Winch line help

So I used my winch yesterday to pull a truck out of the mud. Today I pulled the line out to to rinse it and It doesn't look good. Is it damaged and if so what could've caused it? I've only used it twice

Looks to me like it wasn't spooled nicely, and that part got pinched under another roll, as it tightened, it "crushed" the crossed thread under it? I'm just guessing here. Someone with more knowlege will chime in. This is just my $0.02

Same thing happened with my line from it not being spoiled nicely. To fix it I just took out all the line and respooled it nicely by pulling my dads car toward my jeep with his ebrake on (stretched out the line and the line looked normal after that).

Cool thanks guys. I wasn't sure if it would snap now. I guess I need to do a better job at putting it away

Jk909 said:

Cool thanks guys. I wasn't sure if it would snap now. I guess I need to do a better job at putting it away

Click to expand...

Actually, with winch rope, you don't want to spool it nicely. The first layer should be neat and tight, then after that, you do a wild, zig zag kinda spoiling. This prevents the rope from pinching down between the previous layers and becoming wedged in tight.

With cable, you always want it perfect, and if it crosses up, you can get a kink, which can become a weak spot.

With rope, a crossed over section like you pointed out is perfectly normal and just fine. If you try to spool rope like wire, you will likely experience that your rope does not want to pull out of the drum easily- I thought something was wrong with mine for a while before realizing that it was just pinched between the other layers.


Also remember to try to keep your rope dry and out of the sunlight and it should be good for years to come. [emoji106]

Your rope looks filthy. You need to wash it every now and then to help maintain its strength. Unspool it and stick it in a bucket of warm soapy water. Wash by hand and then rinse.

David1tontj said:

Actually, with winch rope, you don't want to spool it nicely. The first layer should be neat and tight, then after that, you do a wild, zig zag kinda spoiling. This prevents the rope from pinching down between the previous layers and becoming wedged in tight.

Click to expand...

In theory, this makes sense and I like the sound of it. My Warn manual states not to zigzag it and to keep straight coils one row on top of another. I don't really have a ton of winch experience to know for sure. Any other Jeepers have experience with the above method and how it works for them. I may try this. FYI, I have the Zeon 8s.

WJCO said:

In theory, this makes sense and I like the sound of it. My Warn manual states not to zigzag it and to keep straight coils one row on top of another. I don't really have a ton of winch experience to know for sure. Any other Jeepers have experience with the above method and how it works for them. I may try this. FYI, I have the Zeon 8s.

Click to expand...

Your warn Manual is probably talking about steel cable, not rope.

This is very true with steel cable- zig zags are bad.