Safest Winch System - Flawed Offroad
Daniel called us up and asked if he could do a video tutorial on our groove fairlead. We were excited about the proposal and even more surprised that he wouldn't let us give him one, stating that he wanted to have an unbiased opinion! Now this is the kind of review that would make a-lot of other businesses nervous since there is zero control fo dialogue, but that isn't our style.
"I upgrade Badlands winch (12000 LB) from Harbor Freight, to 7/16" synthetic rope from Yankum Ropes and installed their Groove Fairlead to get rid of any metal in my winch system. Had I not seen Nate's video on @Dirt Lifestyle I would have never considered doing this. I was hesitant at first but now I'm super glad I did it. The Harbor Freight winch is easy to upgrade to synthetic rope! Remove the metal from your winching setup to make it safer!" -Daniel Earnest, Flawed Offroad
We earned another great review from another trail hardened rock crawlin' maniac! Daniel is an awesome dude and we are honored to work with him. In his video Flawed Offroad goes into great detail of how to install your very own Groove Fairlead. The groove fairlead is a new member of the off-road community, it's designed to store the winch-line inside recessed grooves to protect it from impacts from trees rocks and brush. This also gives it the capability to be hookless! Yes, we have heard it all over and over Why delete your hook from your winch-line?! Theres lots of reasons...
Delete your winch hook
Case Number One: Safety. Removing metal from your winching equation is always the best idea, even with the highest grade of UHMWPE/Plasma/Dyneema winch-line still has a capability of turning things into projectiles especially if you experience an unsuccessful recovery and have a rig "roll back." If you have a heavy metal object it can do many dangerous things to you and your rig.
Case Number Two: Easy Use. If you have to do a recovery with a hook and a tree strap usually you can only fit one and a half of the loops from your tree strap into the hook. Now if you are successful in precariously perching the second loop in the hook you risk one the the two next scenarios... first scenario, it doesn't slip into the hook and is punctured by the hook, this is very rare, but when it happens it seriously compromises the tree strap. Scenario number two, it slips past the safety latch inside the hook as soon as the line is under load. This becomes very difficult to pry free and usually results in the safety latch getting removed from the hook which is also an unsafe practice. Now, to avoid both of these scenarios, most people will use a soft shackle inside their hook in order to avoid pain and frustration... SO WHAT IS THE HOOK EVEN DOING FOR YOU?! Ditch it...
Case Number Three: Fit and Finish. it looks beautiful!
Case Number Four: Protect your winch-line. Your winch-line is very expensive, this is the only best option to protect it from trees and rocks. It just makes sense.