Shortening synthetic winch line

[WTSMatt]

I am looking for recommendations on how to shorten synthetic winch line. I have a hi-lift and winch kit and know how to use it. Instead of carrying a ton of chain I purchased 80’ of synthetic winch line in case my anchor is a distance away. I have 15’ of 3/8” chain that I attach to winch line. My question is say I only need 25’ of winch line, what’s the best way to shorten it? Prusik loops won’t work on it and figure 8 on a bight seems to possibly damage it. Thanks!

 

[bgenlvtex]

The best way to make a 50' winch line 25' is to run it through a block back to itself.

ETA: when I say "itself" I mean the truck

 

[OTH Overland]

I can tell you that I accidently got a knot in my winch line after tossing it through some thick brush to an anchor point and did not see it until we had done a full pull on it, tried everything to get it back out to no avail, and I am sure the fibers were damaged. For shortening my winch line extensions I typically loop them back on themselves through a recovery ring or similar although that only lets you shorten by half at a time. There is a product called X-Lock X-Lock Uses - Safe-Xtract® which is designed to allow shortening of main winch line or extensions so you can pull with the fewest wraps on the drum for more power. supposedly can also be used to belay a vehicle down a slope among other uses, have not tried one yet but there are some you tubes from Justin King with Colorado 4x4 rescue who does some testing of this product and a couple of other methods

 

[madcratebuilder]

Many YT videos on doing syn rope splicing. I would make a soft shackle on each end.

 

[WTSMatt]

All very good ideas. I'm looking at that X-tract thing. $100 is kinda spendy though. Sure would be easier if my intercooler didn't prohibit an actual winch.

 

[OTH Overland]

All very good ideas. I'm looking at that X-tract thing. $100 is kinda spendy though. Sure would be easier if my intercooler didn't prohibit an actual winch.

Assuming you have the ecoboost? I have seen a kit from stage3 motorsports that provides a race intercooler with relocation kit that places the intercooler up in front of the radiator and will allow a hidden winch plate for the V8 version to fit in the bumper, but super expensive. or maybe some type of removable winch mount with a couple of frame mounted receivers. where you can store it in the beduntil you need it perhaps?

 

[WTSMatt]

Assuming you have the ecoboost? I have seen a kit from stage3 motorsports that provides a race intercooler with relocation kit that places the intercooler up in front of the radiator and will allow a hidden winch plate for the V8 version to fit in the bumper, but super expensive. or maybe some type of removable winch mount with a couple of frame mounted receivers. where you can store it in the beduntil you need it perhaps?

Yeah, its the ecoboost. Eventually I will relocate my intercooler and get a winch and winch bumper. I'm going to try and use a Rescue 8. We use these at work, not sure why I didn't think of it sooner. They are rated to 10K lbs and used in rope rescue and mountaineering. The onl;y unkmnown is how the synthetic rope will work with it being the synth is so smooth. We shall see.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Yeah, its the ecoboost. Eventually I will relocate my intercooler and get a winch and winch bumper. I'm going to try and use a Rescue 8. We use these at work, not sure why I didn't think of it sooner. They are rated to 10K lbs and used in rope rescue and mountaineering. The onl;y unkmnown is how the synthetic rope will work with it being the synth is so smooth. We shall see.
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I can't quote it from memory but there is a minimum transit radius for synthetic winch line (10X the rope diameter maybe), and the line strength is reduced exponentially below that radius. I don't know if that applies (I think probably so) when pulling static and the rope is actually not transiting the radius but it might be worth your time to establish that before you find yourself in a legit bind with a broken rope.

Factor 55, Custom Splice, AmSteel or Yankum or somebody like that may have it on their website.

