Off-road Recovery Gear

[SlugSlinger]

I’ve used synthetic winch rope for many years, as in 15 or so. I was the product manager at Ramsey winch to introduce synthetic rope for their off-road winches.

I thought I would use some Dyneema rope for a couple projects.

First, I made some straps for my trailer to tie down the front axle since I have limited space for the connection point.

Then I made some soft shackles using an improved splice that cannot come loose.
The breaking strength of these shackles is rated at 230% of the ropes breaking strength. That puts it at over 40,000lbs of pull to break the shackle.

I used my hydraulic bender to tighten the splice.

 

[cal7.62x39]

Very nice! My TJ is jealous.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Another test video.

The bender uses a 10 ton ram with a 4,000 psi pump.

This bender will bend 2” schedule 40 without even breaking a sweat.

The shackle stalled the pump without any evidence of losing structural integrity of the shackle.

 

[PBramble]

Screw cutting that rope with a hot knife and splicing it properly. I just ask Custom Splice. Todd is a former sponser of our Ultra4 car and a friend.

 

[dennishoddy]

I’ve used synthetic winch rope for many years, as in 15 or so. I was the product manager at Ramsey winch to introduce synthetic rope for their off-road winches.

I thought I would use some Dyneema rope for a couple projects.

First, I made some straps for my trailer to tie down the front axle since I have limited space for the connection point.
View attachment 182950
Then I made some soft shackles using an improved splice that cannot come loose.
The breaking strength of these shackles is rated at 230% of the ropes breaking strength. That puts it at over 40,000lbs of pull to break the shackle.
View attachment 182949


I used my hydraulic bender to tighten the splice.

Cool! I've got a 3500lb winch on my ATV with the steel cable. Everybody I've talked to told me to switch out to the synthetic because it won't get tangled and jammed on the spool as bad. I haven't had any issues so far as I'm pretty picky about threading it back on the spool, so is the synthetic stronger?

 

[SlugSlinger]

Short answer, yes, synthetic rope is stronger than equivalent sized steel cable. And once the steel cable gets kinked from being wound on the drum wrong, it starts to dramatically lose strength.

The primary benefits of synthetic rope are flexibility, weight and safety. You can save 25 lbs on a 9500 lbs winch. I have a quick mount setup I can use on my Jeep or truck rear receiver or on the front of my Jeep hauler where I made a receiver mount for the winch. 25 lbs doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you go from 105 to 80 on something you need to carry and store, it makes a difference.

The safety aspect is related to stored energy. If you noticed when I stalled the bender and released the pressure, there is almost no stretch on the rope. The bender arm moved back very little. This is a huge benefit when you have a bunch of cable pulled under a massive load and the cable snaps. A steel cable holds so much energy, it will snap back like a slingshot. Hopefully the steel doesn’t hit anything or anyone.
A synthetic rope will just fall to the ground if it breaks under the same scenario.

There are a couple drawbacks with synthetic rope; heat and abrasions. Use a piece of rope shield if you run the rope over obstacles, this helps with the abrasion.

At Ramsey, we used a more expensive rope called Technora T-12. It has a much higher temperature rating and melting point than other ropes. The drum brake inside a planetary winch gets rather warm under severe use and could deteriorate or melt some of the winch line brands being sold.

https://www.barry-usa.com/products/tech?variant=27016030281

Here’s the average tensile strength of Amsteel Blue and a brief description.


Rope Construction:
AmSteel®-Blue is a torque-free, 12-strand single braid that yields the maximum in strength-to-weight ratio and and it floats.

AmSteel®-Blue is an excellent wire rope replacement with extremely low stretch, and superior flex fatigue and wear resistance.
Average Tensile Strength:

• 7/64 Diam. - 1,600lbs.
• 1/8 Diam. - 2,500lbs.
• 3/16 Diam. - 5,400lbs.
• 1/4 Diam. - 8,600lbs.
• 5/16 Diam. - 13,700lbs.
• 3/8 Diam. - 19,600lbs.
• 7/16 Diam. - 23,900lbs.
• 1/2 Diam. - 34,000lbs
• 
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[Fro]

I spent about 4 months working for Ramsey winch back in ‘88.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

That is pretty neat. You always are working on some cool stuff. Thank you for sharing.

 

[HiredHand]

Very cool. I spent about a half hour on YT watching videos demonstrating how to make soft shackles and how to splice it.