Winch cable size and length?

[rickf]

I did a search but came up empty. What size and how much cable is on the M37 winch originally?

[soupermike]

I think it is 7/16" and 150'. I have been looking for the same info as I have the winch and chain with hook but no cable.

[rickf]

I have two winches with the cable and chain and hook but no idea of length and the cable on both is pretty rough. 7/16 is a bit of overkill isn't it? I thought these winches were rated around 8-9000 lbs. . My 8,000 lb. Warn on my Jeep has 150 ft of 5/16 aircraft cable and I have never broken a cable with pulls that stalled the winch. Single and double line.

[Tom P]

7/16x150'
Comparing a 8000lb electric winch to
Braden PTO winch is like
Apples and oranges.
Tom

[just me]

8K lb electric is rated at PULL. The LU4 is rated for LIFT. Big difference.

[rickf]

Interesting, I did not know that. That would make sense why the much bigger cable. 150 feet of cable is plenty so I have no plans to change that. I will replace with the same. But can you imagine how much 5/16 cable you could get on that same drum? I would bet 250 feet no problem. Of coarse spooling it all on would take the better part of a day.

[soupermike]

From Garbee


Winch

Braden LU-4, PTO operated, 7500lb capacity (150’ 7/16" wire rope – 10’ chain w/hook)

[NAM VET]

my truck has a LU4 which I have never used. What is lift vs pull?

NV

[rickf]

Overhead lifting requires a much higher rating on the lifting cables, chains, straps than if you are just pulling with them because you are now holding things over peoples heads. The lifting rating for a chain or cable will be at least three times higher for any given weight.

[UZIS9MM]

The original “from the factory” cable was 7/16” diameter X 150’ feet. Looks like that was changed in the late 1950's to ½” diameter.

There are two different sources from PM Monthly that show the changes.
1st source – PM Monthly 1958, #65, pg. 37

2nd source – PM Monthly 1963, #127, pg. 17





Because of the early dates on the changes shown above does anyone know if the B1 series came with 1/2" cable from the factory?

Hope this helps.

Kevin

[rickf]

I will have to check the size on mine, I always thought that drum looked too full and if it is 1/2" then that would explain it. 150 ft, of 1/2" cable is really going to pack that drum full! I will probably still replace it with 7/16 since I want the full 150 ft. but I also want the full pulling power of the winch and the more wraps on the drum the less power.

[Cal_Gary]

Hi Rick,
I laughed at your comment about the "...more wraps on the drum..." because I regularly watch Highway Thru Hell where they always put the wrecker 10 feet from the vehicle then run out the winch line w/o even using one layer of cable. As an old Army recovery specialist, that show contradicts everything I learned about vehicle recovery.
Gary

[rickf]

I ran heavy wreckers for years and I don't watch any of those shows. They are all about the hype and drama and 95% of my tows had zero drama and a ton of hard dirty work. With road towing a lot of the time you really do not have much choice how much line you can use depending on road conditions and if the road is open or closed. But in a closed road situation I always preferred to get some line off and some room between me and the load. Where it shows up even more though is on the smaller winches like our trucks and my Jeep and pickups which actually all had the same winch, a Warn 8274 from the early 70's. That winch had a ton of power (4 tons actually) but the best performance was when you were down to the first and second spool. By the time you were at the fourth layer you could definitely notice the power had dropped off.
Funny story about that winch, On my winch plate I had notches filed in, One for every bumper or tie rod I pulled off of a vehicle after telling the person to make SURE the cable is hooked to the frame! Hey, they are the one stuck in the mud, I am NOT going in the mud to pull THEM out. It is up to them to be smart enough to hook to something solid. Well, you would be amazed at how many not so smart people there are out there. The best ones are the ones that hook to a tie rod. You can feel it bending as the vehicle just sits there. so you stop and tell them that they now have another problem once they get out but now they need to swim down in the mud and rehook to something a bit more solid. And wouldn't you know that more than once on the very same vehicle the next thing to surface was the bumper! You simply cannot fix stupid!

[Cal_Gary]

WOW is all I can say....
Gary