Cross-winding winch line

[JHanson]

Those of you who own winches might hear about this technique. I think it's unnecessary at best and bogus at worst, and so does every winching expert I asked. FYI.

Cross-lining

 

[pvstoy]

Thanks for posting this Jonathan. For decades been using the tried and true method of spooling and has simply worked. Using winch lines on tow trucks and drill exploration rigs don't get maintained and respooling was never done. But working on them to free a knifed in line was common.

Synthetic line maybe more forgiving in a cross layer force as it is more flexible than rigid steel wire rope. Sometimes you have no control winching under load how the cable spools onto the drum. Sometimes I see it and just cringe but must keep on going on the task. After a respool is needed to get all in order again.

I'll just keep doing what I've been doing spooling winch cable.

 

[craig333]

I've wound up like that after winching but doing it on purpose? I always straighten mine out at the first opportunity.

 

[ramblinChet]

In thirty-plus years I had never heard the term although I am a steel rope guy and not synthetic. I asked a close friend at Liebherr who designs crawler cranes which can lift 3,000 ton and he had never heard of it. Again, maybe it is synthetic rope only.

But if you consider their claim it is incorrect - the only place the cross wound rope is capable or preventing a the top rope from diving is the exact point where the top rope lays over the cross wound rope. At all other points when being spooled the top rope can still dive between the exposed layers.

Personally, I would like to see an objective person perform testing and publish the results.

BTW - according to Samson Rope a winch requires two full layers of rope to be on the drum before a load can be applied. That's quite a bit more rope lost when compared to the 5-6 wraps recommended for a steel rope. And two full layers reduces the winches capacity to a measurable degree since the effective diameter of the drum has increased.