winches

[MOguy]

You might like the Warn Transformer II if you're keeping your front bumper stock. With our fullsize trucks that get stuck, but not wheeled hard, we keep the stock bumpers because they're lightweight and cheap to replace. It stinks having too much weight on the nose of your truck if it isn't needed.

I'd also avoid the multimount. A Highlift and 100 feet of 3/8" chain is my multimount. And usually all I need.

Tack weld your winches bolts. You just grind the weld off and use new bolts everytime you remove the winch. And you should disassemble and seal up any winch you buy, even the high end Warns. You'll be doing it just about every year anyways, it's easier to learn when they're clean and new.

I am a fan of using a hi lift, but not so much for winching. You have to but yourself between the anchor and the vehicle. If something breaks that is not a good place to be. The high lifts I have seen are rated to lift just less than 5K. Winching out a full size truck with a hi lift might be asking more out of the hi lift than you should. There may be heavier duty hi lifts I am not aware of.

 

[TeriAnn]

I know, I just wasn't sure if a 10k winch was over kill or not, that's why I made this post.

Overkill is a lot less apt to kill you than underkill. I'm also a fan of a winch rated at 2X the loaded vehicle weight (actual weight not a guess based upon aa manufacturer's spec for an empty truck without options and maybe only a gallon of fuel).

How much pull you need depends upon how badly you are stuck. You should stop the vehicle when it stops forward motion. Keeping the wheels turning in the hopes the tires will find firmer ground as they sink deeper just makes extraction harder. A vehicle sunk down to the frame might require a pull 3X times the vehicle's loaded weight.

So far in this discussion no one has mentioned the first tool everyone should reach for when you get stuck ... your shovel. If you dig the mud/sand away from your tyres and build a gentle ramp in front of each tyre it will make a big difference in te amount of pull needed to extract the vehicle. Make sure your tyres are properly aird down for the ground conditions. If you have traction aids, such as sand ladders place them in front of the tyres on the ramp you dug to provide a stronger surface for your tires to roll over without sinking back in. Do what you can to make things easier for the winch and pull line.

If you get stuck, take the time to examine the problem from all angles, formulate a recover plan then carry out the plan. Never just grab the winch line and pulling out cable. Examine & make a plan first.

 

[TeriAnn]

I am a fan of using a hi lift, but not so much for winching. You have to but yourself between the anchor and the vehicle. If something breaks that is not a good place to be. The high lifts I have seen are rated to lift just less than 5K. Winching out a full size truck with a hi lift might be asking more out of the hi lift than you should. There may be heavier duty hi lifts I am not aware of.

If you go to the Hi-Lift web site you will see that all Hi-Lift jacks have a tested rating of 7,000 pounds. The jack as a pin that breaks if you exceed the pull. It doesn't just explode or anything. I is the other brands if I-beam jacks that you need to worry about. The Hi-Lift is a best of class product. The Addition of a Jack-mate helps its use as a hand winch. Where a Hi-Lift is really helpful is in a pull that is in a direction that your winch is not useful, like a side pull (assuming you have side anchor points).

 

[Metcalf]

So far in this discussion no one has mentioned the first tool everyone should reach for when you get stuck ... your shovel. If you dig the mud/sand away from your tyres and build a gentle ramp in front of each tyre it will make a big difference in te amount of pull needed to extract the vehicle. Make sure your tyres are properly aird down for the ground conditions. If you have traction aids, such as sand ladders place them in front of the tyres on the ramp you dug to provide a stronger surface for your tires to roll over without sinking back in. Do what you can to make things easier for the winch and pull line.

If you get stuck, take the time to examine the problem from all angles, formulate a recover plan then carry out the plan. Never just grab the winch line and pulling out cable. Examine & make a plan first.

GREAT post!

How many people even carry any pioneer type tools anymore.....shovel, axle, saw, pick, etc?



I like having a shovel and axle on the side of my old flat fender!

In some situation you WILL NOT be able to extract the vehicle without properly preparing the site. It doesn't matter how much winch you have if the front of the vehicle is up to the bumper against an immovable object.

 

[drewactual]

I've got a superwinch on the front of my rig purchased off amazon... I've had it for almost two years, and I've used it twice- both in the last two weeks... for pulling a gantry off the ground during construction and for lifting another winch to the beam of the gantry and attaching it...

point being, it's friggin' nice to know it's there, and even better to know that it isn't going to fail you when you really need it- but it's a LOT better to have options and leave the winch as the final solution... there have been very few times when i needed a stationary vehicle to tug another vehicle, and even less that my truck was the 'stationary' one that a shovel couldn't fix...

do yourself a favor, though (which I guess corrects my second sentence in this post)- pre-stretch the cable... which makes the third time i've used it shortly after getting it... strap to a strong post, a tree (protect it!) or some other stationary object (sand anchor much?!) and spool off all the way to the drum... drop in neutral and allow the winch to pull the rig to the post, tree, or stationary object... this gives a uniform stretch to the cable and promotes similar strengths from one end of the cable to the other, instead of having weak spots in the cable because it wasn't pre-stretched. it could mean the difference between snapping or not. snapping, while dramatic, isn't fun.

uh......

