Synthetic or Steel Cable for winch?

[RynoBrown]

I'm going to be in the market for a winch for the Grizzly. I don't do a lot of mud riding so pulling myself out won't be the primary purpose. My plan is to buy a winch this spring and then next fall buy a snow plow. God willing I will also be hoisting some dead elk up into a tree in the fall.

My question to all of you is whether to spring the extra $$$ for the synthetic rope or if a steel cable would be more durable for my intended use?

I'm also thinking of going with a Warn XT/RT30 (simply for the lifetime warranty) and the Warn ProVantage plow system next fall. Any suggestions or comments on that system is also appreciated.

Thanks in advance for all of the help!!

[jake72]

xt 30 and for plowing get a smaller 8 ft plow rope

[UpstateNYGrizz]

Go with the synthetic rope. First, both the synthetic and the steel cable will wear quickly with plowing and sometimes don't like that extra kick you get when running the plow into the snow pile or catch it on something under the snow. The rope is just much more better for handling. Easy on/off and you don't have to worry about shredding your hands on broken strands. When you plow, you should change out to a wide belt, it will hold up a lot better. For everything else, the rope is a better choice.

[dmelvin]

I agree with UpstateNYGrizz. Synthetic is definately the way to go. My bike came with wire cable and one of my first mods was to swap it out with synthetic. I went with the WARN rope but will make the switch to Amsteel Blue this spring.

Darryl

[ColoGrizguy]

For your elk, get a snatch block. God willing, I'll be hoisting one up in the air myself in the fall! Have you checked into Viper winches or pretty set on a Warn?

[gearbolt]

both.

sometimes a steel cable is what you need and others a synthetic. i currently just switch out when i need... as of right now i have a 25ft cargo strap on my winch with a quick attach on the base of the drum and when i need more distance i can change out if i need.. but in most cases i find that the strap gives me a good use and in the winter months it doesn't wear as bad with plowing the snow.

i personally carry on my grizzly at all times

150ft of 3/8" cable in a few lengths and and various hardware..

100ft of synthetic in two fifty foot lengths.. one is the base and the other is an extension.

and fifty foot of 3/8" to replace the strap....

the 150 ft fits under the rear rack in that odd notch... and that is there because this happened to me.... and i was 20 ft from the nearest anchor able tree.

[RynoBrown]

Originally Posted by ColoGrizguy

For your elk, get a snatch block. God willing, I'll be hoisting one up in the air myself in the fall! Have you checked into Viper winches or pretty set on a Warn?

I would consider Viper, but when I priced out the Viper Elite and the Warn, it was only about a $150 more. Cabela's has the Warn for $559 - $75 for coupon and free shipping = $484 to the door.

The Viper Elite is cheaper, but they only offer a 2 year warranty. If they stood behind the product better, I would be all over it. In my opinion when company's offer a lifetime warranty, they build products that are very tough and won't fail under normal conditions. Products that have a limited warranty are typically built to a budget and are designed with replaceable parts for periodic maintenance.

[jake72]

Originally Posted by RynoBrown

I would consider Viper, but when I priced out the Viper Elite and the Warn, it was only about a $150 more. Cabela's has the Warn for $559 - $75 for coupon and free shipping = $484 to the door.

The Viper Elite is cheaper, but they only offer a 2 year warranty. If they stood behind the product better, I would be all over it. In my opinion when company's offer a lifetime warranty, they build products that are very tough and won't fail under normal conditions. Products that have a limited warranty are typically built to a budget and are designed with replaceable parts for periodic maintenance.

warn life time on winch not electonics

[10 point hunter]

If you go with both use the syn. when plowing the wire will frey and break after a while. I use the 8 ft. syn. plow rope when the plow is on and have never had a problem in the 3 yrs. I've used it. I had steel cable and had to keep fixing it as it freyed and caught a piece as I was working on it and shoved it through my thumb until it hit the finger nail, their were a few words said that day. If you have both metal and syn. you will have to change the roller fairlead as you change the rope, the metal will put grooves in the fairlead and cause your syn. rope to frey. Just my experiance, I use synthetic with no problems. Ride Safe

[~Muckboy]

Originally Posted by RynoBrown

I would consider Viper, but when I priced out the Viper Elite and the Warn, it was only about a $150 more. Cabela's has the Warn for $559 - $75 for coupon and free shipping = $484 to the door.

