Choosing the right winch.

[icemanza]

So I have a friend who is looking to get a winch for his 4x4. I suddenly realised I don't really know how people work out exactly which rated winch to get. How would you go about deciding on the right winch?

[Chris Stoffel]

I think we tend to want to go for too large winches. If the winch can lift twice the vehicle weight it is perhaps too big? We pull vehicles, not lift them. And if one has a small winch us a snatch block. Winches can be heavy and weight is important. So going 8000lb's is good enough?

[icemanza]

True. My concern is when you have 3 ton vehicle stuck in mud there is more friction or resistance. But how do you calculate that?

[Chris Stoffel]

I don't think a 3 ton vehicle will have more than 3 tons resistance in mud. But use a snatch block. it doubled the pulling power.

[rudi.hinze]

The thumb suck rule to my knowledge is 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle, the .5 accounting for resistance. Double line for when you're having a fun day.

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[Bugger]

I bought a 12000Lbs TJM for my bus should be fine


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[Wave]

I would think the bigger the better, you never know what you may be winching out, maybe a fully kitted Land Cruiser *cough Andres* and a kitted trailer... adding to that the "suction" aspect of the mud...

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[icemanza]

Thanks guys. Yeah. My father in law did a trip to Bots last year and their convoy got stuck a few times in the sand with their trailers. Had to recover with ropes. He said some times a winch would have been nice as the surface was bumpy so pulling was uncomfortable.

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[Oppies3800]

You can have the strongest winch available.

You aren't going to move any vehicle without recovery points

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[icemanza]

Also true. Or anchor points if self recovery in a desert.

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[XJ Junkie]

The best winch is your mates winch

[icemanza]

Lol. True.

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[Bugger]

The Reason I bought a winch









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[icemanza]

What - so you had mates to use your winch?

[XJ Junkie]

What - so you had mates to use you?

No I let them use theirs.

Out of all the 4x4’ing I’ve done I can only recall being winched once. There may have been more instances but I can’t recall.

On that occasion that I did need winching, I wouldn’t have been able to use it even if I did have one on my vehicle. This is because the winch would have been mostly submerged in water & mud.



So over the long term a winch would have been a waste of time for me. It’s just easier to get a mate to do a tow out.

Winches are expensive, have to be serviced/repaired, heavy & reduce approach angle in most instances. Although they do have a place as a self-recovery tool especially for people traveling alone.