Winch Rope
Updated February 28, 2007
Here is a place that handles Amsteel Blue I recommend 3/8" line for Hummer use.
http://www.roverworx.com/ Here is the place that distributes Amsteel Blue
The average strength of Amsteel Blue 3/8" is 19,600 lbs; the average strength of Amsteel Blue 7/16" is 23,900lbs . 7/16 is not only overkill in strenth and cost but takes up more room on your winch spool, which robs power from your winch pulls . On a 10k or 12k winch and an 8, to 10,000 lb vehicle you are just throwing you access $ away. And standard wire rope that comes stock on a 12,000 lb winch is 3/8 (and has far less strenth at average 14,400 lbs) only Warn M15,000 is made for 7/16 WIRE rope fro mthe factory (which is still weeker than Amsteel blue 3/8")
I put the Master Pull Vectron ($218) on my Warn 12000. I like it a lot. The first 12 feet is a orange
heat resistant synthetic and then the rest is gray - it looks just like steel wire. The stuff is light,
strong and we are quite satisfied with it. It goes into a square when under tension.
The people at Master Pull 877 797-0202 were very nice also - but their Hawkens fairlead did not fit my H1. I ended
up with one from OK Offroad 918-294-3754.
Sept 19, 2004 -
Just got the new composite fairlead for the Mile Marker E12,000 that I'm running with Amsteel synthetic winch line in. Outside of being really low profile (better aproch angle) It will take far more punishment than the stock roller fairlead (if you hapen to nose into a monster bolder of tree stump), it will never rust and weighs a 10th of the roller faillead. Composite fairleads aslo give you the smooth running surface to protect your valuable syntetic line from the abrasion and it cant get caught in the corners between the rollers. The only place I could find it was a company in Maine that has a whole kit for the H1. The kit includs 100ft of 3./8 Amsteel sythetic line, the low profile composit fairlead, 2 shackels, a snatch block, a high end Uber saftey winch line hook, and a recovery strap.
the site is http://www.bwoverland.com/products_main.php
not the easyest to navigate but if you go to products , Recovery , Recovery Kits, Hummer H1 Kit you'll find it .
If you really want a safe , user friendly, setup for your winch, this setup is perfect (just need to throw in a pair of good gloves)
I use and highly recommend the X-line from Off-Road Only.
According to the manufacturer, you want to use an aluminum hawse fairlead. I purchased everything including a big nasty hook from willysoffroadsupply.com. They had the best price of anybody when I went looking a year ago.
There has been quite a bit of talk on switching to synthetic winch line lately. I got a 100 foot 7/16" line and it fits just right on my MileMarker E12000. 125' won't fit.