The Viper Elite is cheaper, but they only offer a 2 year warranty. If they stood behind the product better, I would be all over it. In my opinion when company's offer a lifetime warranty, they build products that are very tough and won't fail under normal conditions. Products that have a limited warranty are typically built to a budget and are designed with replaceable parts for periodic maintenance.

9 out of 10 times, it's the solonid which craps out not the winch. The warrentee is on the winch.

And ONLY $150 more???

You can get an outerwears lid, Powermadd handguards, and Rock Sliderzz for that extra $150 Bro...

Take the Viper and WARN apart and they are the SAME inside. You are paying for a NAME! Neither is made in the USA so who cares. Save your $$$.

[motoalliance]

Great discussion (like always) on this board....one of my favorite places to read. Always good insights and you've been helpful in our business development. We're glad to be sponsors here.


Quick responses related to VIPER ELITE vs. WARN XT3000 for what it's worth:

1. Our EX3000 is $324.99 to the door. If you need a mount, our EX3000 is $364.99 to your door.....not sure what a WARN mount goes for.

2. Our electrical system is also 2 years. WARN is not clear on theirs. Their lifetime warranty states "limited lifetime." It is not a full coverage.

3. The patented AMSTEEL-BLUE cable we use comes with a one year warranty....the generic synthetic WARN offers does not come with any warranty.

4. Our ELITE EX3000 comes with snatch block and winch cover....another $55+ in value when compared to WARN.

5. You can get into an EX4000 or EX4500 and have substantially more pulling power for still quite a bit less than the XT3000.


Bottom line for me. WARN makes an outstanding winch....no question about it. I respect them and their products. You will likely not be disappointed in buying the XT3000.

On the other hand, I would argue that our ELITE series actually can outperform the WARN, offers more features, a warranty that matters on the electrical and cable, and you can get into it for far less with to.....allowing you to still buy a new grill for summer. :)

So WARN and ELITE are both good choices IMO....good luck on the decision which ever way you go. Again, great board.

Peter
CEO
Motoalliance
www.motoalliance.com
1-866-527-7637

[way2crazy4u]

Just a little heads up, i bought my warn rt30 for servicing, and they are lifetime warranty except for the electric motor and the solenoid which i think are only one year. While having my winch serviced i asked to have my steel cable replaced with the synthetic rope. The guy at the service counter quickly asked what i use my winch for, which is usually for getting me out of somewhere. He did not recommend it because the synthetic rope is more prone to fraying and breaking than a steel cable, he also said the steel cable is much tougher, ohh and the synth rope doesn't like cold weather. All in all i stuck with the steel rope and bought a nice pair of tough leather winching gloves!!! Hope this helps!!

[RynoBrown]

Originally Posted by motoalliance

Great discussion (like always) on this board....one of my favorite places to read. Always good insights and you've been helpful in our business development. We're glad to be sponsors here.


Quick responses related to VIPER ELITE vs. WARN XT3000 for what it's worth:

1. Our EX3000 is $324.99 to the door. If you need a mount, our EX3000 is $364.99 to your door.....not sure what a WARN mount goes for.

2. Our electrical system is also 2 years. WARN is not clear on theirs. Their lifetime warranty states "limited lifetime." It is not a full coverage.

3. The patented AMSTEEL-BLUE cable we use comes with a one year warranty....the generic synthetic WARN offers does not come with any warranty.

4. Our ELITE EX3000 comes with snatch block and winch cover....another $55+ in value when compared to WARN.

5. You can get into an EX4000 or EX4500 and have substantially more pulling power for still quite a bit less than the XT3000.


Bottom line for me. WARN makes an outstanding winch....no question about it. I respect them and their products. You will likely not be disappointed in buying the XT3000.

