Power wagon snapped my winch cable, 2021 synthetic.

[Timmerduder]

Trying to pull a pipe out of a lake, snapped my synthetic winch cable and it didn't even try to pull my truck, I thought these were 12,000 lb rated?? Rated?? Thinking about replacing it with the steel cable, input?

Thank you!

 

[Dean2]

Synthetic is WAY nicer to work with. Steel cable is not stronger than synthetic unless your are using it in an application where it can be cut. Been using winchs for 50 years. ALL of mine now run synthetic. One of them is a 16,000 pound Warn on my 2500. It has synthetic rated to 35,000 pounds. I would see if they, check the dealer and Warn, would cover a new cable on warranty, yours may have been defective.

 

[2003F350]

Yeah it shouldn't have snapped, good chance the rope was already cut or damaged in some way that weakened it.

I always inspected whatever length of my steel wire rope (and re-coated it with rust inhibitor) I used, every time I used it. At LEAST twice a year I unspooled the whole thing, inspected and re-coated it, then hooked it to something with some weight (usually my quad in neutral) and wound it back up.

Synthetic is nice in that it doesn't need to be coated like steel does, BUT you've got to be more careful with abrasions, and depending on the synthetic material it could 'dry rot' and weaken over time if it isn't used.

If you haven't used it much, or if you let it overlap itself and pull it out rough, it could be weakened and that could be why it snapped.

 

[oledirteh]

i will only use synthetic due to safety. seen to many accidents involving cables and hooks in the offroad world.

 

[2003F350]

i will only use synthetic due to safety. seen to many accidents involving cables and hooks in the offroad world.

This is true, and between weight and safety, Ram made the right decision to go with the synthetic cable. With that synthetic cable, though, comes a different kind of care than what comes with a steel one. If you aren't caring for your equipment, it's going to let you down...and you're to blame. If you take care of it, it'll serve you well for a long time.