Winch cable

Kind of depends on how you want to use the winch. Capacities for the D6N Hyster Winch are:
420 ft 3/4 in. cable
305 ft 7/8 in.
235 ft 1 in.

Those a maximums and should be adjusted back for loose spooling, shorter pulls, etc.
Your cable supplier should be able to recommend cable type, usually a 6 x 19 strand configuration with wire core center.

Hi, Donl4.
Intended usage has a lot to do with what size cable your friend might need to fit. Personally, unless there are specifics that we don't yet know about, I'd be inclined to suggest about 100 - 120 feet of the 6x19 wire-cored cable that Old Magnet suggested. Rope cores area a non-event on winches 'cos they squish all outa shape under the sorts of loads that people seem to put on winch cables from time to time and they just don't handle the work very well at all.

It is worth bearing in mind that the more cable you have on the winch drum, the less line pull you will have due to the increased winding diameter and cable always seems to wear more when it is stored and used cable on top of cable than it does when it is cable directly on steel drum.

Just my 0.02.

Hi Don,

As stated, depends what you are using the drum for. For the last six years I have used the "plastic" rope for a D-4 size crawler for logging. It is made by Sampson and called Bluesteel. Has same strenght as same size wire. No jaggers, pulls off the drum when buried, and 100' of 3/4" weighs 10#. You can't drag it around sharp steel edges and sharp rock will tear it up. For us mid 60 and up, the end of the day is much happier. firpitch

I learnt something today,Firpitch, Thanks http://www.samsonrope.com/site_files/Synthetic_Rope_in_Logging.pdf

Go to your local crane hire yard and you can get some good used wire rope that will be good enough for winch work,elevator co's are another good source.
AJ

Some places will not give you this type of stuff due to liability unless you know them real well. You may say you want it for one thing and then use it for lifting and it fails. Then the lawyers get involved. When I was looking to convert my gas forklift to propane, no forklift company would sell me a USED propane tank. I had to buy a new one. Even though the forklift companies had dozens on their forklifts in their boneyard.

John

I would not recommend the elevator cable.....from my experience I've found that they use a rope (fibre) center. In application it runs on a very defined drum wrap....not the criss-cross typical of a winching operation.

Loggers around here used 60-70 ft. of 7/8 on a Cat. They figured a longer wire would just be a waste--you throw the whole thing away when it starts to unravel. They put on just what they needed, no more.

When I was half launching barges under construction, we anchored the Cat with a long, high strength wire, got about 300 ft. on the drum. The wire belonged to the boat works and they were very careful with it, never let it spool loose or cross over. I had half of a 310 ft. barge chained to the blade, nudged it down the ways slow like and stopped it with the drum brake and tracks when the finished end of the hull was out of the building. It always worked. If it hadn't I would have had a D7 on the bottom of the Columbia River.😮

There's a pretty common setup for the woods and a not-so-common setup. The winch will handle just about anything you need to do within the limit of your power. Just tell the cable salesman what you plan to do.

Years ago doing demolition by the winch method we never used new cable,used elevator and crane cable was plenty good for what we were doing,you would not buy new cable as you could destroy it the first time you used it if on what was being pulled down fell on it,logging cable spends most of its time being dragged through the mud and over rocks and stumps and wont stay new very long so you'r just as well off to use used cable and save the money.
Andy