On the other hand, I would argue that our ELITE series actually can outperform the WARN, offers more features, a warranty that matters on the electrical and cable, and you can get into it for far less with to.....allowing you to still buy a new grill for summer. :)

So WARN and ELITE are both good choices IMO....good luck on the decision which ever way you go. Again, great board.

Peter
CEO
Motoalliance
www.motoalliance.com
1-866-527-7637

Peter - Thank you for your response. Can you tell us where you manufacture your products and where the parts are purchased?

I would also caution people about products that look the same. I have no prior experience with MotoAlliance and their products so this may not be the case with their products, but not everything is as it seems. Different products can and often are built with different grades of steel. Growing up on a ranch/farm we found that cheap knock off equipment would wear out in about 1/4 of the time a quality item. When you only save 50% of the cost it didn't take a Harvard grad to figure out that you are better off making an investment in the initial purchase. Like I said, this may or may not be the case with MotoAlliance as I have NEVER used their products. I just know that if Warn is standing behind their mechanical products, they are using high quality materials that are not likely to fail me when I'm 10 miles from the road and buried in the nastiest crap.

I will definitely give MotoAlliance a chance to earn my business, I have no problem shopping for other products.

I think I've decided to go with the synthetic cable. I'll just use a cheap $2 piece of nylon rope on the end of my synthetic winch cable to hoist elk up into trees. Much cheaper and easier on the expensive equipment. When it comes time to plow, I will get a piece of 8' plow rope. Does anyone know if this is a piece of kevlar rope or an overpriced piece of standard nylon rope? For the amount of weight it would be picking up, I may be tempted to use a piece of cheap rope.

Thanks for the discussion gents, keep it up. I really do appreciate the commentary!!

RB

[Mad Mike]

good thing about syn rope if it does breakout in the middle of no were you can tie it back together and keep going try fixing a broke cable in the middle of the woods. also rope won`t snap back and take your head off if it does break.

[UpstateNYGrizz]

Originally Posted by Mad Mike

also rope won`t snap back and take your head off if it does break.

Ohh sure, bring in the snapback and taking off your head scare tactic ! Way to go, scare him into it why don't you.

[motoalliance]

Great questions about "where stuff is made." All winches are made in China now -- at least to some degree. My friend was just over there and saw the WARN facility. There is a lot of junk coming out of China and some really high quality stuff. We've seen our share of junk and we refuse to use it. WARN can make a great winch in any part of the world.

A good example specific to us has to do with synthetic rope. We had the generic Chinese stuff as a sample that so many winches use, and we refused to use it. When we compared it to AMSTEEL-BLUE....well, there was no comparison. AMSTEEL-BLUE is patented for a reason...it has a special coating on it that keeps it from snags....the death knell for ropes.

There are also many winch companies selling in the USA that just buy generic winches off the "china shelf" and rebrand them with their own stickers. There is not much QC there. By contrast, we have a manufacturing facility in Minneapolis that is our partner/parent and they do work for Toro, Graco, 3M, etc.....have been in manufacturing for 30+ years. You know their quality is good to interact with such customers.....and we have our own engineers and techs in house to do winch design and can keep QC on the up and up.

Bottom line...we develop, manufacture and design products both in house and in good partnerships around the world.....including China and Mexico. We can't make a good winch in the USA that is also at a price point people can afford, so we have to go overseas.

In all this it is the quality that is most important to us. We believe that quality will always win in the end; not price. I finally purchased a flat panel TV 6 months ago and I went with Sony because of its reputation for quality, instead of some lesser model even though Sony was more expensive. I wanted it to work, work well, and work for a long time. That is the same philosophy we use in any development of products.

I will absolutely stand behind our winches because of it. Nothing is perfect, of course, but I would be stunned if WARN could outperform our ELITE series. And I think our MAX and CLASSIC could also give a very good run at the most expensive WARN models.

Hope that helps. Thanks for the conversation and have a good night.

