Light duty winches (ATV) on small to medium sized 4x4s.

[HiPERnx]

Hi y'all.

Been thinking about this for a while, does anyone run light duty winches (ATV winches) on their 4x4? I've seen it getting popular on some small vehicles like the Subarus and the Jimny.

I have a Jeep WG (euro spec WJ) rated at 2500kg (~5500lbs) GVWR with a rear winch mount currently installed. I will get a front bumper with winch mount eventually (and then run dual winches). But i can't motivate eating 60kg into my payload capacity for two full size winches. Hence concidering a ATV winch for the rear.
The rear winch mount have been uninhabited sadly, no winch installed so far. Now I'm looking at either a Warn VR evo 10k or 8k or the smaller Warch Axon 55-s (with a short drum Factor 55 fairlead).
The Axon winch is just under 10kg (22lbs), that's about half of the bigger alternative. What I'm worried about is the lower pulling power of the Axon winch.
Anyone that can share their experiance?

The Jeep in question.


Thre's is already a 35mm(2) cable ran to the rear (fused both ends ofc...) for my dual battery setup, i have a 75ah Optima Blue Top deep cycle battery in the spare wheel location.

 

[MTVR]

I had a Chevy 3/4-ton 4x4 Suburban trail rig years ago.

I ran electrical connectors to both ends of the vehicle, and had 2" square receivers at both ends, as well as a third one inside the cargo area in the back.

I had a single 9,000-pound Warn winch mounted to a receiver mount, and kept it in that third receiver inside, out of the weather, out of sight of thieves, with a locking pin.

This kept me from having to buy/carry two winches, and it also kept the winch(es) from reducing my approach and departure angles.

 

[Metcalf]

Carrying the gear to be able to winch backwards will likely be lighter than a 2nd winch ( and bumper to support it )
You can also use that gear to do a bunch of other rigging to get yourself out of other pickles.

 

[IdaSHO]

Loads of people running trackers, subarus, etc run 'em.
I wouldnt suggest or bother trying to depend upon them for regular heavy use, but they do have a purpose.

The badlands 5k unit weighs less than 35# and is cheap. Fitted with synthetic I imagine its a sub 30# winch.
Im putting a little 4500lb unit in the front of my tracker. This one with steel winch rope weighs less than 30# and should be more than sufficient for mild stucks/slide-offs.

If you are bolder hopping or in serious sticky mud, youd likely need more winch.
But for my purposes, and keeping things lightweight, I think it will prove effective.

Biggest downside I see is the limited length of rope. Plan on carrying extensions.
Due to the small form factor, most are less than 50 feet.

 

[Warn Industries]

Our formula for minimum pulling capacity is:

GVWR x 1.5 = minimum pulling capacity

So if your GVWR is 5,500 lbs you're looking at a minimum of 8,250 lbs. Again that's our minimum, so we'd recommend a 10,000 lb. winch for your application.

Andy

 

[rnArmy]

My wife's 2017 Subaru Crosstrek (a small SUV) weighs 3100lbs (+/- 100lbs). I would feel comfortable putting a 4500 or (preferably) 5500 lb winch up front. And they do make a kit for it. That puts it within the 1.5 times vehicle weight.

Primitive XV Winch & Mount - Primitive Racing (get-primitive.com)

But beyond something like her lil' Subaru, I'd go with a minimum of 8000lbs. My TJ runs an 8000lb winch.

I think it looks funny (because I figure it is just for looks) when I see a full-size 4x4 with a baby winch up front.

 

[vtsoundman]

There is a video of a guy extracting a 9000# van deeply embedded in a forest using only an
light ATV winch (maybe a 1500 or 2000# 2inch).

He used pulleys to increase the pull strength. At one point he had a triple line pull rigged.

