when is it time to replace the wire rope in a winch?

[Biscuits]

the obvious answer that comes to mind, is after it breaks. but not wanting a flying piece of wire coming through my windscreen, an observers leg, a loved ones arm, or even worse... ruining an esky that I had to sit outside the cabin to get to the recovery gear!!!

Seriously though, I got all tangled up a couple of weekends ago, dragging a mate up a pretty steep, muddy root ridden hill, and the below pics are after I got all the wire off the drum, what are your thoughts on how bad is bad is bad enough to need replacement?

[NissanGQ4.2]

Mate, I know nothing about winches, never owned one, but looking at that bottom pick, I would get rid of it.

I assume by the last pick the wire has frayed?

[nissannewby]

Mate it needs to be replaced. If there are any broken strands, bird nesting, kinks, squashed flat sections there are also measurements you can take and its under a certain diameter for the specific wire rope then it also needs to be replaced.

[hekarewe]

rule of thumb and i should heed his as my rope needs to be replaced ,,,, any kinks and squashed rope needs to be replaced if it is towards the end of the rope nearest the drum and your not running it out that far then you may be able to get away with for a little bit but any kinks etc it should be replaced.

[macca]

Do yourself a favour and get a dynema or same sort of rope you will be amazed how good it is to use.

I have a brand new steel rope in the shed that came off the winch when I got it, synthetic went straight on.

[nissannewby]

x2 with macca the synthetic rop is awesome so much better to man handle, it floats, if it breaks you can tie it back together to get out of trouble, and it has very little stored energy cos of its weight and design so isnt as dangerous if it lets go.

[LittleJohn]

great pics Buscuit,

hey boys, does rope/dynema deteriorate if it sits rolled on the drum at all?

like dynema fishing line does... in any way

[Winnie]

great pics Buscuit,

hey boys, does rope/dynema deteriorate if it sits rolled on the drum at all?

like dynema fishing line does... in any way

It is UV stabilised so I would say not.

[Bloodyaussie]

Yeah my cable copped a beating last trip out and it was in perfect condition, now it's Synth for me....

[the ferret]

Yep, any broken wires or nasty kinks that will lead to broken wire is a no no.
Dyneema is good but doesn't like sunlight, easy fix, chuck a bag over the winch when not in use.
Cheers, the ferret.