so this may sound like a stupid question but i just wanna make sure its just the battery but, i went on vacation and now that im back i hooked the battery back up and it wont start under its own power. i jumped it off with my wifes jeep and then went and drove it around and it held good power on the volt meter. so im pretty positive its just the battery but i just wanted to double check. thanks

 

charge the battery over night on trickle charge or take it to advanced auto parts the can test it.

 

oh also im about to put a winch on so do you think i should go ahead and get the new battery

 

Trickle charge the battery (2A or less charge rate) for 24-48 hours. Chances are the battery has "shelf-discharged," and just needs to recover.

If that fails, go ahead and replace the battery. For using it with the winch, I've heard consistently good reports from the field on the use of Optima Yellow Top batteries, or the Odyssey gel-cells. The Optima Red Top is probably borderline for use in "deep cycle" applications (like winching) - but tops for starting, and the Blue Top is the other way about.

If you're planning on using the winch more than rarely, consider also upgrading your alternator, adding a hand throttle, or both. This will allow you to draw more from the alternator, which places less of a load on your battery (the hand throttle is to bring your idle up to 1200-1300rpm, at which point your alternator is able to generate its full output.)