Hand Winch worth it or no?

[NatersXJ6]

I sort of question the need for any winch at all, although I added one to my Jeep. It has been used to self recover once... it has moved lots of heavy and fun stuff around the yard though!

In general, I like it outside the vehicle versus taking up space inside like a hand winch would. I would choose a permanent electric winch versus hand winch for that reason alone.

 

[67cj5]

I don't wheel hard anymore it's more exploratory wheeling. I often take my young kids (5 & 3) exploring forest or logging roads and setup camp. I try not to get myself into situations that I will get stuck but things happen on the trail. I was debating on getting a winch and mounting it to a bumper up front but want to keep the weight down so I thought maybe a hand winch would work if I get into some mud.

Now I've been doing some research because a solo recovery with a hand winch just seems unsafe because no one is in the vehicle to hit the brakes or keep it in control. I guess if it's a mud area you are in it's less important but it always struck me as odd.

So what do you all think, hand winch or just get an electric winch and put it on the front.

Maybe you should take a look Warrior Winches the are a 1/4 of the price of a warn and in a recent shoot out they out pulled the Warn because it started smoking, If you want something light but very powerful take a look at their Short Drum 9500Lbs winch as fitted to certain SAS vehicles and they also make a removable Mount so you can swap it from the front to the back or just remove it from the vehicle until you need it, Warn Copied it when making their Rock Winch they hold about 50ft of cable which is more than enough for most situations and you can always add a chain or a strap or cable if you need to extend the length of pull, and they come with heaps of extras including the normal remote and a wireless remote,

Hope that helps.

 

[robert]

Traction Boards instead? much lighter than an electric winch, more capable solo than a hand winch.. if your not wheeling hard good chance the'll be plenty adequate.

I cant fit a winch on my SUV, the one on my Jeep is rarely used and it wheels hard.. four maxtrax seem like a good middle ground for dealing with mud/sand/snow that I under estimated just exploring about.. Carry a good snatch strap and pray someone stumbles across you if you ever found your self in a winch requiring situation.

Probably one of the best, and safest, suggestions- I've been very impressed how well they can work (I still want to get a set).

That said, I carry at least an old entrenching tool to move material from in front of my tires and I have a Warn XD9000 mounted in the ARB along with a basic winching kit in the back. I can add more junk depending on where I'm going. For rock crawling I can understand the new compact winches, but I can honestly say, I've never wished I had less cable, but I have wished I had more- and that was with ~150ft on a Warn 8274 on the front of my old FJ-40. Most winches these days hold about 95', minus your remaining wraps on the drum, then double it through a snatch block and you're looking at less than 50'. If you have to add additional blocks into the system to redirect then you're eating up cable as well. Just something to think about.

I have two hand winches that I use around the house occasionally, I'm far too lazy to use them off-roading and they take up space and rattle.

Whatever you decide on, if you get a winch be sure that you get some competent instruction on how to use it safely; they can be worth their weight in gold but they can also kill or maim you if you're not careful. Besides, think of the extra mall cred you get when you add one.

 

[67cj5]

Probably one of the best, and safest, suggestions- I've been very impressed how well they can work (I still want to get a set).

That said, I carry at least an old entrenching tool to move material from in front of my tires and I have a Warn XD9000 mounted in the ARB along with a basic winching kit in the back. I can add more junk depending on where I'm going. For rock crawling I can understand the new compact winches, but I can honestly say, I've never wished I had less cable, but I have wished I had more- and that was with ~150ft on a Warn 8274 on the front of my old FJ-40. Most winches these days hold about 95', minus your remaining wraps on the drum, then double it through a snatch block and you're looking at less than 50'. If you have to add additional blocks into the system to redirect then you're eating up cable as well. Just something to think about.

I have two hand winches that I use around the house occasionally, I'm far too lazy to use them off-roading and they take up space and rattle.

Whatever you decide on, if you get a winch be sure that you get some competent instruction on how to use it safely; they can be worth their weight in gold but they can also kill or maim you if you're not careful. Besides, think of the extra mall cred you get when you add one.

There a major down side to having a winch with a lot of cable and that is the winch has to work harder if you are only using the top couple of layers because the maximum pulling power of a winch is "Only" available when you are down to the last layer hence why a lot of people buy a winch that is a lot bigger than they need, If you have a winch with a 150ft of cable on it and you are only using the top two layers then your winch only has half the pulling power that it is rated at.

Due to all of the above it is better to own/buy a winch that has less cable on it, because you still get use it's Full pulling power which in turn puts less strain on the Winch.

