Front or Rear winch?

[I Leak Oil]

The thread above about the recovery of the unicat presents an interesting situation. They pulled it back so it could drive forward. Now, what would have been better, a rear winch to pull itself back or a front winch to pull it forward? If the vehicle was pulled back but could not drive forward through the mud then all you have is a truck that is unstuck but cannot move forward. If the winch was in the front but no one else could get around it to provide an anchor point then what good is that?

This can be debated all day long but rarely is your equipment always located in the ideal spot.

 

[oO_Rogue_Oo]

Front mount all the way.
I guess I don’t get why you would want to go backwards. Here let me explain my thought process. Before I head into ANY obstacle I scout it first; access the difficulty, decide if I can make it, choose a line and a method of traversing the obstacle. That method may even include my winch if I don’t feel confident that I can traverse the obstacle without it. The point here is that you really have to not be paying attention to be stuck so severely that a forward pull is impossible. So once again I ask; why go backwards? Unless of course you’re not paying attention and head into an obstacle that you have no hope of negotiating, allow yourself to get so deep into it that you’re stuck and the only way out is to retreat. Does it happen; of course it does. And like a few others here have mentioned I carry a Hi-Lift and some extra rigging for just such emergencies. To date I’ve never had to use them for that purpose (knock on wood)

 

[Tony LEE]

This bloke has a receiver mounted winch for front or back, but there are times when it doesn't matter what gear you have.

http://s246.photobucket.com/pbwidge...om/albums/gg120/Peter_n_Margaret/6694c31d.pbw

 

[michaelgroves]

Front mount all the way.
I guess I don’t get why you would want to go backwards.

You misjudge the depth of a mud hole, and end up sunk to the front bumper. You get grounded on a boulder. There are lots of situations where pulling backwards might be better than forwards.

 

[Antichrist]

working demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Envop0d-qAc
on how the rigging works

Bummer, those videos have been deleted. I was going to point them out to someone, and no more.

 

[greentruck]

In 99% of vehicles likely used with a winch capable of self-recovery, the best, easiest to use, and strongest mount to use is a winch mounted in front. I believe I've seen pics of a Unimog set up with a winch right behind the cab and capable of pulls both ways. Not exactly easy or pretty to switch ends, I imagine.

Hypothetical situations aside, you'll be using a winch with it mounted in the front in most ordinary circumstances.

I used to have a FJ55 that I invested a considerable sum in an 8274 and all the rest of the goodies, including a reverse roller underneath the fairlead. Never used it, although I can still imagine it would come in handy at some point. Until then, it's still 10 more pounds to carry around.

I carry enough rigging that I think I could figure something out other than straightforward if it was needed. Consider that this would only very rarely ever involve going straight back:REOutArchery02: