# Winch Cable Breaking



## Fourbycb

Any Ideas why my snow plow Winch 3500 Lb Cap Cable keeps breaking and has flat spots about 2 ft and it breaks under very little stress load sometimes just lifting the blade up. Can I go to bigger cable or any ideas 
Thanks


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## jim331656

Go with a nice synthetic rope and dump the roller fairlead for an aluminum hause fairlead. That will make your life much easier


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## ScubaSteve728

yes i agree put a synthetic rope on and make sure you have a roller fairlead that will allow the rope to roll. some guys have even cut tow straps and used those on the winch. 
I switched over to synthetic rope a few years ago and I will never ever go back, it is great because you don't get frayed wired poking you and it is soft and winds easier on the winch.


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## J.onathan

The winch cable usually doesn't feed back onto the spool in nice uniform coils when there is slack in the cable (from lowering the blade) causing it to cross over itself and crush/break strands. 

I had that problem on mine after only a few hours. I replaced the cable with a 3500# boat strap before the cable broke (saw it coming from flat spots and broken strands). Works great. Seems to lift faster too.


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## Ramitt

What kind of winch setup do you have? cheap cable?? I ran a pulley on my plow to keep the hook from coming in contact with the fairlead.. Just hooked the cable up to my bumper.. Never broke one.. Ive used my winch a lot and im still running the factory cable that came with my warn


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## IHI

Cable has it's place, but snow plowing isn't the place, wears quickly and frays stab ya, then carrying sockey/ratchet to repair broken line.

Syn rope, honestly isn't much better, it still wears in same spot running over hawse or roller and eventually breaks.

I just cut a 5' long section of 2" boat winch strap, ran my winch line out so both hooks were equal length then taped the strap over the rope of my winch and winched it in, this way I get all the benfit of strap for raising plow and long life then when we want to go ditch hopping, I simply remove that small section of strap and have my winch back to normal for saving people


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## Fourbycb

I just have a Polaris Brand winch with a roller fairlead but I like the boatstrap idea. I have the Warn Pro Advantage Plow and use the Pully on the plow and Hook into the slot on the lower frame unlike your's hooking where the pulley went. I like your Idea if a person could put a 2" wide roller /pulley and hook to the Bottom slot again would be ideal and still work


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## IHI

Fourbycb;2084889 said:


> I just have a Polaris Brand winch with a roller fairlead but I like the boatstrap idea. I have the Warn Pro Advantage Plow and use the Pully on the plow and Hook into the slot on the lower frame unlike your's hooking where the pulley went. I like your Idea if a person could put a 2" wide roller /pulley and hook to the Bottom slot again would be ideal and still work


I personally like direct attachment, I tried a pulley with grooved metal wheel and ball bearings where that plastic rope guide came from warn; direct drive is much faster up/down and less angle on rope/cable/strap for my configuration.


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## jim331656

My winch came with the synthetic rope and I want to say it has a 6-10ft nylon abrasion sleeve that i slide down to the hook when I am plowing. (actually I take the hook off when plowing now. Had issues with it coming off the plow so I replace the hook with a shackle) Never had an issue with wear. The only times my rope has snapped has been right at the hook trying to pull things way too heavy. Just tied it back on and was in business.


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## IHI

jim331656;2084974 said:


> My winch came with the synthetic rope and I want to say it has a 6-10ft nylon abrasion sleeve that i slide down to the hook when I am plowing. (actually I take the hook off when plowing now. Had issues with it coming off the plow so I replace the hook with a shackle) Never had an issue with wear. The only times my rope has snapped has been right at the hook trying to pull things way too heavy. Just tied it back on and was in business.


Sleeve also helps protect it since kevlar/synthetic rope is uv unstable and will degrade as it's exposed to sunlight, so when it's wound on your spool the sleeve basically helps blanket rest of the layers/rope from uv rays. Rope protection in use is negligable. In the feild riding everytime any of us winch the sleeve ends up getting bunched up and pushed towards hook, ain't non of us going to try and keep it perfectly in line lol. And before I switched to strap I broke rope twice over area it rubbed over the bottom side of hawes fairlead, inside the sleeve. It's just alot of pressure and alot of consistantly wear on same section of rope/cable when raising a snowplow


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## My07Brute

Don't waste you time or money going to synthetic unless you use the winch other than plowing.

