue out of the rope.

If it breaks you can splice it back together in 5 minutes... can't do that with steel.

Rock Toy

Cable can be spliced, it shouldn't be spliced but it can be spliced. If you only lost 10 feet I would just repair the end and run a 90 or 115 foot cable. [ I'm not sure of the length because you didn't state what Warn winch you were running. ]

The only things bad I know about synthetic rope is that dirt left in the rope grinds against the fibers and will cut and weaken the rope over time, that and that UV rays deteriorate the fibers so the rope should be covered when not in use.
Like Lowrange stated if you take care of synthetic rope it will last a long time, I pull the rope off the Cherokee winch and wash it out with a water hose anytime I use it in mud. I also unroll the steel cable on my CJ2A and spray it with WD40 every spring.
I've never had a problem with either.

cruiser54

Use a ****** block and reduce the load on whatever you use by 1/2. Also slows the pull down to half speed for more control.

Lowrange2

lol, The last thing I need it to slow my winch down...

cruiser54

My old 8000 and 8274 were too fast and sucked the battery down fast. 2 Group 31s and a ****** block. Tons of power!!

Lowrange2

I have a Smittybilt XRC8 on the front of my junk at the moment. If it were any slower it'd be going backwards...

cruiser54

I see. Having owned a towing and recovery business, I have an appreciation for slow and powerful, especially when I'm assuming liability.

Lowrange2

Mine is slow and a 5 on the 1-10 powerful scale.

The Jeep we just bought has an M8000 on it. Needless to say, I'm now looking for an M8000.