So you’ve already made the switch to synthetic winch rope or plan on making the switch to synthetic. Or, you have used your new synthetic winch rope and it failed almost immediately? How about you see abrasion on the rope and you have no clue how it happened? Chances are the fairlead mount opening on your winch bumper is the incorrect size for use with synthetic winch rope. The fairlead mount is where your Hawse Fairlead mounts to and your synthetic winch rope passes through from the winch drum. During the winching operation, your winch rope will pass through your winch fairlead opening. While the Hawse Fairlead acts a guide for your winch rope, it is rare to get a perfectly straight pull all the time. So the rope must come in contact with a smooth surface on angled pulls to avoid abrasion which damages the synthetic winch rope. If the first thing the rope comes in contact with is the mount opening before the fairlead surface, you have a huge issue. The single most important feature of your winch bumper is the fairlead mount opening size when making the switch to synthetic. Many winch bumper manufactures overlook this detail. The correct winch fairlead mount minimum opening for synthetic winch rope is 1.75″. We typically see openings of 1″ to 1.25″, this is simply too small for using rope and must be addressed. Don’t risk breaking or damaging your new winch rope by overlooking this!
