Winch Gear

Several years ago I wouldn’t have covered winch gear under basics but winches have become much cheaper and many more members now have them. Many of you may also be looking to buy a winch and without the right kit for it then it’ll be useless, or worse, dangerous. As I’m looking at basics I won’t be covering ground anchors as these are really useful when driving solo in areas without trees. I also won’t be looking at winch choice or installation; that’s another can of worms! What I will be looking at, though, is cables and winching accessories.

Winch Lines

This is probably the most dangerous part of a winch; you’ve got a lot of energy in a very small diameter cable and if it breaks the damage can be horriﬁc (there are plenty of stories of fatalities due to broken cables).

Winch lines fall into three types; steel cable, synthetic cable and webbed strapping. All three require regular inspection for kinks, tears or broken strands and cleaning after every use (not with a pressure washer as this drives dirt into the centre of the cable). You should also expect a cable to last no more than 2 years; if one does last that long without damage it’s a good idea to replace it anyway to be on the safe side. Steel cable is supplied on most winches and this is what the majority of people will use; they’re tough, resilient to abuse, low maintenance and cheap to replace. However, they aren’t without faults. All steel cables need to be prepared before winching in anger by winching yourself up a gentle slope or something similar to put a small load to the cable. This basically takes a lot of the ‘spring’ out of the cable and makes it much, much easier to use. When you do come to use a steel cable make sure you have gloves on; if you get a steel barb in your hand you really know about it! Steel cable also doesn’t take kindly to being crushed on the drum as this can potentially break some of the strands meaning the cable needs to go in the bin. When it comes to replacement time it’s best to talk to the company who supplied your winch in order to get the correct cable for your winch.

Synthetic cable, often called Plasma, has become very popular recently although it’s a lot more expensive than steel cable.
However, it is much lighter, doesn’t get sharp barbs, ﬂoats on water and mud, can be repaired quickly in the ﬁeld and doesn’t mind being crushed on the drum. All of these properties make it ideal for competition use when you’re using the winch regularly and against the clock. However, it requires very intensive cleaning, is damaged by heat (making it unsuitable for lowering out on most low
line winches) and contact with roots and stones on the ground can cause it to snap. My experience is that it’s far better to use a steel cable while learning to use a winch or only winching occasionally. However, if you do wish to use synthetic cable then you need to be careful who you buy from; there are many cowboys out there who aren’t selling the right thing. If you’re not buying from a well known name make sure they can produce a certiﬁcate to say what you’re buying (this should state the breaking strain and it should be in the order of 15,000 - 20,000 kg) and that it is a 12 strand rope (the 3 strand stuff isn’t suitable). Also, although synthetic cable has a higher tensile strength than steel cable of the same diameter it doesn’t respond as well to shock loading.
It may be tempting to save money and go for a smaller diameter cable but it isn’t worth it as you will just end up breaking it. My advice is stick with 11mm for 8– 9,000 lb winches if you’re using it regularly although 9.5/10mm is OK if you’re gentle. When it comes to cleaning synthetic lines there are a couple of options. Putting the cable into a bucket of water and swirling it round with a broom handle works very well although it’ll probably need several goes to get it clean. The other option is to put it in the washing machine on a cold wash with no detergent and cable tie a sports sock around the hook to stop it denting the drum. The cable should then be drip-dried; drying somewhere warm may well damage the polymer strands.

Winch straps or webs are, basically, a very long bit of strop with a hook on the end and have been on sale for a year or so and, on the surface, appear to be a good alternative to synthetic cables. However, they have some major drawbacks.
Firstly, they are only rated to 5,500 kg (around 12,000 lb) which is really too low for most recovery winches. There is also no chance of repair, or bodge, in the ﬁeld if it breaks and you loose the ability to use a snatch block. However, they are very cheap (around £30) and any damage will be very visible, as with a normal strop. I know of a few people who’ve tried winch webs; some thought they were OK, some thought they were terrible.

Winch Accessories

On top of the kit I covered last week there are several other bits of kit you should carry to allow you to make best use of your winch. First of all its time to think about gloves; they should be worn at all times when using a winch as winches and ﬁngers don’t mix very well. Gloves come in all sorts of varieties and start at a few pounds a pair going up to £40+ for specialist rope handling gloves. In the end you get what you pay for with expensive rope handling gloves making it very easy to use plasma accurately. I personally go for something in the middle which give good fell but don’t break the bank every time they need replacing.

The other vital piece of winch equipment is a winch sail. Traditionally these have been used to slow winch cables down when they break. They may not seem very big but they do slow cables down signiﬁcantly. They also serve a second purpose; they allow others to see winching is going on from a distance and so keep back. It’s very easy not to spot a small diameter cable but a large winch sail hanging in mid air is harder to miss. There are lots of different sails out there varying in price form a couple of pounds to about £25 for an all singing all dancing high visibility one designed for synthetic cables.

The next thing to think about is snatch blocks. To be able to use your winch to the full it’s a good idea to carry at least two of these. Snatch blocks come in two types; ﬁxed and swing away. Both work in the same way although the swing away type is quicker to rig up and doesn’t have parts to drop in the mud! Both types can be bought from pretty much every 4x4 specialist and many lifting gear companies.

My personal favourites are the swing away type made by Black Rat or ARB. Both are greasible and have a nice deep groove meaning they can be used with synthetic cables. As with everything recovery based, its important to make sure everything you buy is rated highly enough (at least 1.5 times the maximum stall load of the winch)
Happy winching!