Stump Pulling Preparation: How to Splice Synthetic Winch Rope.

This video starts with an update about a change after I broke a chain last week and shows how you can get a winch rope and put your own end on it by splicing.

[@muskegonhunterscamp]

Great video, very authentic. Easy to follow along. Good stuff.

[@brainhomestead6]

I appreciate it! I am going to start removing stumps tomorrow…. stumps that haven’t had the top part cut off yet. Trees, I’m pulling trees.

[@muskegonhunterscamp]

@@brainhomestead6 Right there w/ya.

[@mkenton3]

Thanks for uploading the splice. I'm essentially working my way through the same process. I had made a list of all the parts, much as you did in the preparations video, and also noted that the chains were the weakest link. Your fail video and this video has been really helpful. It confirmed my fears and moved me from chains to having more tree saver straps as well. I saw another youtuber use a strand fencing wire to thread the rope through. The wire was just over the full length he needed to thread so all he was pushing through the center was the wire, then he pulled the rope through. That seemed to work pretty well. Not sure where I'm going to get a single strand of fencing wire, but good to know all the same.

[@brainhomestead6]

I haven’t seen that method with the wire, but it makes sense. After my fail video, I realized how much the chain stretched. When I used the tow straps for the third video, while I was pulling, I could tell the system was engaging more and stretching less. So I’ll keep chains around in case push comes to shove, but I’m definitely going to try not to use them.

[@GordonFreeman69]

Reminds me of a Chinese finger puzzle! Nice pulling vids!

[@walkingthruyourdata-6019]

Beautiful ceiling!

[@brainhomestead6]

LOL, thanks man!

[@ridermak4111]

Before you do the taper cuts, fid the end in and back out the side of the standing rope. Remove the fid and measure 18” from the end and pull one strand and cut it. Move toward the end 1.5” pull one strand and cut. Repeat until you have one strand at the end. Now “milk” it back inside the standing rope. You now have a long even taper that is very important. Any sudden change in diameter with this stuff creates a weak point under heavy load. Ignore anyone who says you don’t need to taper. This method eliminates all bumps. Careful math, measuring, and marking is needed for the entry and exit points with the fid to end up with a correct finished splice.

[@brainhomestead6]

I’ve now pulled 6 stumps with these ends and haven’t had issues yet. I have another 7 stumps to remove, but after that I may start pulling the trees down while instead of cutting them down first. If I do that, I’ll need to take figure out a way to splice them together.

[@yaykruser]

Those treesaver straps really stretch less than a chain? -crazy 😮 Cant wait to see the pulling!

[@brainhomestead6]

They’re “supposed to stretch less”. I’m going to try to get everything set up tonight so I can pull it tomorrow. It rained a lot here yesterday, so the ground might be too soft yet.

[@happyhome41]

Maybe add the fast fid to your links video ? Factor 55 has free shipping over $200 - and seeing this video after I already ordered everything from the other video - they wanted to add $15 shipping. Excellent video here. Save us watching the other three. 🙂

[@brainhomestead6]

I thought I had it in there as well, I’ll go check.

[@jake-mv5oi]

Don't underestimate the energy stored in those straps. You can see the stretch in your videos as you're taking up the slack. There's lots of videos on youtube of straps flying through hatches of vehicles when straps break. Check out Ronnie Dahl's videos on breaking winch lines and breaking tow balls. The forces you're putting on these trees could easily be lethal if something were to break, particularly with the metal snatch blocks and shackles in the system. I don't want to sound like a safety sissy, but I've seen some pretty dangerous stuff offroading. Recently there was an incident where one truck was tugging on another by the tow ball with a recovery strap and the hitch broke off, sending the entire hitch through the windshield, killing the driver.

[@brainhomestead6]

I’ve heard this before and it’s good advice. I use long synthetic winch lines on compound systems. That puts me so far away from the main force that even if something comes off or breaks, I’m close to 100’ away. I think I’m going to get a winch with a long remote on it too.

[@happyhome41]

SUCCESS After watching the videos, purchased the items (needed more shackles than you listed) and pulled our first stump, to the amazement of the neighbors. Having high ratio designs, required multiple resets, and some reconfigure as distances between snatch blocks decreased to the point of stopping. The splices you showed worked like a charm.

[@brainhomestead6]

That’s awesome to hear! There’s a lot of resetting sometimes. Do you have more to do?

[@happyhome41]

@@brainhomestead6 Yes, a bit. Wife was sceptical at first, now she's all on board. Sweet.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@happyhome41 what did you pull with? Car, tractor?

[@happyhome41]

@@brainhomestead6 In the end, used our car.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@happyhome41 that’s great! I love doing it this way!

[@davidredding7694]

Is there a particular rope that you prefer. Planning on pulling a 8 ft holly out by 3 ton hand wrench to hitch of truck, hand wrench pulley connected to a rope which connects to snatch block at Holley with terminal end of rope anchored on truck. 4:1 mechanical advantage. Just need a strong rope with low stretch.

[@brainhomestead6]

I use a synthetic winch cable 3/8” diameter. It is very light, feels like plastic, but has a 23,000lb minimum breaking force and extremely low stretch. It’s stronger than metal cable with much less ability to stretch and store energy.

[@garyl6031]

Where did you purchase the equipment? Do you have a link for us?

[@brainhomestead6]

Yeah, it was all Amazon actually. If you go to my first video in this playlist, I put links in the description to all components. I couldn’t link to Amazon directly but they’re all available there.

[@Signal-20]

thanks

[@brainhomestead6]

No problem!