 

[punisher1130]

Ummm guys, I love all the info and tips with everything, very useful stuff for this newbie, but I never said I was going to run the winch solo or as my first grab. As for digging out I do already have experience with that, my work truck is a Isuzu NPR HD cab over flat bed 2wd with straight street tires, my runs take me out into Disney's tree farm which is basically a swamp and I have gotten stuck in there a few times, some times the rocking trick ( going back and forth between reverse and drive) works enough to get me out as long as I try to maintain low rpms, there was a couple times I had dig out the tires by hand and use a pallet to get out and only 1 time I had to go get someone to pull me out so believe me when I say, traction ramps ( regardless of the type), shovels, axes, etc. are all on my shopping list as a must get items. The reason I made this post was to 1 see if 10k winch was too much and 2 to make sure I get the right one the first time around since I don't have a lot of disposable income to play with so I cant afford to buy winches over and over, I got 1 shot to get one and run with.

 

[MOguy]

Allot depends on how you get stuck. I don't run through allot of mud. I am more likely to get hung on something. Mybe on an axle or high center. In those situations digging would make it worse. There have been time I place rocks in front of the tire to help me get over things. There are allot situations you could find yourself stuck. Places like these forums are a great place to learn and share experiences.

 

[punisher1130]

Allot depends on how you get stuck. I don't run through allot of mud. I am more likely to get hung on something. Mybe on an axle or high center. In those situations digging would make it worse. There have been time I place rocks in front of the tire to help me get over things. There are allot situations you could find yourself stuck. Places like these forums are a great place to learn and share experiences.

That's why I ask, down here we have mud that will make u sink by just standing but at the same time I am looking to go into terrains like what you are used too so having info across the board always helps, but that doesn't mean I am relying one 1 thing to get me unstuck, I do know to examine the situation and try other methods before grabbing at the winch.

 

[MOguy]

If you go to the Hi-Lift web site you will see that all Hi-Lift jacks have a tested rating of 7,000 pounds. The jack as a pin that breaks if you exceed the pull. It doesn't just explode or anything. I is the other brands if I-beam jacks that you need to worry about. The Hi-Lift is a best of class product. The Addition of a Jack-mate helps its use as a hand winch. Where a Hi-Lift is really helpful is in a pull that is in a direction that your winch is not useful, like a side pull (assuming you have side anchor points).

Even 7k isn't enough. More than just the hi lift could fail. Standing between your load and the anchor is not the safest place to be. I think the price a winch is a small price to pay for safety.

 

[MOguy]

That's why I ask, down here we have mud that will make u sink by just standing but at the same time I am looking to go into terrains like what you are used too so having info across the board always helps, but that doesn't mean I am relying one 1 thing to get me unstuck, I do know to examine the situation and try other methods before grabbing at the winch.

You don't want to rely on one thing. I have used my hi lift in conjunction with my hi lift more than once. Here is a video that show a mud recovery gone bad.
http://www.offroadsafety.org/fails/jeep-body-ripped-off-frame-during-recovery

 

[punisher1130]

I have to agree with MOguy, when I first about people using a pole jack as a winch I looked it up, in a mechanical working fashion its pretty impressive and does work but in every video I watched I saw wwwaaaaayyyyy to many things that could go wrong and either hurt or kill someone and personally, yea the idea is to get unstuck, but its not worth my life or a fellow wheelers life.

 

[Buliwyf]

Even 7k isn't enough. More than just the hi lift could fail. Standing between your load and the anchor is not the safest place to be. I think the price a winch is a small price to pay for safety.

I've seen winches throw a handful of steel through the windshield and right THROUGH the drivers seat. Good thing he wasn't in it.

I use chain only with my highlift. Chain doesn't snap about, like a cable does. And I might be using 2000 pounds of force, tops.

With any winch, once you start applying 10,000 pounds of force to anything, safety has pretty much gone out the window already.

 

[MOguy]

I've seen winches throw a handful of steel through the windshield and right THROUGH the drivers seat. Good thing he wasn't in it.

I use chain only with my highlift. Chain doesn't snap about, like a cable does. And I might be using 2000 pounds of force, tops.

With any winch, once you start applying 10,000 pounds of force to anything, safety has pretty much gone out the window already.

I have a pack back for my recovery stuff. Shackles, pulley, strap. I slip the cable trough the arms on my back pack. I have had a strap break but with a coat placed on it. It made a loud snap but just fell to the ground.

 

[punisher1130]

Me personally, if I run steel cable I am going to have some kind of weight or something to drape over the line for safety, I have seen those videos without something on the line, yikes, so something on the line to drop it is a must. My only other choice is the synthetic line which seems to be earning its keep from the videos and reviews I have found and if it does snap it will coil back about a foot but it basically just drops to the ground so no weight needed.

 

[drewactual]

Ummm guys, I love all the info and tips with everything, very useful stuff for this newbie, but I never said I was going to run the winch solo or as my first grab. As for digging out I do already have experience with that, my work truck is a Isuzu NPR HD cab over flat bed 2wd with straight street tires, my runs take me out into Disney's tree farm which is basically a swamp and I have gotten stuck in there a few times, some times the rocking trick ( going back and forth between reverse and drive) works enough to get me out as long as I try to maintain low rpms, there was a couple times I had dig out the tires by hand and use a pallet to get out and only 1 time I had to go get someone to pull me out so believe me when I say, traction ramps ( regardless of the type), shovels, axes, etc. are all on my shopping list as a must get items. The reason I made this post was to 1 see if 10k winch was too much and 2 to make sure I get the right one the first time around since I don't have a lot of disposable income to play with so I cant afford to buy winches over and over, I got 1 shot to get one and run with.

I read an Abraham Lincoln quote on the interwebz once that said "if a forums thread exceeds two pages, it is now community property and individual ownership is lost"... Then he went into some sort of proclamations about skinny people or sumpthin..

No offense intended... This is a dang good dumpin ground about them cable twistin death traps...