I am not the sort of guy that has a $3k winch/winch bumper combo on the front of his rig for show. I use my winch pulling logs, stretching wire, lifting heavy crap, helping out someone in a ditch, or extricating myself from a sticky situation.

Recently, I tore a huge gash in a leather glove using the winch – cable splinter – and it was deep enough to cut my hand as well.  This is not the first time that has happened, just the most severe. I decided finally, after saying I was going to do it for years, to replace my steel wire winch cable with a synthetic rope.  I went with a 3/8″ X 100′ 17.5k# rated Winchline Orange rope with a reinforced eye (no hook). It was a pretty strait forward process (as long as you don’t lose the 1/4-20X1/2″ line end retention bolt…) and I spent an hour unspooling the 100′ steel cable, installing the rope, pre-loading the line, and reeling it up.  Well, I spent an hour looking for the lost bolt THEN spent an hour doing the actual swap…

Also changed out the standard cable hook for a Factor55 shackle, which are safer, especially when coupled with a synthetic rope.  There is sllim chance in cutting the cable/rope with the hook or having the hook slip or break and come flying through a windshield/my head.   

I am super careful while winching and have been riding back-roads and 4X4 trails, pulling myself and other folks out of holes and ditches for 30+ years (Jesus I am old…).  Even being really careful, I have snapped a cable and broken two hooks in that time.  With a strap and a D-ring on the shackle, I don’t think that a broken hook is a possibility anymore. 

The new line also couples wonderfully with the ARB bumper that I installed last year as icing on my Jeep Cake when I finished the rebuild and paint.