Winch Cable questions

[53Crusher]

Cable Wire

Thanks Dave! Based on the responses, I think I have been able to find an original Safe-Line clamp from John Smith in Colorado. Hopefully I can take it apart and re-assemble with new wire. I also like your suggestion of painting the wire red when we get into the "danger zone". I've seen some You-tube videos of how to do the "Flemish Eye" and will give it a shot. Thanks again to everyone in the "Power Wagon" family! What a great crew we have!

[Doc Dave]

Tim,
If you the you tube is not helpful, let me know and i will try and find the book. I can send it for your perusual.
The main thing is a the "BFH" approach....a 24 inch or more pipe wrench to really apply the torque to the clamp in the vice.
If the flemish eye does not make it as "fat" as you think it should be before tightening, wrap, in a gentle spiral fashion, a loose strand over the braid to add a bit more diameter.

[Jerry Henry]

[QUOTE=53Crusher;99744]I also like your suggestion of painting the wire red when we get into the "danger zone".

I might add to Dave's suggestion about the red paint. Paint your fingers red so you can keep track of them. Winches have been known to be hard on hands and fingers.
Seriously, another good practice is to use a heavy rag, well oiled, to run the cable through instead of gloves. It's a lot easier to let go of the rag if there is a strand of wire sticking out, than to get your hand out of the glove. JH

[75Crew]

Winch line

Since the discussion is about winch lines, I thought I'd take it off in a tangent direction...With my LU-2 PTO winch installed on the front of my '75 Crew Cab PW, I decided to go with 3/4" synthetic winch line rated at 12,000#. I had an occasion to use it the other night when I got my 3/4T Suburban daily driver stuck in the middle of an unplowed road at 1:00AM during a 7" snow fall the day after we had just received a 15" snow fall. It took several hitches to get it out but the PW, winch and cable performed flawlessly and the Suburban came out of the ordeal undamaged. I've done a lot of winching over the years with older and newer PW's and tow trucks but never used a synthetic winch line before now. The big advantage is that you don't have to worry about frayed wires catching your gloves and you don't have be concerned about a broken winch line releasing its energy and hurling something through your windshield. I'm interested in what others have to say about synthetic winch line vs. steel cable.

[53Crusher]

synthetic rope

I've seen your synthetic rope in action at the rally! Strength was not an issue at all. I too would like to hear what people have to say. Am also interested in cost comparisons of wire vs synthetic. Seems to me there would also be a lot less weight on our old springs.

[Desoto61]

I read into it after seeing them talk about it on one of the 4x4 shows. Apparently the downsides to synthetic are cost and durability. The synthetic cable is much less resistant to abbrasion then steel cable, so good fairleeds, and routing to make sure the cable doesn't rub is important to longevity, even dirt and sand in the rope can cause it to wear out faster. Being a synthetic fiber it can also be damaged by long term UV exposure.

So it floats, doesn't store energy, is lighter, stronger, and safer than steel cable, but it costs more and will not last as long or take as much abuse as steel. I'm sure there's more but that's the basics I found from my earlier research.

[Jerry Henry]

I am too old-school to be willing to put synthetic cable on my WDX. I would regard it as in the same category of aluminum wheels. No offense to anyone who is so inclined.
One negative I can mention is the 3/4" diameter would reduce the total length of cable you could spool oto the winch.
The positives have already been mentioned, and, again, for those inclined toward the product, the positives are valid, especially for safety.

[Charles Talbert]

OSHA, legality, etc.

The U-style clamps; Crosby or otherwise are not approved for winch or overhead lifting use these days, so as far as legality goes, in the event of a failure, lots of legal issues could come your way if you are caught using these. Same goes for the old Safe-Line clamps. Federal work place regulations no longer agree with the name deeming them as not safe also.

In order to have a leg to stand on; legal winch cables today must have either a swaged socket, spelter socket, or manual beckett end termination; also must be load tested and certified (with accompanying written documentation) to hold a predetermined load. If a failure occurs causing injury and no documentation is in hand; God help you in a legal battle.

Not saying a new safe-line is not good if installed carefully and correctly. It is a factor that better options exist these days. Safe-Line technology is now days gone by. Absolutely no way I would even consider installing a take-off safe-line clamp from any vendor source.

[pwrwagonfire]

Tim. You should always have a couple of full wraps of cable on the drum when using it to pull. In that way, there will really be no strain on the end fastener, whether you use the set screw type or the u-bolt type.. JH

This. The Wm300s which I have replaced the winch cable on (two of them) have both had a little hole to thread the cable into on the drum, then a set screw tightened it down...what really holds the cable to the drum is the 2 or 3 wraps mentioned here.

[75Crew]

Synthetic winch line

Thanks for the responses regarding the synthetic winch line. When I purchased my synthetic winch line about 2 years ago, it came with an aluminum Hawse fairlead which I installed in front of the winch. It also came with a steel reinforced loop to which I attached a 6' length of 1/2" High Test G40 chain and grab hook rated at 9200# working load. The length (95') easily fits on the winch drum. The cost of the synthetic line and fairlead was about $100 and the chain, hook and connection hardware was about $90. I bought the synthetic line on-line and the chain from a local oilfield supply store. Don't know about deterioration from UV yet as I normally park it in a carport out of the sun. I can certainly agree with the opinions here supporting wire rope over synthetic rope. I guess it ultimately comes down to the preference of the owner. It's nice to have choices when we restore and continue to use our old trucks. By the way, I have aluminum wheels on the truck, too...

[Jerry Henry]

Thanks for the responses regarding the synthetic winch line. By the way, I have aluminum wheels on the truck, too...

Ha! No offense intended on the aluminum wheels. Notice in my post I was speaking of my '46 WDX Power Wagon.

[75Crew]

I thought I'd throw the part in about aluminum wheels for a bit of humor...absolutely no offense taken. I probably wouldn't have put synthetic winch line or aluminum wheels on my 1947 PW back in the day, even if they were available, which they probably weren't. Have a great week!