Decided to do my typical post-wheeling trip maintenance today and cleaned up the winch line. Put the line is a bucket of water, let it soak, rinsed out the water with fresh water, then cleaned it by pushing the fibers together and getting everything from in between out.

Nothing too extreme, just typical dirt and sand from the trails. But when I got roughly 1-2 feet away from the Factor55 Flat Link I noticed a tear. Obviously not a good sign. The more I inspected, in that general area (about 5-7 inches) I noticed two more.

Obviously with one it was going to be replaced, but now I'm curious if this is something Smittybilt is known for?

I haven't used my winch line for any recoveries of my own or someone else. The only time it's been used has been for the typical tension when you first buy it and respool it after cleaning. I've always made sure it was clean, and then completely dry before respooling.

Some have mentioned to me that Smittybilt is known for this and was curious if that was it, or perhaps I have done something ignorant on my own. That way with a new line I don't do it.

I thought I was doing everything correctly, but maybe not? Or is it really just a cheap Smittybilt product?

Anyone changed from Smittybily to something else because of this? Did I just have bad luck? Thinking about going to bubbarope as I 1000% believe in their recovery ropes, but $500 is a big price. Then again this isn't a cheap hobby either and when it comes to recoveries I want to be able to get out instead of have my line break.

never happened to me but shittybuilt is called this for a reason.


While I run the same winch and winch line as you, I am always on the look out as to where they are cutting corners.

You may want to reach out to them for a warrantee claim...supposedly they are good about honoring their products.

I use to do a lot of climbing and rope rigging in my younger days, and synthetic line was always known to fail due to fraying and doesn't respond well to abrasion against rocks so we always had to watch how the rope was stored and cleaned, because if the rope failed, you will die.

So when I bought my winch and line, I always inspected it before I went out.......just out of habit from my climbing days.

I reached out to them, but obviously weekend so not expecting anything until Monday or Tuesday depending on how long it takes them. I'm already looking at some bubbarope to replace it. Funny you call them that, my buddy said the same exact thing a little while ago.

How is the line looped around your flat link? That line looks fatter than the line upstream of it. Are you sure it's not the end where it is woven back on itself after making the eye at the end?

It's the typical loop you would have that connects to the hook. I cut the hook off and ran that standard circle loop through the opening on the flat link opening and locked the pin in.

There is definitely a fatter side to it, and I originally thought it was the end of the line, and perhaps it is, but there are three of them, and they all are super frayed. Which makes me think it was connected and shredded. Perhaps I'm wrong and it's just a bad splice and there's nothing to worry about.

The fraying is what made me believe it was a break. Does three sound normal? I figured it was one or two total for the end splice?

That looks like the ends of the strands being woven back into the line from making the loop.

Looks like it’s just the ends of the splice poking through to me.

But they shouldn't be fraying right? Shouldn't they be burned or something to make it hard? Or is that not done with winch line?

I’ve spliced Dyneema rope before, but never as a winch line. I melted the ends, but some frayed a bit during the splicing process. I tucked them into the center of the line and haven’t had any issues. Not sure how this will affect winch line in your case.

I imagine those ends could get really frayed and it won’t really matter much. I have 14 year old bow and anchor lines for my boat that have frayed splice tag ends poking through and they work just fine.

Wait and see what the manufacturer says before you replace what may still be a perfectly good line.

Sorry, I wasn't paying close attention earlier when I made my first comment.

i think the above posters are right. It looks like the tail end of the rope when they spliced the rope in to make the "eyelet" for the winch hook is sticking out.

If the fray occured about 2 feet away from the eyelet on the tail end, you should be okay. Just tuck the tail back into the middle of the rope, and massage it a little bit. When you apply tension to the line, it will go away.

Looks like those are frayed ends of the splice where the loop was put into the line and not defects in the rope. Don't think you have anything to worry about.

Mine looks just about like that. If the frayed ends bother you, you can always use a heat gun or grill lighter to melt them a little.

Thanks everyone. I'll wait for them to official clear it and then I'll be happy to save a good $300+ on a new line. Had they not been fraying I wouldn't have been too worried. Good to know.

I don’t think your supposed to burn or melt your tail tuck because it’s basically like a razor blade on the inside of the rope once it’s tucked and tightened.

Their warranty is pretty legit fyi. I got my winch and it had a tiny fray mid heat through, so they sent me a new one no questions asked.

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Just wanted to give an update.

Smittybilt told me they don't warranty the ropes, but because they had never seen this happen before they were going to make a special case and send me a new one.

They said slight fraying over the rope is completely normal, but mine was definitely major at those ends. They didn't confirm whether the rope broke or if that was indeed the end of the lines. I believe like the rest of you it is, as it's thicker in that last roughly foot section, regardless though they must not have liked how bad it frayed there.