Kink in winch line

[thegoat4]

Where the line was kinked the wires experienced forces far in excess of their rated capacity. The wires along the inside edge will ahve been crushed and are no longer round. A non-uniform profile isn't as strong as a uniform one, so those wires are weak. Also, the wires running over the outside of the kink have been stretched slightly, so when you load the whole rope, those wires will carry less load than the now deformed wires.

A slight kink causes a drastic reduction in wire rope strength. A tight kink will lead to certain failure in a hurry. IMO, a slight kink is worse because when it fails you have a much higher load on the line.

Replace the line. Cut your old one in two at the kink and have eyes put on the loose ends. Eventually they'll come in handy.

 

[LearjetMinako]

If you haven't read this, you should. Everyone should.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/index.html

Extremely good acticle. This should be printed for every four-wheelers manual.

When in doubt, replace the line. There is no need to take the chance of failure.

 

[metalmacguyver]

Another thought. 90 percent of winching is done on very short pulls using the first 1/3 of the cable.

 

[dirtsquirt]

30 plus years working logging i would change it out period, cut out the the kinked area splice in a couple eye hooks and make yourself some extesions. use chain oil ( drive chain Lub ) works very well to protect your cable

 

[Dishtowel]

Cut your old one in two at the kink and have eyes put on the loose ends. Eventually they'll come in handy.

I was going to say the same thing!

Another thought. 90 percent of winching is done on very short pulls using the first 1/3 of the cable.

Solid point. This is a pretty good reason to just keep it and be watchful. Althought lately I have been freespooling 75% of my cable out for lots of winch jobs.

 

[Totalled]

Replace it with winch line...

 

[Jim Oaks]

I was thinking about this recently after watching an episode of 'Wrecked'. One of the drivers kinked the cable on one of the big heavy wreckers and they had to work the kink out of it. Once they finally got it straight they had to lift a large truck with it.

Now I know the large wrecker has a much heavier cable, but I was interested in the basic idea behind it. If the strand isn't broke and you straighten out the kink, do you really have to replace it?

It could get costly replacing cable if you had to do it everytime you got a kink in it.

I'm undecided.

 

[Evan]

I drove over to the garage this morning and did some work on my truck. But I forgot my camera so I couldn't take a pic of the kink. But I did do a search online and found a kink that looks EXACTLY like mine:

No broken strands, just the cable is deformed a bit as the twisting ruined the nice machine braiding job.

 

[thegoat4]

I was thinking about this recently after watching an episode of 'Wrecked'. One of the drivers kinked the cable on one of the big heavy wreckers and they had to work the kink out of it. Once they finally got it straight they had to lift a large truck with it.

Now I know the large wrecker has a much heavier cable, but I was interested in the basic idea behind it. If the strand isn't broke and you straighten out the kink, do you really have to replace it?

It could get costly replacing cable if you had to do it everytime you got a kink in it.

I'm undecided.

Well, FWIW, most wrecker drivers do completely stupid shit all the time. The big problem with a kink is that now the line's load rating is meaningless and you don't know how far you can push things before failure. It's not all the times that you get away with it that matter. It's the first time that you don't.

 

[Evan]

I understand Jim's point.

The line I have (if undamaged) should be able to support over 17,000 lbs. before snapping. My kink was fairly mild and resulted in no wires being broken. The only damage I can see is that the main braid is flattened, like in the pic I posted. The small braids are like new.

So MAYBE the cable is mildly damaged and can only support 16,000 pounds now. But the line will never see over 8,000 lbs with single-line winching.

I'm leaning towards running the line. I'll assume that it could snap every time I use it, which one should do anyway.

 

[MAKG]

I understand Jim's point.

The line I have (if undamaged) should be able to support over 17,000 lbs. before snapping. My kink was fairly mild and resulted in no wires being broken. The only damage I can see is that the main braid is flattened, like in the pic I posted. The small braids are like new.

So MAYBE the cable is mildly damaged and can only support 16,000 pounds now. But the line will never see over 8,000 lbs with single-line winching.

I'm leaning towards running the line. I'll assume that it could snap every time I use it, which one should do anyway.

You really haven't the slightest idea about how much load this can carry. It might snap at 500 lbs. You can't tell by looking at it. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and if the load isn't UNIFORMLY distributed on the strands, they don't add anymore.

It's your life, but if you're going to use this line, make sure everyone else is at least as far away as the length of the winch line.

You're hearing this from a guy who has broken a 300 lb test line with a 15 lb bowling ball.

The safest thing to do is throw it away. The second safest is to test it at 8800 lbs (8000 lbs + 10%) and use it up to that load. Hint: you can EASILY exceed the vehicle weight on a winch if something "gives."

 

[Evan]

...make sure everyone else is at least as far away as the length of the winch line.

Agreed. That should always be done, even if the winch line is brand new.

When you broke a 300 lb. test line with a 15lb. bowling ball, were you simply hoisting the ball into the air, or dropping it and allowing the line to break the fall?

 

[Carlos Murphy]

Winch Saver

Yep, that's it.

Wish they came in colors.

 

[MAKG]

Agreed. That should always be done, even if the winch line is brand new.

When you broke a 300 lb. test line with a 15lb. bowling ball, were you simply hoisting the ball into the air, or dropping it and allowing the line to break the fall?

It hit a table, and probably got a shock load from that.

It was the more-or-less standard bowling ball pendulum demo.

 

[Will]

Theres nothing wrong with that winch cable.

In the first place, you should never be in a position where your life depends your recreational winch line. In the second place, you should never use the cable, even a brand new one, without precautions that have people out of harms' way. The point is, the condition of that cable is irrelevant--or you are doing something wrong.