Was at my Local Pawn Shop and noticed this winch on the shelf, though about picking it up for my XJ.

 

Most decent winches start at around 8,000lbs so that may be a little small for an XJ...Tj

 

your going to want something rated for more for a few reasons. 4,500 might seem like a lot and in reality it might be enough to get you unstuck a few times, but that winch is going to be working to it's very highest capacity every time which will make for a short life, add that with it just being another generic winch company which some people have luck with but more don't, so i wouldn't expect it to last me very long. as a general rule you want the winch capacity to be twice of what your expected working load will be. lets say your jeep ways around 4k, your going to want a winch rated for at least 8k if you expect to get any kind of reliability out of it.

 

thats an ATV winch, says on the box, usually with winches for vehicles you want the winch to be rated for double what your vehicles GVW is so say your vehicle is 5000lbs, the right winch would be a 9500lb-10,000lb rated winch

 

damn you beat me lol

 

A friend of mine uses a 4500lb knock-off winch. He gets pretty nasty and I've seen it pull him out of some tight spots. He has a ****** block but rarely uses it. If you want something just for emergencies go for it, but if you plan on using it a bunch, get something better.

 

remember a winch capacity is rated by the layers of the cable on the drum. that winch might be rated for only 2500# if, for example, there are only 4 cable layers on the drum.
also consider the mire factor.for example, tire depth mire (mud up to the center of the wheel) requires 2 times the vehicle weight for recovery winch effort.
fender depth mire (bottom of the headlight) requires 3 times the vehicle weight.
most times you use ****** blocks to accomplish this, but unless you're planning on using ****** blocks every time you need the winch, get something between 2-2.5 times the vehicle weight.

 

It only takes one hard pull exceeding the winch rating to snap that 7/32" steel cable and seriously hurt someone.

 

Bad idea! You can get a 8000 lb Smittybuilt for about 300.00 and most places will do free shipping. As stated buy others the 4500 lbs is on the bottom layer of the drum, on the top layer it will be more like 2500 lbs, plus the cable is only 52 feet long, that really limits the usefulness of the 4500 lb winch.

 

rule of thumb that i use is at least 1.5 times the weight of my rig. cuz if its just the weight of my rig, great if im pulling my self on flat ground but if your using a winch, most likely your stuck which adds more weight. so i wouldnt go below a 8500 winch... i would use that winch for something like a log puller or something but not for getting unstuck

 

to you, and everybody else, who is considering a winch. please, do not undermine the mire factor. you might get away doing so once, or twice, but a winch cable that breaks under 4000-5000lb tension can slice a 12" diam. tree. imagine what it can do to a bystander.

 

Ok thanks guys, Got my Answer. think i might Get this one instead.