What is a Winch and What Does it Do?
There are instances during an off-road expedition where you need to be “primed and ready to pull”, and that is exactly what the winch is for. It's a trusty pulling tool that is most often attached to the front bumper and provides the ability to get you moving again when you are rendered completely stuck.
Types of Winches
Electric Winches utilize the power from the car's own electrical system and are not as difficult to install as hydraulic winches. After the fairly simple mount, only a few wires are left to connect, and they tend to be the most popular choice for trail hounds worldwide. In some cases, a battery that is dedicated to the winch can prove to be more reliable, and a deep cycle battery with less output can also be used to effectively conserve power.
Hydraulic Winches have a reputation for more reliability and are the pick of choice for rigs that have to get the job done quickly like tow trucks. They are more expensive and complex but have some massive advantages over the electric types. Hydraulic winches always come up short in the popularity race because of their complex properties but act as true powerhouses when the need arises.
Winch Safety Tips
- Wear Gloves to protect your hands from a fast-changing and sharp-edged scenario.
- Never Double the Winch Cable Back or Attach it to Itself.
- Don't Step Over the Winch Cable While in a Hurry.
- Don't Use an Unsecured Dead Tree For an Anchor Point.
- Don't Choose A Weak or Non-Structural Point on the Stuck Vehicle To Connect.
How Much Weight Can a Winch Pull?
Pulling a completely stuck truck is by no means amateur hour: you'll need to be heftily armed and dangerous with the proper equipment to get moving again. A well-equipped winch can pull between 9,000 and 17,500 pounds, which can get the “biggest of the big '' pretty well unstuck.
How to Self-Recover a Vehicle With a Winch
- Search High and Low For the Best Anchor: if at all possible, a robust and healthy tree will work best for this purpose. If you're in a barren location, a spare tire can also work.
- Make Sure the Controller is Connected and The Clutch is Disengaged: Plug in the winch's controller, and position the lever in the “Disengaged” or “Free Spool” setting.
- Unspool Winch while wearing gloves and unwinding it from the drum. Don't be in too much of a hurry, or it will clog while unwound and become even more difficult to untangle.
- Connect Winch Hook to Anchor: Trees are your best bet here, and tree-saver straps simplify the task of solidly anchoring the winch while not leaving behind any damage.
- Take out the Slack with the winch controller, and before you begin reeling the cable in get the line taut enough to see the dampener well-hanged.
- Hanging the Dampener Over the Winch Cable takes place while you are right over the middle point of the taut winch line. This will help push the cable towards the ground in the event of a sudden snap.
- Get Inside and Begin Fishing: while the winch cable is held taut, get in the cabin and begin to slowly reel in with the transmission in neutral. This will push your vehicle hard, but it should eventually become free.
- Gradually Spool the Cable Back Up: After the winch is detached from the anchor, it can be locked back to its engaged position, and you're ready to claim victory and put her in drive!
How to Use a Winch to Recover Another Vehicle
This process is very similar to self-recovery, but your prime focus is on attaching the winch's hook to the stuck rig instead of your desired tree anchor. If you find that a very hard jolt is what will set the vehicle free, a kinetic recovery rope could be the best solution.
How to Pick the Right Winch
How to use a winch correctly and select the one best for your offroading needs depends greatly on your vehicle's weight. We always recommend scoring a winch for rescue duty that has 1.5X the pulling power of your gross vehicle weight. If you find yourself suddenly stuck while ripping up the trails one of the usual culprits is the sinking pull of mud: getting up and out will fare much faster with a winch's rescue power on point!
