roller fairlead

[Rabidray]

since i have finaly managed to waste the wire rope on my winch would i have to replace the roller fairlead if i went with this new non metalic winch rope.....

futher what size would i want i currently have 5/16,s wire rope and it has served me well for a number of years.......i read on this board that the new stuff does not last as long ........or maybe i did not understand what the writer was attempting too say........

but no matter what i buy too replace it is going too be well in excess of a 100 bucks......if i buy some thing any thing i always buy the best i can afford but i would like too think that what ever i purchase would have at least a 5 year life span.......
yes i know that is a lot too exspect but i am painfully cheap i work too hard for the money i do get and i would hate too spend 150-175 bucks on some thing that will shred if it rubs on rocks metal or concrete.........

i use my winch mainly as a utilty item here on the farm and yes i have abused it ....in the above manner........

i even used the winch too to endo my first parts kick into the bed of an old pickup truck that i sent to the bone yard.......yes i have pics of this process but i dont know for sure where they are {pre digi pic days}........

so if the new winch rope can put up with this type of abuse and be safer than steel cable i want it.........................................................

 

[RockMonkey]

Yes, it will abraid when you rub it on rocks. That's why it comes with sheaths that you can slide to where the rope is going to rub on something to protect it. One of the coolest things about rope is that if you fail to put the sheath in the right place, and the rope breaks, you can splice it back together. The manufacturer designed it for this and you can get great instructions on how to do it (if anyone needs the instructions let me know). The rope is not ruined. Mine currently has two splices in it, and they appear to be stronger than the rest of the rope. In my experience what kills wire rope faster than anything else is kinking it. I've seen tons of wire ropes fold over on themselves and kink the first time they are used. There's nothing you can do to repair this. You just have to replace the cable. My synthetic rope has been used much harder, and lasted much longer than any other winch cable I've ever owned. The non-killingness, non-sharpandpointyness, and lightweightness, are all bonuses of rope too. ROPE IS GOOD! Oh yeah, you can get a plastic fairlead for like 25 bucks, so it's not that big a deal to replace yours, you can prolly sell your roller for that.

 

[Vonski]

I too have used winches for things other than vehicle extraction, like pulling down or uprooting trees, fence repair, and dragging some building materials around. All of this was done with steel cable.

Even though I am totally sold on winch rope and wouldn't go back to steel cable, I'm not sure it is the best thing for your uses. Sure, it would work and hold up to the loads of steel cable, but (of course) more care should be used while using it. If you did decide to go with rope, consider stepping up to 3/8". Even with the larger diameter rope, you could still spool sbout as much as you had in steel cable, as it flattens out better on the drum.

As far as fairleads go, you have your choice of 3 different hawse fairleads: steel (not recommended), aluminum, or UHMW (high molecular weight polyethelyne). The aluminum hawse fairleads started cropping up about 5 years ago and have been the "standard" for use with rope (you've probably seen the "AllPro" or "Spidertrax" ones with their logo engraved on the face). Of the many on the market, I usually see 'em for about $50. The ones made of UHMW (a type of highly durable plastic) are cool because the material is "self lubricating" and is nicer to the rope than aluminum. They're also half the cost of aluminum.

 

[Vonski]

Looks like RockMonkey and Myself were posting up similar info at the same time, my bad... sorry for the re-run folks.