Broke my rope on the trail...

[cewtwo]

Well, it happened. I broke my synthetic winch rope while doing a pull.

At least this time, I was pulling on my own Jeep.

Now I am completely sold on the rope.

The Mighty YJ is lockered front & back. The lockers can sometimes get you into trouble on a sideways slide (like when you are trying to snow bust). The YJ was slowly pulling to the passenger slide and slipping deeper in to the loose snow. We got out the winch rope and tried a hard pul to the driver's side.

We were doing well when the rope pulled tight and started to cut into the nylon ferr head. After a moment or two, the rope broke. You would barely know that it had. I stepped to the side and as I brought my head up, I saw the rope break. It was a simple break and both pieces fell to the ground.

I recently put a new switch set for the winch controls inside the cab.

If someone had been outside the cab watching the rope as it pulled, the rope situation would (possibly) not have happened. But, as the Winch does represent a heavy battery usage (and you may need to keep a foot on the skinny pedal), who knows...

I looked at the situation and thought about it. I had no experience with repairing nylon ropes, so i taped the 2 ends together for abouth three feet, ran it back on the drum until the rope join was covered (2 to 3 full twists around the drum). As the ferr head was cut into, I reversed it on the YJ. I resituated the tree strap onto a closer tree for a straighter pull and the YJ came right out.

I got the YJ home, did a little research and had the rope repaired within 2 hours. Next time it will take even less time. Pretty cool to know how to do it. It is as strong as it was before I started the repair.

What did I learn? 3 basic things.
1a - Don't use a nylon ferr head. The rope on the winch drum is stronger than the nylon head.
1b - If you do use a nylon ferr head, make sure your pulls are within the limits of the nylon ferr head.
3 - When possible, start the pull using the winch remote switch outside.
4 - I know how to repair the rope now.

When I put it back on, I attached the rope to the drum and then heavily duct-taped the rope to the drum for several turns.

So... Opinions?

Charlie

 

[redrooster]

I have seen two ropes break and now hear of yours. The argument is that ropes are safer when they break. In the two instances I have personnally seen, had it been wire, it wouldn't have broken.
Go figure.
Never seen a nylon fair lead, only aluminum for the ropes.
I have been thinking of getting the synthetic, but am now leaining toward a new wire cable.

 

[cewtwo]

This is a side story to the above post.

There is a trail (commonly referred to as Yankee Hill) between Central City and Alice, CO. This is a local Denver area trail.

The snow level has been high on this trail this year. Last year, it was an easy trail to run for most of the winter months. This year, it has been difficult to get very far.

The Quads have little or no problems getting through, but Jeeps and other full size vehicles have substantially more of a problem.

When we got stuck, several quads came by. All offered to help. They looked at our situation and offered their opinions. Remember that opinions are like ******** as everyone has one.

Some were practical. From digging out to having several of the quads trying to pull the Mighty YJ out backwards. We did not take them up on it, and with all of the people hanging around, our ability to resolve our situation was getting diminished.

Patiently, we refused their offers. It kind of frustrated them so they moved down the trail about 50 feet and watched us.

We had gotten the winch ready for a pull about that time. All of a sudden, four vehicles drove up to our side. I heard someone yell, "I know you guys!" I turned around and saw a group we had encountered on this trail several times.

We were the people that usually provided assistance to them. They were happy that they may be able to pay it forward this time. Unfortunately, we started the pull right after they drove up.

One guy (who looks amazingly like the actor Tom Arnold) told us that the quadders told them that some old guys (I am a lean, mean, clean human machine, but I do resemble a silver haired fox) had the trail blocked and was refusing help. He said as they came up to help, that they knew it was us.

As we were out of our tentative situation by then, we all walked up the trail to see if it could be done. We determined that it could be. Tom and I headed back to the Mighty YJ and headed up the trail.

We got about another mile. A snow drift caused a camber point that probably would have caused the Jeep to kiss a tree near the first "pass" on the trail. As we decided to keep it fun, we turned around at that point.

On our way back down, we saw the party of vehicles at the side of the trail. They were flagging us down. We got out and one of the trucks had a tire that blew its bead. They had a small compressor and were wishing hard that it would work to fill the tire.

Tom told them that we could set a bead with our air system. They immediately called us the rescue jeep (twice for them now). We set the bead and filled the tire with about 25 pounds. We made sure they were OK and headed down the hill. They asked us where we were going to ride next weekend and hemmed and hawed without saying anything definite...

As Central City is a gambling town, there are several excellent buffets to partake in and we did.

It was a great day with some interesting incidents!

Charlie

 

[cewtwo]

"I have seen two ropes break and now hear of yours. The argument is that ropes are safer when they break. In the two instances I have personnally seen, had it been wire, it wouldn't have broken.
Go figure."

The reason that I got the rope was that a wire rope broke on me. The opportunity afforded getting the rope.

I will not go back to a wire rope. Just too dangerous for me. With the nylon rope, gloves are not necessary. DO NOT use a wire rope without gloves.

Just my two cents worth, but it will be a nylon rope for me from now on.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

So next time the rope breaks the jeep will be in a precarious position and hurt something/somebody?

But there's arguments both ways. I've broken one steel cable, slackened and wrapped around the end of my 8274, then pulled tight.

 

[currupt4130]

I have seen two ropes break and now hear of yours. The argument is that ropes are safer when they break. In the two instances I have personnally seen, had it been wire, it wouldn't have broken.
Go figure.
Never seen a nylon fair lead, only aluminum for the ropes.
I have been thinking of getting the synthetic, but am now leaining toward a new wire cable.

I might be young, might I'm oldschool like you. I'd rather be able to drag my cable around rocks and what not wihtout having to worry about breaking it. A properly maintained cable is just as safe as a rope and will last just as long if not longer. Steel is where its at.

 

[redrooster]

You can make an argument out of it either way. I think ropes are good for competitive Rock Crawling where there are large groups watching and people all around.
My current cable has a bad spot about 60 feet into it and needs to be replaced. I have thought about getting the rope, but it's pricey and I just don't see a huge advantage.
Yeah, if steel cable breaks you are in more danger, but the ropes I have seen break wouldn't have if they were steel.
Plus, If my junk is hanging off the side of a cliff, I would much rather see it on the end of some steel than a piece of rope, but that's just a mental thing.

 

[TwistedCU]

Looking at it from the point of view of someone who works with ropes and cables, I prefer synthetic line. When pulling at a really bad angle like that either would have broken and I'd rather have the rope which will show signs of stress and give warning before breaking (most of the time). Steel cables will snap without warning and can be real deadly. Once a metal line gets a kink, it is done. Many ignore that. Usually good synthetic pulling or lifting lines have a colored member which indicates wear, which I like as well.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

have a colored member

:shock: