Winches!

[I Leak Oil]

If you stay in state park campgrounds or relatively frequently travelled wilderness roads you probably don't need one. Then again you probably don't need half the junk you (meaning we) bolt to or keep in your vehicles anyway. I'm not smart enough to know 100% that I've pushed it too far until it's too late, so I have one. Wheeled without for a few years before I got tired of having someone else go through the trouble of repositioning their truck and dragging their junk out just to recover my butt. Having one never change my driving strategy. I think that's an idea that's popular amongst the web wheelers and gadget mongers similar to the locker debate.
No load line speed is nice in my opinion. I've never personally seen a situation where line speed put a recovery in more danger.
If you think you need one, get one. Get one with the features that make sense for you. Get the best one you can afford.

 

[Box Rocket]

I've been very happy with the ComeUp winches I have had. I had one on my Tacoma and now have one on my Land Cruiser. Everyone has an opinion which is good for different points of view. I've had a few Warn winches in the past and for me I think the ComeUp has equaled the Warn's in every case. I've had a Warn M8000 and an 8274-50 and both worked well. Just another option to maybe consider, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
This is the one I have. There is a slightly cheaper version without the wireless remote.
http://shop.comeupusa.com/p/seal-gen2-9-5rs-12v-winch?pp=12

 

[LR Max]

If you stay in state park campgrounds or relatively frequently travelled wilderness roads you probably don't need one. Then again you probably don't need half the junk you (meaning we) bolt to or keep in your vehicles anyway. I'm not smart enough to know 100% that I've pushed it too far until it's too late, so I have one. Wheeled without for a few years before I got tired of having someone else go through the trouble of repositioning their truck and dragging their junk out just to recover my butt. Having one never change my driving strategy. I think that's an idea that's popular amongst the web wheelers and gadget mongers similar to the locker debate.

Agreed.

If you aren't looking for trouble, you really don't need a winch. Just something else to hang off your truck, never use, then it rusts up and is useless when you actually need it.

 

[Box Rocket]

Agreed.

If you aren't looking for trouble, you really don't need a winch. Just something else to hang off your truck, never use, then it rusts up and is useless when you actually need it.

Not sure I agree with this entirely. I think it is true to a point that you can keep yourself out of trouble by being smart about where and how you travel. But I can say that in every case that I have ever had to use a winch, I was not "looking for trouble" or intentionally venturing into places where I planned to get stuck or thought winching would be likely.
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However, I think you make a good point for some people. There is a movement among the overlanding crowd that many feel like their truck needs to be equipped to cross Siberia with every popular accessory or piece of kit that they see on the internet, when in reality many of those people will rarely venture into places where they will require most of that stuff. I'm all for being prepared for any situation I might find myself in, but that varies from one person to the next. Since a winch can be a fairly expensive item, I think its probable that there are other places that money could be spent that will have more impact or be more useful for some people. For example, my last Land Cruiser I used offroad heavily for almost 15 years often times in fairly difficult terrain. But I never had a winch (also didn't have lockers for most of the time I owned it). The reason being that 95% of the time I was with a small group of vehicles where several of them had winches. If winching was required there were people in the group that could do it. Over the last several years I've been travelling more an more on my own or with one other vehicle. Spending so much time solo has made a winch much more necessary, even if it is only used occasionally. Like I said before, I don't really ever go out "looking" to get stuck, but it can happen when you least expect it. That's when being prepared is important.
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It's an interesting point of discussion for sure, and I agree the locker debate is very similar. Necessary items for some, maybe not for others.

 

[LR Max]

Here in the southeast, a lot of people think they need to build up a jeep just to go run the forest service roads. However I'm finding out that a good, stock 4x4 can do it. For such trails, no winch is needed.

However the private 4x4 parks with challenging terrain, yes, a winch is very nice to have.

 

[daveh]

X2. LR Max hit the nail on the head. That covers us here in the NE as well. Very few overland routes would require a winch which also covers 99.9% of the Forrest roads unless you're going to be traveling when the roads are snow covered.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Box Rocket]

I agree. Although here in the west there are many desert roads that can get completely washed out in a rainstorm and change completely in a matter of hours. It's not uncommon to have a dry, mellow drive in and on the drive back out on the same road for it to be quite treacherous. These are the types of situations I was talking about when I say, I don't go "looking for trouble", sometimes it just happens.
This road is normally dry hardpack that you could drive your minivan down. Some rain makes a big difference.

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Another basic road made nearly impassable after a few days of rain.

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[eggman918]

I've owned my truck for over 25 years since I was in my late 20's and I've always carried a good deal of recovery equipment and in the last 15 years or so have only needed it to help others.......due in part to knowing my and my vehicles capability's and weaknesses mostly through trial and error in my "young and dumb" days.It's been a LONG time since I went looking for trouble but it's still needed now more than ever as my Wife and I travel almost all of the time solo and should things go south the chance of someone coming along with the rig and gear to recover my 8,000#+ rig and 4,000# trailer when it in deep enough to need recovery could lead to a LONG wait so we will continue to carry it all and hope that we never need it.........but as stated before you can't control the weather and summer or winter it can totally change the nature of the trail you are on very quickly and traveling solo even 5 miles on the pavement you are totally on your own

 

[MOguy]

Based on my experience, I wouldn't dispute that recommendation.