 

[hemifoot]

if i'm only using a short run of cable i'm doing it with a snatchblock.that's what they're for.i actually carry 3. long runs i always throw some sort of kinetic energy dampener over the cable,a jacket,floormat or tarp.it's safer for the winch, the front of the truck and human body parts.

 

[knoxswift]

I found this one with synthetic rope:

The More Power Puller®, Portable Winch, Cable Puller, Come Along Winches | By The Wyeth-Scott Company

Buy The More Power Puller Online Today! Shop puller models & replacement parts, FAQs, operating and repair instructions. Contact us online or 800-743-4521.

www.wyeth-scott.com

I use this hand winch and traction boards for the last 9 years. Before that I had a full bumper and electric winch that I only used once.
It really depends on how extreme you wish to go but in 9 years traction boards have been more than enough for me with the hand winch only ever used to move trees out of the way...

 

[robert]

I'm aware of the drum loss; as you noted, it's also one of the reasons I went with a 9000lb winch over something smaller (I'd have gone 10k if they still made one at the time). I don't have a good place to carry extra cable so I compromise and just carry what's on the spool (in the case of the XD9000 it's 95'). I add a second snatch block to my bag if I know there's a chance I may need it to reduce length/increase pull. As I travel alone most of the time, I try to adhere to the old adage that discretion is the better part of valor and I try to avoid getting myself into situations that require extra work on my part.

 

[67cj5]

I'm aware of the drum loss; as you noted, it's also one of the reasons I went with a 9000lb winch over something smaller (I'd have gone 10k if they still made one at the time). I don't have a good place to carry extra cable so I compromise and just carry what's on the spool (in the case of the XD9000 it's 95'). I add a second snatch block to my bag if I know there's a chance I may need it to reduce length/increase pull. As I travel alone most of the time, I try to adhere to the old adage that discretion is the better part of valor and I try to avoid getting myself into situations that require extra work on my part.

Back in 97 I bought 2 Warn winches and I never used them so I sold them, then back in 2012 I bought a Short Drum winch just in case I needed one, Unlike the first time round I have not invested so much money as the time before purely because they are not worth the investment unless you are using them all the time.

 

[rnArmy]

All it takes is that one time where an electric winch saves your butt, and you totally are glad you had one.

 

[hemifoot]

i refused to spend big dollars on a warn,so i posted an alert on craigslist and after a while managed to snag a bnib smittybilt xrc 9500 for less than retail.i normally hate anything smittybilt but for the price i couldn't turn it down.the guy won it in a fishing derby and didn't even own a car.surprisingly,it's still working.

 

[billiebob]

There are several cheap electric winches out there and while I wouldn't use a cheap one to hang off a waterfall, for your once a year get moving again they are great.

And they "self store".

 

[67cj5]

There are several cheap electric winches out there and while I wouldn't use a cheap one to hang off a waterfall, for your once a year get moving again they are great.

And they "self store".

4X4 Australia did a massive Winch Shoot out and the Winch that Won the Day was one of the Cheap Generic brands While the Expensive Warn Caught Fire/Over Heated and started Smoking,

Gone are the Days when cheap meant Junk, In fact all that has done has made the cheaper Guys raise their Game to a standard that makes all others fall by the wayside, The cheaper Generic Winch manage to pull 1500Lbs past it's rated Load where as the Warn got too hot and started Smoking at a much lesser weight. Also It needs to be noticed that A lot of Warns Winches are now made in Asia be it China or some other Eastern Country either way Most of Warns Winches have a lot more in Common with the Cheaper Brands than most people realize,

Brands like Warrior/Champion are as good as Winches get, the only difference is they are a 5th of the price of the name brands yet retain the build quality.

 

[Buddha.]

I've used hand winches to get disabled cars(3000#) onto trailers, even after doubling up the line I found it difficult. I can't imagine trying to use a hand winch to actually un stuck a mired truck.

 

[tatanka48]

i/we have traditionally carried a COME A LONG w/ a couple log chains and a boat anchor for years in our play/ADV vehicles

only had to use it 2x and it wouldn't have helped had i been solo

they are slow and require a 2nd pair of hands to work safely

i should have typed S L O W

never the less it got me out of a coupla serious glitches

solo and ADV should never be used in the same sentence IMHO

T

 

[67cj5]

I went with a Short Drum Winch because it has 50ft of cable on it and it can be moved from the front to the back if needed and removed altogether when in Town, It has a capacity of 9500Lbs so It should do just about what ever comes my way, That said It might be a Short Drum Winch but it is the same as a full size Winch except it is about 3 or 4 inches shorter Left to Right, In fact Warn also have a copy of it and it is called the ROCK Winch which is made for Rock Crawlers etc, And when fitted to a portable mount it can be used almost anywhere,