Winches - you get what you pay for!

[Roy14]

Quality synthetic rope does not stretch, at all. You would break something if a synthetic rope was used to jerk something.

In fact, one of the positives for using synthetic rope is that the synthetic rope does not store energy, like wire rope does. When a synthetic rope breaks, it just falls to the ground and not slingshot like a wire rope or chain for that matter will.

I didn’t word my comment very well. My point wasn’t that I thought synthetic rope stretches, but that I can only see using
synthetics in general if they are able to be stored out of the elements when not in use. I just don’t trust a synthetic material to not prematurely wear when sitting for extended periods of time outside in the elements.

 

[Okie4570]

Against my wishes but you know how the wife influences decisions sometimes. Her bronco, her winch I guess. I regret walking through Harbor Freight with her, and of course her model of 22' Bronco is a Badlands, and you can probably see where this went. So there's a 12k Badlands winch sitting on it now. Told her I was going to be pissed if we need it, use it and it lets us down lol. It actually get good reviews. I've got Warns on my other ones. I'm getting pretty close to putting my Koenig PTO winch back on the 66' bronco that I've been slowly working on for the last couple of years. It was made for a 289 or 302 drivetrain and not the 170 6cyl drivetrain so I've got to build some different brackets and shafts still. The 6cyl version is next to impossible to find anymore.

 

[HiredHand]

Impressive that the cheap winches did so well, upgrading the rope seems like a good idea. The mounting plate he used was a weak link.

 

[SoonerP226]

The mounting plate he used was a weak link.

I haven't watched this video yet, but if it's the same video of his that I watched a couple of weeks ago, he put a link to the plate in the video description on YouTube so people would know which one to avoid.

FWIW, my dad's car hauler has a 12K (IIRC) Badlands winch on it, mounted in the toolbox on the tongue. I don't think he ever got a chance to use it, and I know I haven't, so I can't tell you much about it.

 

[dennishoddy]

Against my wishes but you know how the wife influences decisions sometimes. Her bronco, her winch I guess. I regret walking through Harbor Freight with her, and of course her model of 22' Bronco is a Badlands, and you can probably see where this went. So there's a 12k Badlands winch sitting on it now. Told her I was going to be pissed if we need it, use it and it lets us down lol. It actually get good reviews. I've got Warns on my other ones. I'm getting pretty close to putting my Koenig PTO winch back on the 66' bronco that I've been slowly working on for the last couple of years. It was made for a 289 or 302 drivetrain and not the 170 6cyl drivetrain so I've got to build some different brackets and shafts still. The 6cyl version is next to impossible to find anymore.

When researching a winch to put on the 4 wheeler, I was amazed at how many 5 stars went to the Badland winch in a comparison. Some broke it down further saying their Warn winches also made in China had plastic planetary gears vs the metal gears in the badlands model when dissecting them to see what failed.
I've use the 3500 lb winch a dozen times at least to winch animals into the truck or get the vehicle unstuck. It's overkill for a 600lb vehicle, but more is better!

 

[SlugSlinger]

I didn’t word my comment very well. My point wasn’t that I thought synthetic rope stretches, but that I can only see using
synthetics in general if they are able to be stored out of the elements when not in use. I just don’t trust a synthetic material to not prematurely wear when sitting for extended periods of time outside in the elements.

Yeah there are a couple drawbacks to using synthetic rope, one is the poor abrasion and cut resistance. I am not sure about UV type resistance, I have not seen or heard the weather effecting the performance of the synthetic rope, although it may not look new. Most good synthetic ropes comes with a rope cover that can be slid along the rope to help protect it when the rope needs to slide over a obstacle. I have worn holes in the protective cover, so those aren't a perfect solution for the abrasive drawback.

 

[SlugSlinger]

I have broken a winch in the past, but that was on purpose, sorta. I did some R&D testing at Ramsey.

One thing the engineers always preached was do not shock-load the winch. As an example, when a vehicle is trailered, do not use the winch cable to tie down the vehicle. Similar to wrecker drives using their recover winch to attach the car to a roll back. When the winch preloads the suspension and the vehicle bounces, that shock load on the winch will break something, either the gears or the case.

I installed a winch we were testing on my 6,500 lbs K5 and went to Disney. It worked well and I thought I returned it in good working order. That was not the case. The planetary gears wear cracked, but not completely broken. How did I do this? I climbed the steepest hill I could, attached the winch cable to the base of a tree and tried to continue up the hill with both lockers engaged. I was bouncing around as the winch was helping pull me. At one point, I was able to get slack in the rope and thought I would shock load the winch by letting the K5 roll back several feet and letting the winch take the load of stopping the vehicle.

Moral of the comment, don't shock load your winch.

 

[fishincoop]

My 81 FJ60

Very nice. I used to own a FJ55, then a FJ60, then a FJ80 ( for the wife edd), all over many years. When I went to hunt down a FJ45 out in Oregon, my wife said I had a “problem”. Sold all 3 and bought a diesel excursion- man I miss the simplicity, ruggedness, and sheer utility of the older LC. May have to get back on the hunt….. great pic!

 

[Okie_dave]

Very nice. I used to own a FJ55, then a FJ60, then a FJ80 ( for the wife edd), all over many years. When I went to hunt down a FJ45 out in Oregon, my wife said I had a “problem”. Sold all 3 and bought a diesel excursion- man I miss the simplicity, ruggedness, and sheer utility of the older LC. May have to get back on the hunt….. great pic!

It can be a problem. I also own 2 FJ40s (66 & 76). Plus the wife and I both drive Lexus (04 LX470 me an 08 GX470 hers).

 

[Mr.Glock]

I didn’t word my comment very well. My point wasn’t that I thought synthetic rope stretches, but that I can only see using
synthetics in general if they are able to be stored out of the elements when not in use. I just don’t trust a synthetic material to not prematurely wear when sitting for extended periods of time outside in the elements.

All my Synthetic Rope Winches has a 12ft Sun sleeve that keeps the sun off the rope. But I also add a cover for them and they sit inside when not in use. I have not owned a steel cable in years, but bought one a few weeks back with cable, I will put rope on it. I like rope!