 

[OTH Overland]

Yeah, its the ecoboost. Eventually I will relocate my intercooler and get a winch and winch bumper. I'm going to try and use a Rescue 8. We use these at work, not sure why I didn't think of it sooner. They are rated to 10K lbs and used in rope rescue and mountaineering. The onl;y unkmnown is how the synthetic rope will work with it being the synth is so smooth. We shall see.
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Have plenty of experience with the Rescue 8, used it a bunch in both SAR and the fire department, although on high angle stuff we typically used a brake bar. I would think the winch rope would likely slip as it has the teflon coating and the 8's are super smooth. would be good to test though and I would be interested in hearing how it goes. I am sure the 8 has at least a 100% safety factor in it loading also. In addition @bgenlvtex has a good point about min. bending radius, I have read something before for the recovery rings where the goal is a 3" minimum bend for 3/8" rope, I believe that is for a moving rope under load as in a snatch block configuration, as the ropes are used under load fastened with soft shackles through woven eyes in the rope which will have a 1x bend and they hold up fine. I have use rope for high angle for years, but in the off road and heavy truck recovery world it was always wire rope and heavy iron gear, even switching to all synthetic ropes on all my winches for off road, I am only just starting to test and trust soft shackles, recovery rings and the like. Still haven't cut my metal hook of the end and woven a loop in the end for total metal free system yet ...

 

[WTSMatt]

I’m going to give the 8 a try under a very controlled situation at home just to see how it goes. Luckily if it fails it’ll be the rope and not the chain that I’m actually using to winch on so safety wise I feel good about that. Still need to do some research on the bends tho as @bgenlvtex mentions.

 

[Steveonomad]

I’m going to give the 8 a try under a very controlled situation at home just to see how it goes. Luckily if it fails it’ll be the rope and not the chain that I’m actually using to winch on so safety wise I feel good about that. Still need to do some research on the bends tho as @bgenlvtex mentions.

Perfectly logical to try out your 8 plate on this. My search for this exact scenario brought me to this thread (64 yr ol retired ff) and so ima wondering if you did some testing, and how did it work out? What size and type rope are you using ..

 

[imanock]

I am looking for recommendations on how to shorten synthetic winch line. I have a hi-lift and winch kit and know how to use it. Instead of carrying a ton of chain I purchased 80’ of synthetic winch line in case my anchor is a distance away. I have 15’ of 3/8” chain that I attach to winch line. My question is say I only need 25’ of winch line, what’s the best way to shorten it? Prusik loops won’t work on it and figure 8 on a bight seems to possibly damage it. Thanks!

I bought a SAFE-XTRACT X-LOCK SX-20000H . Works similar to a climing figure 8, but designed for synthetic winch ropes. Excellent.

 

[Seanm26]

I have tied bowlines in 5/8" amsteel and picked up 30,000 lbs with it. We use nothing but synthetic line on fishing boats, and we work it harder than most recoveries. Why not just use knots? Samson Rope's website has a great section about it.

 

[Mizzouri]

Hate to revive this thread, but I too am one of the ecoboost sufferers. I’ve been thinking of similar solutions which led to this thread. If you get the Safe-Xtract app they have a hi-lift setup using all synthetic options and two X-lock’s.

I won’t post any of their proprietary info since they charge for that product, but you can look at ARC Overland’s instagram and they have a few setups based off of the system. Also Hi-Lift has a synthetic rope compatible jaw now, so if you could probably get by with one X-lock just for capturing progress.

 

[jimmyjamson]

I am looking for recommendations on how to shorten synthetic winch line. I have a hi-lift and winch kit and know how to use it. Instead of carrying a ton of chain I purchased 80’ of synthetic winch line in case my anchor is a distance away for durham taxis. I have 15’ of 3/8” chain that I attach to winch line. My question is say I only need 25’ of winch line, what’s the best way to shorten it? Prusik loops won’t work on it and figure 8 on a bight seems to possibly damage it. Thanks!

The best way to shorten synthetic winch line without damaging it is to use a soft shackle or a Whoopie Sling for adjustability. Prusik loops won’t hold well, but a Klemheist knot with a smaller, grippy cord can work better on synthetic rope. You can also coil the excess line neatly and secure it out of the way. Avoid using a figure 8 on a bight under load, as it can weaken the line.