Vehicle & Technical > Defender

What Winch?

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Saffy:

--- Quote from: burgerman on November 09, 2009, 09:43:13 --- We use a "plasma" rope for comp use, cant reccomend it nearly enough. for ease of use, weight, strength and mostly safety, Due to certain situations i have been close to a plasma rope when it snapped and jolly glad it was only plasma not wire rope, It is expensive but i would not use anything else on a occasional use vehicle or a play day special,  

If you do use iit especially in muddy/stoney situations, take it off and wash it after, it greatly prolongs the life of the rope

--- End quote ---

Isn't it the case now (or will be) that winch challenge competition regulations only allow synthetic winch rope? Speaks volumes.

My self recovery winch is wound with 120 foot of 11mm dyneema bowline, now over 3 years old and I have no concerns about it lasting another 3 years. Probably saved a fair of that cost in fuel and suspension wear from not have steel cable. The equivalent size of steel is 13mm and a 120foot of 13mm steel doesn't fit on drum, the 70foot length that does fit is bloody heavy, hard to handle and needs a lot more care taking.


The winch does have a drum shield which keeps the sun off and most abrasive blasting from the road. Even though rope has UV resistant characteristics the life of synethetic rope is greatly reduced when permanently exposed to the elements, especially sunlight. It originates from sail boat rigging, so take a look how often they change out gear. If the synthetic does break or get damaged it can be easily and quickly spliced on the trail and retain high percentage of its unspliced strength.

Jed:
Ok all, i'm sold,

Thanks for all ya info on what winch ta get.
 
Well I have spent a grate deal of time looking at this n that, Gearing, Deals, Makes, Brakes, Motors, Power n Amps.

I have spoken to lots of people, Club members, Winch maker's n Winch suppliers and Feed back form you guy's
and have found out that even tho a winch From one supplier may look just like a winch from another supplier on the outside goes a long way short of being the same on the inside.

Granted that the power and output may be the same, but seals, gears n all the little bits that make ya winch work when ya need it most are not.

For a lot of people and most of the time the winch on the front of ya motor just sits there n looks mean, but when ya need it, it's got ta work, n work well.

So as a marshal for a land rover club my winch will get used quite a lot, and worked hard.

So in short I have gone for the one supplier that gave me the best n most info, and the best service.

David Bowyer
From
www.goodwinch.com/

Jed

clbarclay:
Even for recreational use I prefer plasma. I got both steel and plasma with ropes with my winch and the steel was past its best after about the forth time I used it.

With steel you have to ensure that tension is kept on the cable at all times, otherwise its springiness causes it to unwind on the drum and it never rewinds evenly onto the drum if you just reapply the tension. This can then cause the top layers of rope to get pinched between or crush loose bottom layers (what happened to mine).

This is particularly annoying if winching with drive assist, where most winches under no load are still slower than most 4x4s in slowest gear tick over, so even a brief moment of grip looses the tension. With a synthetic rope only the last wind or 2 goes loose and this tends to re-tighten nicely again when load is applied again.

Range Rover Blues:
I've been near a synthetic rope that snapped, it didn't even recoil enough to cope out of the fairlead.  Steel cables will stretch like a spring, but also they want to coil back up when released so if they snap (and they do) then the resulting recoil is pretty nasty.  As said it can cut you, your truck etc like a hot knife through butter.

Plasma is lighter, stronger, floats, easier to splice and doesn't have the nasty barbs like worn steel wire.  Just watch the internal brake temp for melting it, the EP9 has an extarnal brake which is another reason it was so popular.


TBH if Dave Bowyer recomends the TDS then it must be pretty good.  I've I ever replaced my EPi9 then I'd get one.

davidlandy:
I have run wire for many years and have never really had an issue with it and have never snapped it or seen any snap.  I have seen plenty of plasma s snap though.  Agree that they are safer when they do go, but what about the vehicle on the other end when it snaps, say its winching up a steep hill, or down a slope and the plasma breaks - that could be a lot more catastophic than a wire flying around it could be argued. With plasmas snapping more , the likelihood of that occurring could be higher the wire.

All that said I am now on plasma , and I like it cos it easier to handle.

As winches go, on a budget the EP9 is a great piece of kit, the first thing i would do though for any winch would be to move the solenoids and relocate them high up under the bonnet somewhere.

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