Winch rope

[barnelly]

Hi Chuck here,
This is my third post so far so good, on my first post I referred to my new second hand Warn winch having an over ride in the rope, and attaching to a power pole to unwind it,
My question is should the rope be rewound after recovery in a neat parallel coil on the drum?
Or in spiral fashion where the coils overlap diagonally, The way I see it is if they are nice and neat when the pressure comes on the rope is drawn into the layer below causing an over ride.
Hope the question makes sense!

[BillsGU]

If you are talking about steel wire rope - it should NEVER cross over or overlap. This will put a kink in the rope and weaken it at that point. Synthetic rope is a lot more foregiving.

After getting home from doing a recovery - the rope should be unwound, cleaned and rewound in tight parallel coils making sure it does not cross over itself.

[barnelly]

Thank you for that.
Its Spectra, so nice and tight it is.
Chuck

[MudRunnerTD]

Not sure what Spectra is? Is that Steel or synthetic? Synthetic is the opposite and should be coiled in parallel and add random cross overs across the spool often to avoid that embedding of the rope into the spool.

[MEGOMONSTER]

Not sure what Spectra is? Is that Steel or synthetic? Synthetic is the opposite and should be coiled in parallel and add random cross overs across the spool often to avoid that embedding of the rope into the spool.

Spectra is what some synthetic ropes are made of.

[threedogs]

coil it nice and tight and the last 10ft or so you can criss cross across the drum.
You would never winch this short anyway

[MudRunnerTD]

coil it nice and tight and the last 10ft or so you can criss cross across the drum.
You would never winch this short anyway

Hey John,

If you have Synthetic rope then you should criss cross across the drum at random right through the spool. This will provide cross section layers and stop the rope sinking into the spool when under load.

Your rope should be respooled after every use if you can, it does not take long on a synthetic rope and will ensure you have a winch ready to go every time. Last thing you want to do is sort out your rope when your in trouble.

[the evil twin]

Synthetic rope should not be laid "neatly and parallel" for it's full length on most (I stress most not all) low mount winches.

All the low mount winches I have played with rely on the drum dissapating a lot of the heat via the steel cable (good heat conductor) and there being an air gap inbetween the cable turns.

If you "pack" the synthetic rope onto the drum the heat cannot escape and if you have a drum brake and winch out extensively will melt the first few layers into a solid mass.
I've had two Warns given to me for repairs and they looked like someone had wrapped plastic dinner plates around teh drum

If your winch is a high mount OR designed to take synthetics OR has an external brake then no problem and all you have to watch out for is overruns and loops

[barnelly]

Hi chuck here.
Thanks for the feed back
Lot's of info and as all seem to recommend a diagonal rewind for the rope thats the way it stays.
as for the name "Spectre" it's a clone from kevlar use in the yachting world, a trade name for an arimide fibre .

[MudRunnerTD]

Synthetic rope should not be laid "neatly and parallel" for it's full length on most (I stress most not all) low mount winches.

All the low mount winches I have played with rely on the drum dissapating a lot of the heat via the steel cable (good heat conductor) and there being an air gap inbetween the cable turns.

If you "pack" the synthetic rope onto the drum the heat cannot escape and if you have a drum brake and winch out extensively will melt the first few layers into a solid mass.
I've had two Warns given to me for repairs and they looked like someone had wrapped plastic dinner plates around teh drum

If your winch is a high mount OR designed to take synthetics OR has an external brake then no problem and all you have to watch out for is overruns and loops

Hi ET,

Yes most Low Mount winches run an internal Drum brake as you stated, if you run a Synthetic Winch rope on a Low Mount with an internal drum brake you should install a protective sheath for the first wrap around the drum at a minimum.

Far more important IMO is Avoid Winching OUT as much as possible. Use the free spool every time. Winch out only in Extreme circumstances. The internal Drum brake is fully engaged while winching out and creates huge Heat at the centre of the drum. As you state the wire rope conducted this heat as apposed to the Synthetic that melts.

If a low mount is used for forward winching only then very little heat will be created. The Drum Brake will engage every time you take your finger Off the pull button but as there will be little slip drag friction the heat will be far less.

In saying that though, a Low Mount running synthetic Rope should have the rope inspected after each trip out where it has been used. Good idea to have a good look at it while you have it off to wash it if it got dirty.