Just a quick question about cables. I see there are choices now between steel and rope. I chose rope, but am worried about fraying when I use it for lifting my snow plow. I understand they sell a fairlead with a larger bottom wheel to lessen the angle and help with fraying. Also, what about maintenence? What do you have to do when you use it to pull someone out of a mud pit? Any special cleaners etc? I know it is much easier to handle and a lot safer as I don't get cuts from the rope like I did with the wire. But I am not sure about how long they will live.

 

There are tons of people (including myself) that use sythetic rope for evrything including plowing! The nice thing about the synthetic is that it can take the sever angle that a plow puts on a lifting cable. The only thing you need to worry about while using synthetic is if you are pulling someone else while using synthetic and you have a object IE Rock,tree you need to use the provided sheath to keep the rope from rubbing on the object.I love synthetic so much I will NEVER go back to steel cable!!! The best thing to do if you are going to swith to synthetic is buy a new roller fairlead as you want no burrs on the roller as it will chew apart the rope in no time! You can get ALL you synthetic winch gear from Welcome to Blitzkrueg Products, LLC! these guys are awesome and will hook you up in no time! Hope this helps!

Happy trails!
D57H

 

Also try the plow rope kits...8' synthetic line just for plowing....WARN Plow Lift Rope - WRN-68560

 

As far as care goes, they don't rust, so just hose it off and call it good.

As noted above, use a sheath or old jacket or whatever to protect it when you have to run the line over rocks or anything else with an edge.

It is still a good idea, IMHO, to tie a jacket or something else mid-span when pulling hard. Synthetic won't have as much energy if it snaps as a steel cable, but having something to slow it down if it does snap is still a good safety practice.

Amsteel has a good reputation for replacement lines.

It is also a good idea to use something like 1/2 a boat trailer keel roller to keep the hook from raising burrs on the rollers.