Synthetic winch rope inspection, cleaning, washing, and maintenance

WJCO

Meme King
Today I cleaned out winch ropes and thought I'd share some pictures and observations. So I cleaned the WJ rope about the same time last year (Zeon with Warn Spydura) and both last year and this year, there was light corrosion on the drum and the closest part of the winch rope. I used a brush and sponge to clean it off (see pics below). I've only used the winch twice this year, so I was a little surprised to see the corrosion. Now the WJ winch is not recessed and it is not a daily driver. I also avoid mud off-road.

Now the JK has the same winch model and is recessed in the bumper with Quadratec Dyneema Rope. And this is my wife's. She hits every mud puddle possible and at higher speeds. And the JK is a daily driver. And the winch has never been used. During the inspection and cleaning, NO CORROSION. Interesting comparison.

So below are cleaning instructions from Warn, Masterpiece, and Quadratec. All 3 show cleaning and inspection info and say to use low pressure water and mild soap. None of them gave a timeframe but I'm going to try to do ours once a year. Truthfully, I just used water on ours, no soap. I basically unspooled the ropes, used a low pressure sprayer to wet them and remove major dirt. Then used a sponge scrubber to clean drums and wipe the ropes, then sprayed them down again to rinse, and laid them out in the sun to dry.

Please add to this thread if you have any tips or observations.

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WJ winch:

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Instructions from Warn, Masterpull, and Quadratec:


WARN:

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MASTERPULL:

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QUADRATEC:

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Arrcherr

Caught the Bug
Ordering a new winch during the black Friday sales this year. I was just wondering about maintenance for it, perfect timing. Thanks for posting this!
 

USMC Wrangler

New member

VeruGE*144

Caught the Bug
Thanks for posting this up. I’ve been meaning to do this for couple weeks now and after seeing this yesterday I finally got up off of my lazy ass and got it done.
I used some warm water with a little hand soap, I ran the entire rope through it, pushing the rope together to let water wash everything out form the inside of the rope. Took my OCD ass a while.
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My winch is pretty new, just installed this summer. Drum looks good, no corrosion at all, just some paint marks of the red part of the rope. Still gave it a good wipe.
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I ended up pulling the rope completely out and brought it inside to dry complete out. The temps have been dropping below freezing over here lately.

One thing I noticed is that the rope was pinched/ flattened out pretty bad in couple spots[emoji15]. After running it trough some warm soapy water it almost came back to true, I can barley tell where those spots were. I guess It was wedged at edges of the drum which caused this to happen. I’ll have to be more careful when I got spool it back on once it dries out.
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Finished of with putting the cover on for the winter season, we already got some snow here last week.
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Andy5160

Hooked
Thanks for posting this up. I’ve been meaning to do this for couple weeks now and after seeing this yesterday I finally got up off of my lazy ass and got it done.
I used some warm water with a little hand soap, I ran the entire rope through it, pushing the rope together to let water wash everything out form the inside of the rope. Took my OCD ass a while.
View attachment 282929
View attachment 282930
My winch is pretty new, just installed this summer. Drum looks good, no corrosion at all, just some paint marks of the red part of the rope. Still gave it a good wipe.
View attachment 282931
I ended up pulling the rope completely out and brought it inside to dry complete out. The temps have been dropping below freezing over here lately.

One thing I noticed is that the rope was pinched/ flattened out pretty bad in couple spots[emoji15]. After running it trough some warm soapy water it almost came back to true, I can barley tell where those spots were. I guess It was wedged at edges of the drum which caused this to happen. I’ll have to be more careful when I got spool it back on once it dries out.
View attachment 282932
View attachment 282933
View attachment 282934

Finished of with putting the cover on for the winter season, we already got some snow here last week.
View attachment 282935


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Project well done!,,,,,


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CharlesC

Member
I need to get off my lazy ass also and get this done!! When spooling back up, how much tension should you put on the line? In the past I have used the hand break for resistance tugging the Jeep along till fully spooled. Is this enough?



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VeruGE*144

Caught the Bug
I have been thinking about throwing a cover over my M8000, but all the reviews say they turn gray in a year. Yours seems to be holding up pretty good.

