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synthetic winch line brake heat protection

Nimrod

Degenerate Jeeper
NAXJA Member
Location
Duck River
I’m posting this in the XJ modified tech section because I can’t find a better place, but it’s really not XJ-specific.

It’s about time I upgrade to a synthetic winch line and ditch the heavy and dangerous steel cable that’s spooled up on my Warn m8000 winch. I understand that a synthetic line needs protection from heat generated by the winch brake mechanism. Some of the lines I’ve been looking at come with thermal insulation for the first wrap, but the insulation only covers the first five feet of line. I haven’t measured, but my strong sense is that the first wrap will use more than five feet of line, leaving some of the line in direct contact with the drum. Will this be a problem? Or can I expect that heat from the brake will not travel the whole length of the drum?

Any insight or advice would be appreciated.
 
I have never worried about the heat, and my existing line (which is WARN, BTW) does not have any heat protection.

In the past I have used both Masterpull and Viking winchlines with a heat shield. Both lines had enough protection to more than cover the first wrap.

I do suggest going up to a 3/8 line.
 
Only time you really heat the drum is when you spool out, or what I was told. Most use the free spool for long out and winching out is only done for short durations.

Due to the location of mine on the crawler I don't have a free spool option and power in and out, not had a problem and I'm running a really old X-line from ORW.
 
you generally see the most heat increase when powering out. Ive measured a 76°F change. for a final temp of 164°. syn ropes will start to deteriorate at 140°. Strength will also rapidly decrease at that temp. There are several companies that sell heat guards for rope, so even kevlar braided.



some of the new ropes will have a heat/uv/chafe resistant outer covering. technora is frequently the cover over the dyneema rope, then coupled with a poly or kevlar heat shied for the best performance.



also there are some ropes that are starting to use a higher resin content along with a tighter weave for better chafe protection and strength.



fyi when tested the warn 3/8" spydura pro broke at 23500 lb.
 
I'm running an UltRanger 3/8" synthetic cable on my X20 winch and never had any issues with heat damaging the rope. The rope is double layered though so maybe that keeps it protected. Going on 2 years with the same rope.
 
Good info from everyone. Since I don’t anticipate ever needing to power out more than a couple inches just to slack the line, I’m not going to worry too much about heat protection.
 
The Superwinch, or at least the Talon series, does not have the brake in the drum, but in an end, so no issue of heat build-up on the drum in power-out mode...

Not pertinent to the OP's issue/consideration, but thought I'd mention. Otherwise, yes, I would think, as per recommendations, the protective sleeve is a good idea.
 
I'm running an UltRanger 3/8" synthetic cable on my X20 winch and never had any issues with heat damaging the rope. The rope is double layered though so maybe that keeps it protected. Going on 2 years with the same rope.


if its the new x20 with wireless remote, the brake is mounted on the motor and will not create any heat that would significantly effect the drum temps. during testing of that winch i only saw a 2-3° temp increase over the 10 min test. There are a few other winches with a out-of-drum brake , they also tend to freespool with little to no drag.



one word of advise, stay away from the off brand winch ropes you find for incredibility cheap. Many of the amazon special of sub $200 ropes ive tested fail below 12k and many are severely over rated. ive seen 3/8" ropes fail any where from 12k-21k during testing.
 
if its the new x20 with wireless remote, the brake is mounted on the motor and will not create any heat that would significantly effect the drum temps. during testing of that winch i only saw a 2-3° temp increase over the 10 min test. There are a few other winches with a out-of-drum brake , they also tend to freespool with little to no drag.



one word of advise, stay away from the off brand winch ropes you find for incredibility cheap. Many of the amazon special of sub $200 ropes ive tested fail below 12k and many are severely over rated. ive seen 3/8" ropes fail any where from 12k-21k during testing.
Yeah it's the newer version. Good to know.

I've got 40-50 pulls on this line so far with one being a crew cab f350 from a lake with a blown motor.

I wouldn't recommend it if it was garbage but I agree there are a loy of crappy synth lines on amazon/ebay.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
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