I did enough research on this stuff to know that it is what I wanted on my winch. But when I actually got it in hand, it only reinforced my decision. I'm not very experienced in winching while off road. I've only done a few basic recoveries of actual stuck trucks. However, I have used the Warn 6000 that I have on the Series for doing the work on trees that I constantly have going in my back yard. I've done 50-60 pulls, including with block and tackle, off center, or back to the truck, up hill, down hill, whatever.
Here are the pros:
Links:
Here are the pros:
- Light weight (the winch cable weighed in at about 20 lbs, the rope is about 2 lbs.)
- It floats
- You don't need to wear gloves to handle it, light duty gloves for actually running it through your hands would be optimal.
- When the line breaks, it is much less dangerous than a wire rope. In fact, unless it has some tackle attached, I'd venture to say that even if you happened to be directly in line, you would not end up with debilitating injury. A big welt? Yes. But this isn't a license to go doing stupid things.
- When the line breaks, it is repairable in the field. You'd lose a few feet of length, but you'd be able to reattach and keep winching.
- When you don't keep tension on the spool, the line does not have spring in it that causes it to unwind -- it stays neat on the drum.
- A kink is not a kink. Just turn it over and untwist like a normal rope.
- It does not permanently kink if bent. Nor does it permanently flatten. Both of these would cause bumps and gaps in the spool when on the drum.
- When pulling it off the drum, it flops nicely to the ground where you want, not in big spools of heavy steel that cause tripping hazards and such.
- Other modifications or repairs can be done to the line by the average user with some practice and without special tools.
- It must be kept from sharp edges, rocks especially.
- A heat source near it would be bad.
- Some fuzziness in the threads from use is normal, but if any one strand is damaged, the rope should probably be replaced.
- It should be kept clean. And cleaned after each use.
- You can't just drag it across the ground or over a log, or whatever.
- Long term UV damage is probably a thing.
- Use of more expensive tackle to avoid fraying is probably a thing.
- It is more expensive.
Links:
- The rope I have: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077D1C72Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 X-Bull is a real company, and the rope specs checked out as far as I could see. Another option would be to buy in bulk as a group, and make your own lines.
- Breaking:
- Knots:
- Breaking in the field... not sure what to think of this guy and his knots, but you can get a clear picture of what a straight line break would look like when pulling a truck, twice: