I confirmed a suspicion and learned something. The TRE hawse has arrived. Both sides are radiused. The Warn steel hawse is not. This is very important and satisfies the remaining doubts and questions I had about why the rope parted on this pull.
This is the Warn hawse with a straight edge connecting the back edge of the hawses with the far side of the drum where the pull was occurring.
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Notice how the rope would be dragged across the rear hard edge of the hawse! This edge is visible as the step inside the fairlead mount.
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While I can understand and agree that the sandcast finish is not doing the rope any favors, I strongly believe this sharp edge is the primary flaw in my system that caused the failure.
The TRE hawse is radiused on both the front and back. The importance of this is ridiculously obvious now that I see it!
Here is a quick and dirty mock up of the angles the rope could be on a side pull with the rope piling up on one side of the drum.
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On both sides of the hawse, during the pull, the rope is squarely positioned on a radiused edge. Details matter!
I believe that synthetic rope is the appropriate material for our winches and for our uses. But the rope is only one part of a larger winch and recovery system. The entire system must be designed, assembled and used with both the strengths and weaknesses of synthetic rope in mind. If it isn't, preventable failures like the one I experienced will happen.
When I am able to install the TRE hawse, I will need to take a close look at the fairlead mount to make sure it still clears the rope since the TRE opening is different that what is currently there.
Thanks
@Garza!