I agree with this. I don't think 1.5 times the weight is enough. The bigger you build you vehicle the worse you will get stuck and you will probably be further down the trail where it may be hard to get help.

My wrangler is about 3800lbs and I havd a Warn HS9500i. Even witha much of a winch there have been times were even it has struggled. Another thing to consider is not all winches are the same. I did one pull in tandem with amother guy. We were pulling a full size PU up a
longer very steep hill. My buddy had a 12x Smittybuilt and it struggled, my 9500lb warn did much better.

I could pull my length of cable with the truck on going up hill faster than he could pull his line empty. We stop using his. Another test I ran against a buddy with a smity built 8k was same distance, pulling our jeeps to a tree. I was done at least twice as fast.

I don't want to knock the smittybuilt too much. The guy with the 8k has pulled me out before using that winch. His was plagued with electric problems from the beginning. Smittybuilt would send him part, for free to fixmit but he ended up dumping it anyway. My buddy with the 12k still has his. The only problem it had was they usedmthe wrong size bolt fo hold the cable on. He discovered that when he spooled out the cable the first time to stretch it.

 

[PPCLI_Jim]

A winch is a great safety device. sure a larger one is big and heavy costs a few dollars but when you need one i prefer to actually have one. I generally end up using mine about 2 times a year other then using it to pull a tree out for dismemberment and taking away.



all though you can hardly see it I was stuck . hit this gap with too little speed and it was exactly the wrong size I dropped in and stopped dead . the winch on this is a 3500 lb ATV winch which is sufficient for the type of stuck here . Note i have since swapped tires



it however lacked the jam to get my Isuzu out and i have now installed a winch on the front of the Isuzu .I have spent many years out banging around in the bush, either as fun or at work [military] and a winch is a great thing to have but the issue is knowing how to use it safely !

 

[UpperCrust]

My MB 917 truck weighs about 8k dry. I put two 16.5lbs ComeUp Winches on it (Front and Rear). I figure 16,500lbs is fine for sand and whatnot, but mub I would want to snatch block it to get some extra pulling power. But if you ever might be in the backcountry alone, you need a winch. Yes you might never use it, but if you get stuck, alone, with no cell service, you need a way to get un-stuck.

 

[proper4wd]

I used to be a Warn guy. Then I bought a Superwinch Talon 12.5 and will never look back. The build quality and smooth operation is twice that of the Warn. Not to mention the specs. I'll never buy a Warn product again, save for an 8274. Most of the people proclaiming Warn as king have never used another brand (maybe a bottom dollar entry level winch, but never a true competitor).

Check the specs, solid state solenoid, external disc brake (effortless freespool, compare that to your Warn), 6hp motor, 55 feet per minute no load line speed...

https://www.superwinch.com/products/superwinch-talon-series

Compare to the Warn VR12000 at the same price point. Its not even close.

 

[brushogger]

The main reason we have one is my wife and I travel alone most of the time. We're not stupid, but sometimes $&@" happens. In some situations, it's also easier to tread lightly with a winch vs spinning tires.

 

[MOguy]

I used to be a Warn guy. Then I bought a Superwinch Talon 12.5 and will never look back. The build quality and smooth operation is twice that of the Warn. Not to mention the specs. I'll never buy a Warn product again, save for an 8274. Most of the people proclaiming Warn as king have never used another brand (maybe a bottom dollar entry level winch, but never a true competitor).

Check the specs, solid state solenoid, external disc brake (effortless freespool, compare that to your Warn), 6hp motor, 55 feet per minute no load line speed...

https://www.superwinch.com/products/superwinch-talon-series

Compare to the Warn VR12000 at the same price point. Its not even close.

If speed is important my Warns line speed is 62 feet per second. If you happy with your winch that is all that matters.

 

[LR Max]

I used to be a Warn guy. Then I bought a Superwinch Talon 12.5 and will never look back. The build quality and smooth operation is twice that of the Warn. Not to mention the specs. I'll never buy a Warn product again, save for an 8274. Most of the people proclaiming Warn as king have never used another brand (maybe a bottom dollar entry level winch, but never a true competitor).

Check the specs, solid state solenoid, external disc brake (effortless freespool, compare that to your Warn), 6hp motor, 55 feet per minute no load line speed...

https://www.superwinch.com/products/superwinch-talon-series

Compare to the Warn VR12000 at the same price point. Its not even close.

This is interesting. My last experience with superwinch was probably 10 years ago. Was not a positive experience. Could be that Warn has stood still all these years while superwinch moved forward.