Winches & Winching

[Mad Manny]

I have been recovered by a winch (Ant pulled me out the river at 'In The Gorge') & I was involved in that 5 hour recovery of MartinDJ on 'The Road to Hell'. However...

I personally would NEVER fit a winch, for the following reasons:
* Weight
* Cost
* Usefulness
It's a lot of weight IN FRONT of your front axle, exactly where you don't want it.
They are not cheap.
Most Winch Owners say they very seldom use their winches and when they do, it's usually to recover others, not themselves.

So in this Thread I want to ask 3 questions
1. Do you have a winch?
2. If not, would you ever fit one?
3. If you do have a winch, how many times per year have you used it & to help whom (yourself or others)?

If you DO have a winch, please complete the poll above.

[Johannes]

Have no winch.

Few years ag , John Steyn (Angelblooms) also told me that he uses his winch only to recover other people.

[Erno Kapp]

I have a winch and used a a lot in fact April at Korana Getaway.
I will never 4x4 without it we used it at Hels hoogte as well.
But I assume its whether you say you 4x4 or actually 4x4

[Paul#25]

No winch on the Disco.
Very doubtful I'd ever fit one.

[Mad Manny]

I have a winch and used a a lot in fact April at Korana Getaway.
I will never 4x4 without it we used it at Hels hoogte as well.
But I assume its whether you say you 4x4 or actually 4x4

Yeah, I forgot I was winched up the last 1.0m of Hells Hoogte.
Most people don't get that far.

[Mad Manny]

Few years ag , John Steyn (Angelblooms) also told me that he uses his winch only to recover other people.

John said the same thing to me, as have many other Winch Owners (Except Erno)...

[iandvl]

I very seldomly use my winch, but it is useful. At the home I had in Brits pre-divorce, which was quite hilly, it was useful for hauling the explorer out. Other than that, notable uses for the winch have been:

Recovery of the Owl Rescue Centres Landrammel out of the Crocodile River when they got stuck.
Temporary straightening if an SFA Hilux steering arm so that the folk could drive back home.

I have never needed to recover myself with my winch.

My Patrol had the winch fitted when I purchased it.

Would I buy one ? Probably. It is sort of like the Hi-Lift hack I lug around. You will miss it in the day you need it.

Does the weight bother me ? On that truck ? Not at all...

[AlleyG]

I have a winch fitted. I have used it once to recover myself but mainly use it to recover others.

[BushWacker]

I have 2 winches:
A vintage Warne I bought for R1000
and had refurbed by Motolek b4 they got Covid
and disappeared
An unused 8 or 9000lb Warne my neighbour
gave me because Im a good guy.
I have fashioned a heavy (4mm) box cradle
that bolts onto my bumper platform and
can act as frame for either winch.
Idea was & is that , only on long : remote trips I will
carry cradle & winch in LRs bin , in basement
below my canopy platform.
Ive never used the winches and I havent permenently
fitted the heavy electrical cabling.
Over about 20yrs Ive been winched out of
trouble about 5 or 6 times ... twice out of serious shit
Winches are like parachutes, carry them without
expecting or hoping to use them.

[Asjas]

I only have a winch fitted to Rattle trap... and being a vehicle used for some of the most rugged tracks its quite usefull for self recoveries as you saw how quick and easily it helped me multiple times at Carnage. Also i have used it to pull out treestumps. And a few "farm type tugs".

But with all that said.. will i fit one to my nissan? Probably not, reasons are:
I avoid wheeling alone in areas where im far from help in the nissan as its more a family/ overlander rig.
We dont have much foresty swampy tracks where you get absolutely sucked into the sticky stuff.
96% Of the time a Buddy and a snatch strap in more than efficient and 5X faster anyway..

IF You do more remote traveling like Bots and so on and are a solo traveler i would hight recommend it. Definitely a Life saving piece of equipment in that case.

[Asjas]

I have 2 winches:
A vintage Warne I bought for R1000
and jad refurbed by Motolek b4 they go Covid
and
An unused 8 or 9000lb Warne my neighbour
gave me because Im a good guy.
I havefashione a heavy (4mm) box cradle
that bolts onto my bumper platform and
can act as frame for either winch.
Idea was & is that , only on long : remote trips I will
carry cradle & winch in LRs bin , in basement
below my canopy platform.
Ive never used the winches and I havent permenently
fitted the heavy electrical cabling.
Over about 20yrs Ive been winched out of
troble about 5 or 6 times ... twice out of serious shit
Winches are like parachutes, carry them without
expecting:hoping to use them.

Can't Not love that M8274

[Asjas]

As for weight modern winches are quite light with the synthetic rope VS the older Stewl cable units. So that weight is marginal. And probably cant even come close to ballancing out all that weight you add withbyour awnings, rrt,water tanks and exta long range fuel tanks or bigger/duel spare wheels on the back of the vehicle

[Shane]

I have a winch on both of my vehicles.

Not so much for trail 4x4ing - but rather for boat launching and such. I have pulled myself amd others out with it a few times over the last 2 years.

For normal 4x4 trails I would probably not bother as we mostly don't do anything that justifies having one on.

Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

[Disco Nic]

My best mates each have winches, so I don’t need one. This setup works very well for me.

[Mad Manny]

Ive never used the winches...

Over about 20yrs Ive been winched out of trouble about 5 or 6 times

This is what I'm saying - a lot of money & heft for fokol...