Take the cable out and replace it with a strap, been plowing many years and will only use a strap now.

Just use some tape to start it on the spool.

I use a 10k lb one with about 6' cut off so it fits on the spool from tractor supply , also use a roller fairlead.


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## Chevy2500

Another vote for using the rope instead of cable.


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## KFX450RXC

I just recently with the Polaris Pro HD Winch Upgrade Kit and synthetic rope. Worked perfectly for last week's storm. 

Two broken cables last year forced me to do something.


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## JoeInPI

I'm just wondering what snaps? How are the cables failing? I've never snapped mine with a plow since 2007. (?)


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## Fourbycb

My winch cable is about a year old and its broke 4 times from about where the hook is back 2 ft or so towards the drum. My cable runs thru a pulley and Fair lead


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## IHI

Fourbycb;2106862 said:


> My winch cable is about a year old and its broke 4 times from about where the hook is back 2 ft or so towards the drum. My cable runs thru a pulley and Fair lead


I'm tellin ya fellas, for plowing purposes, cable and rope both stink, strap it and get on with your life. I've experienced premature wear with cable in yrs past and the prickly ******* sucked to work with, even when repairing, always kept cable clamps and 1/4" ratchet/socket with me then proper cutting back to clean cable when I got home.

Bought a winch with rope and it didn't last any longer than my cable used to, just alot of stress over the same area over and over and over, then add a blade in a pile you need to lift a bit to back out which adds more tension and strain where it grazes over hawse fairlead, it snaps too..only advantage is a pocket knife to cut and repair is depth of tool kit needed.

Guys on polaris forum have experimented with pulleys to make cable/rope angle less aggressive over fairlead, it hasn't made a lick of difference other than lighter wallet for a gimmick, so more and more guys have switched to a 2" boat winch strap and more and more are spreading the word it's the best scenario for using an atv plow as they are getting multiple seasons on them.


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## irv

IHI;2106894 said:


> I'm tellin ya fellas, for plowing purposes, cable and rope both stink, strap it and get on with your life. I've experienced premature wear with cable in yrs past and the prickly ******* sucked to work with, even when repairing, always kept cable clamps and 1/4" ratchet/socket with me then proper cutting back to clean cable when I got home.
> 
> Bought a winch with rope and it didn't last any longer than my cable used to, just alot of stress over the same area over and over and over, then add a blade in a pile you need to lift a bit to back out which adds more tension and strain where it grazes over hawse fairlead, it snaps too..only advantage is a pocket knife to cut and repair is depth of tool kit needed.
> 
> Guys on polaris forum have experimented with pulleys to make cable/rope angle less aggressive over fairlead, it hasn't made a lick of difference other than lighter wallet for a gimmick, so more and more guys have switched to a 2" boat winch strap and more and more are spreading the word it's the best scenario for using an atv plow as they are getting multiple seasons on them.


lots of guys using the strap. had mine on now for years and has never broken.
also have the roller fairlead. its the only way to go. found out about it on this site, did it and have been very pleased.


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## russbundy

I have a Polaris Rzr 900 with a 3500# warn winch. I'm having the same trouble a lot of people are with synthetic cables breaking. I want to try the boat strap idea, but the problem is that due to the location of my winch, there isn't a direct connection between my winch and the plow. The cable goes around a pulley over the top and then connects back to a mounting bracket and the pulley location is the point where the plow is lifted from. The pulley is held in place by a 3/8" pin which goes through the center of the pulley. If I were to switch to a strap, I would have to eliminate the pulley. The width where the pin is located is about 1 1/8". I'm not sure that I could get a 1" strap strong enough so I was going to cut down one of the thicker 2" straps and fuse the edge with a heat gun or torch. Could I get a pin with a bearing on it so that the strap isn't rubbing against the pin, or just grease up the strap where it's going to rub against the pin? Anyone have any ideas on how to work around this? The pin takes a beating I have to replace it every year because it ends up bending.


