Normal for steel braid winch cable to fray?

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wahoowad

wahoowad

Minister of Fire
Dec 19, 2005
1,669
Virginia
I bought Tractor Supply's 3500-lb electric winch. It comes with a 3/16 braided steel cable. I've only used it twice but already seeing fraying. I assume a little fraying is natural but am concerned it is starting so quickly. If it continues at the same rate then I will be very concerned after another couple uses.

Could it be due to the fine threads of steel in this budget winch? Or is most 3/16 cable made the same? Maybe this is normal? I see some synthetic rope on eBay but not quite ready to dump another $40 into this winch unless I start using it more. The last time I used it I tried to winch out a section of tree trunk and it couldn't handle it. My truck pulled it out like it was nothing.
 
Winch line should not fray. If it does it is low quality as you suggest or it has been misused. Putting more tension on it than intended can also cause a failure. Never let winch line slide through your hands, always wear gloves and avoid kinks at all cost.
 
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wear points and hard angles will shorten the life of cable rather fast. My quad has a 2500lb Warn on it and synthetic rope and I use the long half of a ratchet strap rolled into the end for my snow plow. This saves the rope and puts a wider contact point on the fairlead rollers.

Always use a blanket or jacket or something - even a few branches in a pinch leaning against the cable when making a hard pull. This keeps the cable from cutting someone in 1/2 if it ever lets go during high tension.
 
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Are you saying you put the wide ratchet strap material on the spool on top of the braided line? How did you connect them ?
 
It shouldn't be fraying with that little use. In the short term you could hose it down with a dry chain lube type spray but for long term you may want to look into replacement.
 
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Wahoo - Yes. I just stick 10" or so of the tail end through the loop end of my synthetic cable and reel it on in over itself. It only uses like 6" or so of the strap to move the plow up and down so it holds itself in with no problem.
 
Pics as requested. Doesn't look too bad in these pics, you have to look close in these pictures. A couple other areas elsewhere on the first few feet. But I've only used it a couple times.

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AA8FACE4-7623-47AB-8ADB-F23AA09C4C18_zpsa7v4qddz.jpg
 
Shouldn't be fraying. This soon.
 
The rule of thumb is the diameter of the drum should be 40 times the diameter of the cable. I don't think any of these are made to last. There are better, more flexible cables available.
 
wahoowad said:
I bought Tractor Supply's 3500-lb electric winch. It comes with a 3/16 braided steel cable. I've only used it twice but already seeing fraying. I assume a little fraying is natural but am concerned it is starting so quickly. If it continues at the same rate then I will be very concerned after another couple uses.

Could it be due to the fine threads of steel in this budget winch? Or is most 3/16 cable made the same? Maybe this is normal? I see some synthetic rope on eBay but not quite ready to dump another $40 into this winch unless I start using it more. The last time I used it I tried to winch out a section of tree trunk and it couldn't handle it. My truck pulled it out like it was nothing.
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Their is a formula I believe it's 3 strans per lay and its junk.... Any cable and sling shop can tell you for sure... However it's so close to the end I would cut the bad off and get a couple crosbys make a new eye and your back in business. I try to keep in mind new things do break...
 
The full 3500 rating is most likely with a full spool of cable. the less cable on the winch the less it will pull generally unless you are using an external mechanical gear winch. the manual or website should let you know how the winch was rated. it maybe a 1750 winch but with two part you double the rating.
 
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NE WOOD BURNER said:
The full 3500 rating is most likely with a full spool of cable. the less cable on the winch the less it will pull generally unless you are using an external mechanical gear winch. the manual or website should let you know how the winch was rated. it maybe a 1750 winch but with two part you double the rating.
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From what I've read they say the winch will have more pulling power with the drum nearly empty and just starting to spool rope. It makes scence to me. I bought a short piece of synthetic winch rope that I put on for winter plow lifting but eventually I'll switch to a 50' synthetic for year around use. Look on ebay.
 
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WiscWoody: good catch I had that backwards.
We ran our mechanical winches with as much cable as they would hold, but the hydraulic we ran less and carried extra cable.
 
That cable looks cheap, low-grade. Good cable is nice, works well, and holds up to serious use. Everything else, cable-wise, is not worth bothering with. AmsteelBlue is the way to go for almost all winching applications, IMHO.
 
I have the 2000 lb TSC winch on my quad for the plow. After 1 yr it was fraying and broke. I cut that piece off and U clamped it back together as I only use it for the plow. Some day I will upgrade to synthetic or something better than what's on it
 
D8C - you cant do my trick w/o synthetic rope but you can rig up an extended pulley to take some pressure off the cable when using it for plowing. Its the angle and constant back and forth over the same 6-10" of cable that makes quick work of it when plowing and an ongoing issue for using an ATV to clear snow.

Plenty of advice and examples of what I am talking about on forums like this dedicated to ATVs. That's where I learned the ratchet strap trick.
 
Thanks Bob I will definitely be looking into your solution before spending the extra coin for a new cable.
 
Just take some oil and pore it on cable,it will work in as you use it,this will help a lot,put plenty on
soak it down good. Sometimes I run wire out and rewind painting on oil with paintbrush this gets oil on all of the wire. It wont stop all ware but helps,I got wire on sawmill and two wenches all over 5/8" line
when replacing get better grade and this will help.
 
Sure looks more like 3/8" cable, unless that pic is deceptive. Either way, it should not fray with just a few "pulls". I just got a hydraulic 8000# hyd. winch. Not a cheap model (Ramsey/ $1200+) That rating is "first layer", on the 4th, it's down to 4000 something!
 
I use waterproof grease liberally and it still frayed/broke
 
My winch did not come with the cable. While looking at cable, I learned that there are quite a few "grade's" Some of them that I remember: IWRC independent wire rope core, IWFC i,w, fibre core, then there IPS & EIPS; improved plow steel and extra improved plow steel on top of the IWRC.
This was on 7X19 3/8 wire rope. The 7X19 is 7 strands, each with 19 smaller wires making up each strand.
 
How can I cut this stuff when it is time to trim off a few feet? Does it try to unravel when you cut it?
 
I used an angle grinder with cut off wheel and electrical tape
 
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