How often do you really use your winch?

[TooeleCherokee]

I believe that by the time you are old enough to afford a winch, you've been driving long enough to learn how to avoid most situations when you'd have to use it.

-H-

Some of us do more Duel use with our rigs and Commonly get into positions where a winch is necessary .. I love expeditions but I also like going up a 6 foot vertical waterfall (winch is necessary at that point). So sometimes you don't avoid it you go find it :ar15:

 

[madizell]

If I avoid any and all situations in which a winch might be needed, I would have to stay on roads and stay off trails. Knowing how to drive and when to drive are simply not a reason not to need a winch. After more than 40 years of driving, 37 of them off road, I have a sense of when I might not be able to cover an obstacle. If the fear of getting stuck is a reason to turn around, you are better off staying on blacktop.

 

[crawler#976]

Pardon the ignorance, but can't you just use the vehicle itself, instead of the winch, to pull and drag fallen trees?

One of the strangest things about a winch is it's ability to move things that even my old trail beater with dual t'cases and dual spools won't even budge. I've hooked up to plenty of trees with it and had it spin all four 35x12.5/15 MT/R's. A winch hooked to the same tree will generally move it fairly easily. It's the same thing with a stuck rig.

Using a winch and a snatch block or two to redirect the direction of pull will allow you to completely remove a tree from a trail vs. dragging off to the side. In some cases I've had to remove trees that had fall in places where there was no way to drag it. How would you drag a 40' tree it if it had fallen into a position where there was a tree on either side of the trail? the only other solution at that point is a chain saw or a lot of work with a bow saw or axe...


Mark

 

[xcmountain80]

Lets see,, on the 02 4Runner 9000K Outback T-maxx I used it to remove my RTT a couple times. Last Dec. we were heading up a narrow trail in GA. The ground was damp and the air was cold. I had done this trail 2 months prior with dry conditions. I was running Nitto AT's and the clay was getting worse. I made it to a small rock ledge and the front went over with no fuss. The rear wasn't having it. I tried a few different lines and didn't want to chance rolling off the side and down into the ravine. SO I asked the white knuckle wife if she would be a dear and pull out the winchline and hook us up to that tree about 20 meters away. Do you think she did? Of course not, I jumped out hooked up, winched up and away we went. In my 95 pickup I had a Warn M6000 and used it all the time!


Aaron

 

[Atticus_1354]

I have one mainly for when I am wheeling, but i have had to use it a few times getting in to a difficult to access camp in the national forest. All in all I have used it more for buddies than for myself. Also, being new to wheeling and not fully knowing mine and my rigs limits, it allows me to figure stuff out by trial and error.

 

[BIGdaddy]

just sold mine.

hardly used.

might get one later on, but right now..not needed.

 

[michaelgroves]

A winch is a "nice-to-have". Without one, but with the right ropes, pulley blocks and levers, there's nothing you can't accomplish that a winch could do, but the winch does it a whole lot more easily.

In over two years of expedition travelling, I used my winch perhaps 20 times times. I can't think of a single occasion when it was "necessary", because one can always bypass, use a high-lift jack, get a tow, dig, cut, push, or otherwise use a little more ingenuity and sweat than a winch requires. But why would you?

But it does mean that when you are prioritising what to take with you on an expedition, a winch isn't on the list of absolute essentials.

If you're planning a multi-vehicle expedition, of course, there's certainly no need to equip all vehicles with winches.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

It's aparent that this thread is uncovering some of the differences in what people consider "expedition" travel. To some, it's a dirt road. To others, it's a bit more adventurous. Nothing wrong with either one. Just keep that in mind lest this get heated.

Before I got my winch, I had gotten the truck stuck twice. The first one required about 2-3 hours of digging to get out. The second time, I was able to get a tug from a passing truck.

Since getting the winch, I haven't needed to use it "in anger". I have pulled a few stumps with it. I learned that it makes quick work of really old stumps, and it's totally useless on new stumps, even if you try to cut the roots.

 

[02TahoeMD]

Have always lived by the rule "better to have it, and not need it, than to need it, and not have it" which is why I just put a winch on the truck. Don't care one bit how often I will need it....

 

[jh504]

I have been offroading in some way for 9 years now and have never used a winch. Now days I am doing a lot more solo exploring in areas that I am not familiar with. I do have a hi lift and could rely on it of need be, but the next item I will be adding to my truck is a winch. When I am by myself, miles from anywhere, and get in a hard situation hopefully it will come in handy. There have definitley been times in the past when I have wished I had one. What I have learned from my experience is that no matter how good of a driver you are there are things on the trail that can and will happen. Some of the scars in my sheet metal could have been avoided if I had a winch.

 

[James86004]

We got stuck in a situation once in the San Juans where a winch would have been able to get us out. We were on a graded dirt road that was a pretty easy drive. We were driving into the sun, so visibility was a little limited, but not enough for me to start arguing with my wife about whether the sunroof should be open or not. A moment's inattention led me to drive straight into a washout. There was only one wheel on the ground. The rear of the vehicle was supported by the trailer hitch, and the left front wheel was 2 feet in the air. It was in a precarious position. It was too dangerous to retrieve the hi-lift off the rear. If we had had a winch, we could have pulled ourselves out. Fortunately, a couple of hours later a Jeep came along and winched us out.

 

[I Leak Oil]

I use mine for real recovery atleast a couple times a year. Had it for 11 years now. I feel it is safer than using a highlift for the same purpose. You don't exhaust yourself and you're not standing dangerously close to the jack or straps. With a jack you have to release the tension for most real pulls. That in itself can be dangerous. There may have been 3 situations I've gotten into when nothing else would realistically do the job. Sinking into mud or snow with no bottom for the tires to grab usually makes digging a fruitless effort. I've even had to strap the back of my truck to a tree when recovering someone. Stuck is stuck and sometimes you can't "plan" you're way around it, sometimes it just happens.
If you just drive dirt roads you don't need it. You probably don't need 4wd either.......
Jason T.

 

[michaelgroves]

The good thng about having a winch along on an expedition is that it makes most recovery jobs much easier. And when you're stuck for the 4th time in as many kilometres, breaking out the high-lift and shovels and makeshift come-along yet again, seems less fun! If you're visiting places where you're likely to get stuck, a winch should be high on your list of equipment to take.

But I guess what I was trying to say is that it's possible to get yourself out of pretty much anything if you have a good recovery kit and toolkit, even without a winch, so don't feel you can't travel somewhere without one. If for whatever reason you haven't got a winch, or decide not to take one, don't let it stop you from making do with the alternatives if an opportunity for Adventure presents itself!

 

[SeaRubi]

quite a bit - about half for clearing trails of downed trees during winter, 1/4 recovering other folks, and another 1/4 for self recovery. I enjoy getting out alone quite a bit and having a winch is well worth the expense.

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

if you are going alone, it's almost mandatory I would say. Otherwise, you can do without.

If you used that winch once, it pretty much paid for itself and then some.