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## wyosam

Just get rid of the pulley and anchor the strap at that location (or nearby) That pulley offers no advantage. It offers slight advantage in total pull strength, but not a doubling because the legs aren’t parallel. I’m sure your winch has plenty of pull to lift the plow, so all it is doing is slowing the process down. Not being able to see exactly what kind of an anchor you have at the pulley location, I’d be pretty tempted to bolt a short length of chain between the push tubes and hook to that.


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## sublime68charge

I would for go the pulley and either just hook your strap right there or I might make a bracket across the push tubes 1/2 way back to the base plate and Hook your strap there you want the winch line pull to be a vertical as possible that way the winch is pulling up on the plow to raise it. With the pulling point what out there on the plow your winch is trying to pull the plow back to the RZR %30 of pulling power and pulling up with %70 of pulling power its the geometry of things.

my % are just a guess but you want the winch lifting the plow up and not trying to pull the plow backwards the roller fairlead on the RZR and the pulling point and the push tube anchor location make a triangle of point of contact the more you can get the Fairlead location and pulling point in vertical the easier it is to lift.

just my thoughts.


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## MetcalfeEnterprises

So to follow up with everybody else I vote strap. I have been plowing with my wheeler heavily for 6 or 7 years now. I used to do residential driveways with it. The first thing I did was pull the 100' of cable off and store it for the winter, I had a torn 2" ratchet strap. The section is probably six feet long, I tape it to the winch drum and winch it up. Not once have I had an issue with it. On the plow end I had originally sewed a loop over a shackle but the thread I used didn't hold up. I tied a knot around the loop end of the shackle and it has stayed like that ever since I like to pull the bottom roller on the fairlead and grease it up every fall too but that gets neglected now and then.


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## russbundy

Thanks for your suggestions, I'm going to try eliminating the pulley and rig a way to attach my strap directly to where the pulley is currently located


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## Tundraboy

I have the pro advantage plow with the pulley and broke my wire cable twice. Replaced with synthetic and that is about to break. I guess I could find a strap and try that but would have to eliminate pulley. Pulley gives you more lifting height. I am also having problems with the winch and plow mount. I haven’t hit many things that hard w edge of plow, but recently all 4 bolts that hold winch down, stripped out and fell out. Have a Kodiak 700, the winch plate and pro advantage plate bolt together, so when you hit something, there’s a lot of stress on winch bolts.


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## BossPlow2010

Tundraboy said:


> I have the pro advantage plow with the pulley and broke my wire cable twice. Replaced with synthetic and that is about to break. I guess I could find a strap and try that but would have to eliminate pulley. Pulley gives you more lifting height. I am also having problems with the winch and plow mount. I haven't hit many things that hard w edge of plow, but recently all 4 bolts that hold winch down, stripped out and fell out. Have a Kodiak 700, the winch plate and pro advantage plate bolt together, so when you hit something, there's a lot of stress on winch bolts.


Have you considered just getting a hydraulic plow?


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## Tundraboy

No, I have enough money into this set up. Should’ve went w the standard plow mount with push poles that mount underneath atv. Can’t lift plow very high though


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## russbundy

I thought I'd report back with the solution I came up with since others may be able to use the same fix. I found a 2" steel roller bearing they are designed to bolt onto the back of a trailer to keep the back from hitting the pavement. I welded that onto my plow and ran my tow strap through it and viola, it works like a charm and doesn't break anymore. Someone suggested earlier just to bypass the pully, but after talking with the plow manufacturer about my problem, they said the problem with that is that the plow would move twice as fast without the pulley which could be a problem


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## sweetk30

I did a MOOSE products winch strap for plow use . Went on fairly easy and working great for my friend . Got it off ebay for 30.00 bucks


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## jmbones

I use a 10k lb rated recovery tow strap with the loop on the end. I cut it about 6' and the only thing I use to attach to the winch drum is duct tape. A few wraps of the strap around the drum and its good to go for years. Just replaced it this year after using it since 2016. And it was even broke yet, but starting to fray.

New strap:








Old strap:


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