Took a long long while, but he got it done. Get a lighter winch, some pulleys/snatch blocks, some extra rope, and you'll be just fine with a lighter winch. There is stuck deep a in mid bog (where a huge winch is necessary) and then there is stuck on hill, patch of snow etc. Evaluate your typical use case and go from there.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[Metcalf]

If you have a lighter winch, don't forget about being able to rig a 4:1 advantage with 2 snatch blocks/rings and a winch extension.
It's commonly called a 'Spanish Burton'

With the ease of handling, and light weight, of synthetic rigging, I think it very well may be time we can rethink needing to have a heavy winch mounted on the front of the vehicle.

 

[rnArmy]

This is sounding like too much work. These small ATV winches have what... 50ft of cable? And probably a very small diameter cable at that. And now you're wanting to add to your kit a bunch of snatch blocks, winch cable extensions, and you're HOPING it'll work if you're not stuck TOO badly.

Get the right sized winch to begin with with plenty of synthetic cable spooled on it (to reduce the weight), and be done with it.

 

[IdaSHO]

He should already have all that gear on board anyhow, as he has a front winch.

He's considering a rear winch.

 

[BritKLR]

This is sounding like too much work. These small ATV winches have what... 50ft of cable? And probably a very small diameter cable at that. And now you're wanting to add to your kit a bunch of snatch blocks, winch cable extensions, and you're HOPING it'll work if you're not stuck TOO badly.

Get the right sized winch to begin with with plenty of synthetic cable spooled on it (to reduce the weight), and be done with it.

Also, don't forget that the physical size, construction, materials, electrical components, internal brake system , drum, motor, bearings, gears, mounting holes, mounting bolts and mounting plate of an ATV winch where all designed for the loads an ATV would place on them. It doesn't matter if your rigging hardware and system can handle 10k lbs when the ATV winch was designed to hold 1500 lbs......The strongest part of your rigging system is its weakest part....watch out for the shrapnel when it goes.

 

[Metcalf]

This is sounding like too much work. These small ATV winches have what... 50ft of cable? And probably a very small diameter cable at that. And now you're wanting to add to your kit a bunch of snatch blocks, winch cable extensions, and you're HOPING it'll work if you're not stuck TOO badly.

Get the right sized winch to begin with with plenty of synthetic cable spooled on it (to reduce the weight), and be done with it.

options are nice no matter what winch you have. I don't think anyone is going to go with JUST a winch and no additional rigging....

Also, don't forget that the physical size, construction, materials, electrical components, internal brake system , drum, motor, bearings, gears, mounting holes, mounting bolts and mounting plate of an ATV winch where all designed for the loads an ATV would place on them. It doesn't matter if your rigging hardware and system can handle 10k lbs when the ATV winch was designed to hold 1500 lbs......The strongest part of your rigging system is its weakest part....watch out for the shrapnel when it goes.

The winch can't generally generate more 'force' on the mounts by rigging with mechanical advantage. In some ways, it could actually help spread out the load to various rigging points on the chassis....not just putting all the force on the single point at the winch.

 

[IdaSHO]

It doesn't matter if your rigging hardware and system can handle 10k lbs when the ATV winch was designed to hold 1500 lbs......

What are you even talking about?

The Axon 55 he is specifically looking at has a full-rated brake, which is all of 5,500lbs

The All-New WARN AXON & VRX Powersports Winches

www.warn.com

 

[BritKLR]

options are nice no matter what winch you have. I don't think anyone is going to go with JUST a winch and no additional rigging....



The winch can't generally generate more 'force' on the mounts by rigging with mechanical advantage. In some ways, it could actually help spread out the load to various rigging points on the chassis....not just putting all the force on the single point at the winch.

The issue isn't about the mechanical advantage of a multi-point/rigged pull, heck with proper rigging and enough line a single man can manually pull out a 5000 lb humvee. The issue is the forces placed on the ATV winch by the weight of the vehicle that its mounted too.

 

[BritKLR]

What are you even talking about?

His post:

"Light duty winches (ATV) on small to medium sized 4x4s"