[@timbarker4189]

Loving the vids. Is the rope in this video same as the rope you put amazon links to in your equipment video? Just asking as the color you’re using in video is not shown in the amazon link. Thanks

[@brainhomestead6]

Hmm, unless they changed the color of it. A lot of the Amazon rope colors are changed if they’re out of a certain color. I think I’d get different color ropes in the future just for ease of identifying which one is which when they’re all in the same area.

[@timbarker4189]

@@brainhomestead6 The specs were different in link as what you quoted as well (lower breaking weight)…. Just fyi

[@brainhomestead6]

@@timbarker4189 hmm, let me go check the link real quick.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@timbarker4189 you’re right, it was 23k pounds when I bought it, now it’s only 18k pounds. Let me see if there’s an equivalent on Amazon to the ones I bought.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@timbarker4189 FIERYRED Synthetic Winch Rope Cable Kit 3/8inch 100FT 26500lbs Winch Line Replacement with Forged Hook Protective Sleeve for 4WD Off-Road Vehicle SUV, Black a.co/d/cgRoN4I

[@paulheidbreder]

This is really cool but are you going to actually set it up and do it?

[@brainhomestead6]

I have 6 videos already of me pulling them!

[@justinbriannemuller-uw5se]

The two back and forth things did nothing other than weaken the splice. If you want to “lock it in”, the long end has to go through on one pass (tying a knot) so it is impossible for it to shake out.

[@brainhomestead6]

There seems to be a lot of differing views on this. I can find people that say doing multiple times is better, and others say it’s way worse. I’ve done 7 pulls with this so far and whether it’s better or worse at the limits of the rope, I haven’t gotten there yet, so I haven’t had to worry about it yet. I know I will have to after another 6 videos or so.

[@ThorHammer-ff3fz]

where did you get that stick and metal gadget?

[@brainhomestead6]

I thinking you’re talking about the fast fid. If you look at the other Stump Removal Preparation video I put a link to everything in the description. But I believe you can still find it on Amazon, however I think I got mine from the same manufacturer as the splice end.

[@brainhomestead6]

www.factor55.com/p-fast-fid-00420-01

[@nicolaisvlog8701]

be careful 😁👍

[@brainhomestead6]

Going for another pulling attempt this evening.

[@ericbrack4546]

So, does the splice buddy stay on? Or remove it somehow?

[@brainhomestead6]

Which part are you referring to in particular? The fid that the cable goes into when feeding it through?

[@ericbrack4546]

@@brainhomestead6 no, the thing you fed the rope through to form the eye before attaching the fid.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@ericbrack4546 ah yes, that’s the permanent device called “The Splicer” from company Factor 55. It’s anodized Aluminum and it stays on the rope. My videos where I’m pulling stumps show these ends in action. They’re really handy.

[@ericbrack4546]

@@brainhomestead6 thank you, I wasn't sure.

[@brainhomestead6]

@@ericbrack4546 no problem!

[@masman414]

How did you cut the winch connection off?

[@brainhomestead6]

I used a pair of tin snips. It worked better than any other method I've used, but it's still not great.

[@dickbower7907]

If you left the red abrasion sleeve on, you could move it down and use it to mark where the fid exits the splice.

[@brainhomestead6]

That is awesome advice and I wish I would have known that beforehand! I’ll remember this trick for next time.

[@masman414]

I have not cut the red abrasion sleeve on my rope. Can you break it down for me? Lol New to all of this stuff.

[@harrywhalen3571]

There's a easier way to do this Leave the end square no cuts either burn the end form a point from melted end or use super glue on your cut end mark your 50x point and simply feed your pointed end as far as need be Splicing fids are ok but tend to jam up the works as you showed in your first demo.

[@brainhomestead6]

But if I don’t cut and put a taper on the end, won’t it create a bulge at the end when I bury it and hurt the integrity of the rope when I put a heavy load on it?

[@harrywhalen3571]

@@brainhomestead6 No we did the same thing with any braided rope and put a lot of stress on them. And theres enough shrinkage when it gets compressed you won't compromise the integrity of the rope. You want a workout try making a sling with steel cable to make a loop for a sling or something. They been doing this stuff for years in the marine industry. One word of advice keep everone away from your work. I had a chain break just like you and was sporting a bruise for nearly 6 weeks when the broke piece hit me in the leg from 45 ft away I do like your content and have subscribed

[@brainhomestead6]

@@harrywhalen3571 I really appreciate it! Every video I watched of guys doing the same thing, they all warned about chains breaking. The pull I did yesterday I only use tow straps, they hold less stored energy than chains and they’re cheaper!

[@iffykidmn8170]

@@brainhomestead6 Dyneema does not melt in the typical sense so will not meld itself together to form a point, an untapered bulge will weaken the break strength by at least 50% dont believe me watch more videos HowNOT2 would be a good start. getting away from that why would one want to remove the red protective abrasion sleeve?🤔🤨

[@brainhomestead6]

@@iffykidmn8170 I wasn’t thinking really. I’ve already had a use for it and didn’t have it. That decision has, in turn, damaged one of my synthetic ropes, so I’ll have to replace it.

[@JimJWalker]

Your going to need a runway to move the stump an inch! =)

[@brainhomestead6]

You’re not too far off. Some of these setups I need 200’, fortunately I have the free room in most situations.

[@gerdberg4188]

Is that fix the right size ……..it seems too big

[@brainhomestead6]

I bought this directly from their website and it’s sized for 3/8” synthetic rope. You are correct that it looks too big.