I spent 3 hours putting it on in the freezing cold this morning. I could not get the rope through the hole in my winch's drum. I tried tape, wire, heatshrink, oil, soap, everything! So I finally just tied it around the drum for now, which made a large knot and makes it difficult to respool. How did you get the rope through the hole in the winch drum??

Thanks, ty

 

You might check your rope size. Your bio shows you have a 3000 # Superwinch but not which one you have. The ATV series takes a 3/16" cable while the X series takes a 7/32". If your rope is 1/4" it may be just a tad too tight. If you had to I would imagine you could run a 1/4" drill through the hole, just make sure there are no sharp edges afterwards. I tried attaching a 1/4" rope to a Warn 1.5, didn't work but that winch only has a 5/32" cable.

 

The superwinch takes 3/16" cable, which is what my amsteel is. THe problem is that the rope bunches up, so you can't just force it through like you can with steel rope. Only thing I havent tried is wrapping some thin wire around the end of the rope and using that to pull it through.

I was just hoping someone could share any good ideas or tricks they have for threading rope through a hole?

Ty

 

I thought you indicated you had tried wire. I wrap the end of the rope with 1 to 1 1/2 layer of thin electrical tape, then loop mechanics wire (which is thin) over the tape with both ends of the wire stuck through the hole in the drum. Then use a pair of pliers to pull it through. If you have to take a 3/16" drill bit and wallow out the hole slightly.

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: Reb2
I thought you indicated you had tried wire.q]

So I did, my mistake. I couldn't find any wire today, I don't know where all mine went. I'll try that next warm day I get - my fingers were freezing today!

How do you like the synthetic rope? Is it holding up ok? I got mine as a kit with a beautiful aluminum fairlead off ebay.

Thanks

 

I only use the rope to operate a snowplow and it works considerably better than a cable but I also don't use the rope in the normally accepted manner. On a 2.5 Warn I attach the rope so I have four lines running down the the plow. The single line, like is normally done, would only last about 30 minutes of plowing time.

I have two winches, one for snowplowing, one for summer use. The summer use one hasn't been used enough to replace the cable yet. If I ever do wear out the cable then I will put on rope.

Gotta go for now, time to plow. Got about 8" of wet stuff last night, gotta move it before it freezes in place.

 

Do you mean the synthetic will only last a little while plowing? Because I got the synthetic because I was sick of cutting and splicing the wire rope every few days in the winter.

When plowing, do you think it is better to keep the abrasion guard where the rope passes the fairlead or rolled up farther in.


And if you use your winter winch just for plowing, have you tried using a web strap to lift the plow? Like the kind on boat trailer winches. I would have done that except that I use my winch all the time in the winter for recovery.

 

The synethic should last fine for your use. The reason I go through the line so often is I have is an extra attachment on mine that applies down pressure to the blade. When I raise the blade up the attachment bottoms out which puts the full pressure of the winch on the line (cable, rope or strap) which causes a lot of excess stress. When the line gets hit with the full force of the winch every 30 seconds or so it fatigues quickly. Last winter I used a double line of the synethic rope. After 5 to 6 hours it was showing a little fuzziness which indicated to me I was over stressing the fibers. That is why I went to a four line.

I have used straps of various brands. Settled on one that worked well but attaching it to the winch drum has a high pib factor and it tends to slip some in hot weather.

On the abrasion guard, if your rope is rubbing against something then that is where your guard should be. If there aren't any rub points I wouldn't worry about it. I have my winch set up so it is a straight pull so there are no rub points or fairlead.

 

Thanks. I rolled the abrasion gaurd up so just the rope is going through the fairlead, as the guard was bunching up.

To get the rope through the drum, I had to drill out the hole to 1/4". Then it went a lot nicer.