It’s brand new lol, I will only use it in winter to protect the winch form road chemicals. I know it will turn grey but I don’t really care.


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JKbrick

Active Member
Ordering a new winch during the black Friday sales this year. I was just wondering about maintenance for it, perfect timing. Thanks for posting this!

Keep an eye on cl too, got my winch for $600 and the box had never been opened. It’s like $1200 new I think for the one I got


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JKbrick

Active Member
Wow that's a sweet deal! I check cl daily but I probably need to broaden the search. I usually go 200 mile radius from Chicago.

Since people don’t know how to spell try tricks like search wench instead of winch, there is a nice torque wench in Gary for $60 if you need one
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Goes up to 150 so it’s big enough for lug nuts and track bars, just not the pitman arm nut. Then an example of another wench
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Just an idea for you


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WJCO

Meme King
Thanks for posting this up. I’ve been meaning to do this for couple weeks now and after seeing this yesterday I finally got up off of my lazy ass and got it done.

One thing I noticed is that the rope was pinched/ flattened out pretty bad in couple spots[emoji15]. After running it trough some warm soapy water it almost came back to true, I can barley tell where those spots were. I guess It was wedged at edges of the drum which caused this to happen. I’ll have to be more careful when I got spool it back on once it dries out.
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Glad you got it done. The very first time I pulled cable, I had the same flat spots. No big deal, it's worked fine several times since.

I need to get off my lazy ass also and get this done!! When spooling back up, how much tension should you put on the line? In the past I have used the hand break for resistance tugging the Jeep along till fully spooled. Is this enough?



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I'm not saying this is right, but I only stretched my rope (dirty-mind motherfuckers) the first time I installed the rope. Since then, I just spool it up by crisscrossing the rope and I've had no issues when I've had to use it. If you don't crisscross it, I have personally witnessed the rope layer forcing itself into the layer below while pulling. This causes major tangles and actually causes it to seize. Real PITA to undo it.

I have been thinking about throwing a cover over my M8000, but all the reviews say they turn gray in a year. Yours seems to be holding up pretty good.

I have the same cover for 3rd year now I think. Looks just like that and jeep is parked outside. I only run it in the winter. Just took this picture and just put it on yesterday.

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Breer

Caught the Bug
Nice write up! I did mine the other day after a trip out and using it a couple times in a very sandy environment... I had a couple flat spots also and it's good to hear I'm not the only one and it's really not a concern.


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CharlesC

Member
Glad you got it done. The very first time I pulled cable, I had the same flat spots. No big deal, it's worked fine several times since.



I'm not saying this is right, but I only stretched my rope (dirty-mind motherfuckers) the first time I installed the rope. Since then, I just spool it up by crisscrossing the rope and I've had no issues when I've had to use it. If you don't crisscross it, I have personally witnessed the rope layer forcing itself into the layer below while pulling. This causes major tangles and actually causes it to seize. Real PITA to undo it.



I have the same cover for 3rd year now I think. Looks just like that and jeep is parked outside. I only run it in the winter. Just took this picture and just put it on yesterday.

View attachment 282942

Thanks for the response. Good call on the crisscrossing. I have always placed it side by side. When free reeling out it would always hang up, but eventually would release itself. Using the reverse power would cause issues if not caught soon enough and would walk up on itself making a tangled nightmare!! I always questioned if I had done damage to the rope or not and crisscrossing would avoid that issue.
Guess what I will be doing next weekend. -great write up and thanks again!


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JKbrick

Active Member
Glad you got it done. The very first time I pulled cable, I had the same flat spots. No big deal, it's worked fine several times since.



I'm not saying this is right, but I only stretched my rope (dirty-mind motherfuckers) the first time I installed the rope. Since then, I just spool it up by crisscrossing the rope and I've had no issues when I've had to use it. If you don't crisscross it, I have personally witnessed the rope layer forcing itself into the layer below while pulling. This causes major tangles and actually causes it to seize. Real PITA to undo it.



I have the same cover for 3rd year now I think. Looks just like that and jeep is parked outside. I only run it in the winter. Just took this picture and just put it on yesterday.

View attachment 282942

Can you explain crisscrossing? I’m drawing a blank


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