I know the dealers will say, something to the fact that they sell 100' for that winch but, is that the best option?
With Kwanzaa coming up, I thought about buying my self a present.
I would like to replace my cable with Synthetic Rope. I've really never needed 125' for my own recovery, mostly used about 50' if that.
How many feet most be left on the drum, being useless?
I'm thinking about getting 80' and carrying two 20' straps. Or get an extension at some point, if I ever needed.
Just trying to get an idea of what others have done and worked, or what not to do.
Don't you need to have 1 wrap on the spool and then as little rope as you can get away with?
Maybe I am thinking about this backwards, but don't you loose spooling power and speed when you run too much extra rope on the spool? Essentially, it is creating a larger diameter ratio between the drive motor and the load (rope)? So, you would in fact want as little rope as you could reasonable get away with at any given time.
.....Waiting for CustomSplice to chime in :laughing:
EDIT: Here is the link to the BV tech article on recovery, full of good information, but I didn't see a direct answer to your question. Mostly posted just to aid in future searches http://pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/
EDIT2: http://www.4wheelparts.com/off-road/winchadvisor.aspx This link here gives a brief explanation to the shorter is more line of thought. I also like that it mentions carrying spare line to get more length if needed, as opposed to always having in on the spool and not in use.
Line Length
More line on the drum allows you to reach out farther but that’s often a mixed blessing. To start, as mentioned earlier, your winch’s maximum rated pull is on the first layer of line, so to get maximum pull, you have to spool out lots of cable. The other consideration is that more line on a drum is easier to get snarled up, jammed and kinked. For those reasons, many winchers prefer less line on the winch but carry an extra 50-foot length, with eyes splice in, to use as an extension. This is an especially viable solution if you have synthetic rope instead of wire rope on your winch. Having around 100 feet on the drum and a 50 foot extension is an ideal compromise for most people.
100' of synthetic is a very common choice for that winch, I would use 3/8ths x 100 if you go with a Basic style (Amsteel blue, MP basic, etc etc etc) which are rated around 18,000 lbs. I try to have the rope be at least 2x as strong as the winch.
Once you get that I would pick up around a 50' extension rope to have around, you never know when you will need it and you can loan it to someone else who is stuck around you also.
The experts have spoken...not only does Master Pull make the best line in the world (yes...I am biased...I run their Superline XD, nothing comes close to this line IMO)...but they also will give you unbiased generic info. Great guys and a great product. Brown-nosing commercial finished
Just did this about 6-8months ago, same exact winch wanting to run syn rope. I "winged" it and went with 100ft of 3/8" from Viking. I got lucky because thats about all that will fit on the drum in the 3/8" version. Another guy I know is running 125' x 5/16" and that fills up his Mile Marker. Big thing to keep in mind is keep the rope TIGHT, on hard pulls it will "inter-wrap" twice as bad as steel cable thus creating one big knot on the drum(ask me how I know). And yes I did pre-tension it on the drum before ever using it. Havent got to do any snatch block pulls with it yet but so far it seems to be holding up very well.
"How many feet most be left on the drum"
There's a risk you might pay out all the rope, so I splice a loop on the end of the rope and run it around the drum as a noose. Which also makes it a lot quicker to get off for cleaning
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