Peter
CEO
Motoalliance

[10 point hunter]

Nice job Pete, some good info. I purchased some AmSteel Blue ( 3/16 x 50' ) with Samthane a couple months ago off ebay under the name Viking atv winchlines. I hadn't heard of it before but I guess I bought a good brand and got a really good deal. Ride Safe

[Dhmr]

Brands once made in America, reputations hard earned over years, decades, of building uncompromising quality......lost over a matter months when made cheaper, in every way, overseas. When Warn went overseas they made themselves irrelevant. China is China.

Needless to say I was a bit pissed when my expensive winch arrived with Made in China all over it. Lesson learned.

[AKMuddy]

Originally Posted by motoalliance

Great discussion (like always) on this board....one of my favorite places to read. Always good insights and you've been helpful in our business development. We're glad to be sponsors here.


Quick responses related to VIPER ELITE vs. WARN XT3000 for what it's worth:

1. Our EX3000 is $324.99 to the door. If you need a mount, our EX3000 is $364.99 to your door.....not sure what a WARN mount goes for.

2. Our electrical system is also 2 years. WARN is not clear on theirs. Their lifetime warranty states "limited lifetime." It is not a full coverage.

3. The patented AMSTEEL-BLUE cable we use comes with a one year warranty....the generic synthetic WARN offers does not come with any warranty.

4. Our ELITE EX3000 comes with snatch block and winch cover....another $55+ in value when compared to WARN.

5. You can get into an EX4000 or EX4500 and have substantially more pulling power for still quite a bit less than the XT3000.


Bottom line for me. WARN makes an outstanding winch....no question about it. I respect them and their products. You will likely not be disappointed in buying the XT3000.

On the other hand, I would argue that our ELITE series actually can outperform the WARN, offers more features, a warranty that matters on the electrical and cable, and you can get into it for far less with to.....allowing you to still buy a new grill for summer. :)

So WARN and ELITE are both good choices IMO....good luck on the decision which ever way you go. Again, great board.

Peter
CEO
Motoalliance
www.motoalliance.com
1-866-527-7637

Originally Posted by motoalliance

Great questions about "where stuff is made." All winches are made in China now -- at least to some degree. My friend was just over there and saw the WARN facility. There is a lot of junk coming out of China and some really high quality stuff. We've seen our share of junk and we refuse to use it. WARN can make a great winch in any part of the world.

A good example specific to us has to do with synthetic rope. We had the generic Chinese stuff as a sample that so many winches use, and we refused to use it. When we compared it to AMSTEEL-BLUE....well, there was no comparison. AMSTEEL-BLUE is patented for a reason...it has a special coating on it that keeps it from snags....the death knell for ropes.

There are also many winch companies selling in the USA that just buy generic winches off the "china shelf" and re-brand them with their own stickers. There is not much QC there. By contrast, we have a manufacturing facility in Minneapolis that is our partner/parent and they do work for Toro, Graco, 3M, etc.....have been in manufacturing for 30+ years. You know their quality is good to interact with such customers.....and we have our own engineers and techs in house to do winch design and can keep QC on the up and up.

Bottom line...we develop, manufacture and design products both in house and in good partnerships around the world.....including China and Mexico. We can't make a good winch in the USA that is also at a price point people can afford, so we have to go overseas.

In all this it is the quality that is most important to us. We believe that quality will always win in the end; not price. I finally purchased a flat panel TV 6 months ago and I went with Sony because of its reputation for quality, instead of some lesser model even though Sony was more expensive. I wanted it to work, work well, and work for a long time. That is the same philosophy we use in any development of products.

I will absolutely stand behind our winches because of it. Nothing is perfect, of course, but I would be stunned if WARN could outperform our ELITE series. And I think our MAX and CLASSIC could also give a very good run at the most expensive WARN models.

Hope that helps. Thanks for the conversation and have a good night.

Peter
CEO
Motoalliance

Peter,

Thank you for the great information you supplied in this thread. We are grateful to have an involved sponsor on this site. It makes a huge difference when folks go to spend their hard earned money. Based on your effort to talk with our members I will definitely point members in your direction from now on. Thanks again!

[ColoGrizguy]

Agreed 100%. I joined this forum for this exact information, and I'll be buying my viper soon. I refuse to get in line and pay for a name when qualty alternatives are on the market.