Originally Posted by Boost_Retard

i vote to get the bumper without. i dont have a winch on my jeep, but i do pack gear to pull it out (have not had to use it yet).my jeep is a mild daily driver, packing around an extra 100 LBS on the nose of my tin can is really not an option, if it was more of a beefed heavy bush machine, i would have a full time winch

if your being honest with yourself about what your going to do with your jeep, i personally would not want to have to change my coil springs and have an ugly park bench for a bumper, im not sayin all winch bumpers are ugly, but alot of them IMO would look pretty huge rolling around on 30" tires.

im just about to rip off my stock bumpers and replace them with some slim style bumpers with front and rear receivers, im going light on the winch, cradle mount, when i know im going out to get in trouble, i will bring the winch along. leave it at home during the week.
i do however plan on making something inside the cab that will allow me to anchor the winch down..keep it out of the weather, keep it from saggin one end of the jeep down, and keep it from killing me inside the cab if i flop it.

i still dont expect to have to use my future winch all that often, but i want one just so i dont have to pack as many chains and straps and come alongs, all that junk takes up lots of space and is also heavy as hell

Originally Posted by jakbob

okay, so start yelling at me now. i didnt take a bunch of pics of the install for two reasons. 1. it was raining, and 2. its easy as hell. literally did it in 30 minutes. but i have some action shots.

installed (pic taken at work)



i reversed the solenoid box because i didnt want to cut my grill. needs more modification.

and a little backstory for the breaking in. It was mothers day, and my fiance wanted to go offroading. so i took her and the kids to the spot, only to find one of my wheeling buddies (chevyguy, chevywife, nowhres, and colby (he drives a toyota... so he isnt on here)) out and chevywifes xj was stuck pretty badly. Luckily i was out there with the 12k.



it was so muddy back there i had to anchor myself to the tree behind me to get her out. 5 minutes tops. definitely worth the investment.

FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT GETTING THIS WINCH

there is 100ft of wire line on this. it is a pain to sit there and baby the line. if you dont get it to spool perfectly, it will constantly pop the solenoid box off. it is a good winch, but it can definitely be shortened down. for the wheeling i do, 75-80 feet will be fine, the spool will be smaller, and the winch can pull more (less wraps on the winch means more power) for example;

with 5 turns on the drum, the winch can pull 12k, but with 5 layers of line on the drum, it can only pull 6k. the more line on a winch, the less power.

and im also going to switch to synthetic master pull line.

Originally Posted by jakbob

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4000 lbs (vehicle weight) + 1333 lbs (this is the resistance created by the mud) = 5333lbs. thats not too bad. but now since you are up to the frame, the pull weight becomes 5333 lbs x 300% = 16,000 lbs.

see why you need a winch?

Originally Posted by jeepster99

Okay well 550 plus 300 equals 850 pretty close to 1000

Originally Posted by Disoriented Hillbilly

Btw-this thread is rad.

Originally Posted by outkast

I will agree having a winch is nice, how ever I would like to know where you got the 300% from? You already added in 1333# for the added resistance from the mud. I buy that but your figure of 16,000# seems real high, if that were the case it would take a 16,000# winch to move it if there was no help from the engine that would be enough to stall out even the best 9000# winch.

Any yes the next reply will be about how you use a block and tackle to double the pull of your winch. Rarely needed when stuck in mud even up to the frame, again why I see doubt in that number.

Also that formula figures that it takes 4000# of force to move a 4000# truck. Simply not true. It would take that to lift it, not pull it across level surface. But remember its stuck in mud? Yup, I do you added that resistance into your equation once already.

Again I am just nit picking, I would take a winch over a hand winch, then I wold take a high-lift, then a come-along and of course lastly nothing. My first reply about using the high-lift was merely tongue in cheek about the length of cable. My style of driving rarely results in a situation where a winch is helpful and usually requires only a light tug to get it off of high center from another vehicle, which in my experience is almost always quicker than pulling cable. Besides I pull enough cable at work, I run a wrecker. I also always wheel with a group.

Originally Posted by outkast

The formula from Pirate is a very good one to go by,(because of the built in safety margins) it is however flawed in the world of "Jeeping" as in it is a formula that does not take into consideration the vehicle having power to the wheels. It is a formula used in vehicle recovery and towing. I have never met a professional tow company that uses the recovered vehicles own power to assist in recovery.

Originally Posted by jakbob

true. i wont use a recovered vehicles power to get it out. if it bucks back, it can snap the line. and if slack develops, the line can unspool. as me how i know lol

and at least this didnt turn into a "no your wrong" "nuh uh" "yes huh" bickering match lol

Originally Posted by outkast

So at what point when your stuck in the mud do you start trying to use the Jeeps engine to move it again, surely if your stuck in a mud pit 200' long you don't winch it all the way out?

The bucking is a good point, I do use the engine while winching if I can. This doesn't mean throttling it but more simply in gear and touching the throttle. Once it starts moving again the strap comes off or the winch get un-hooked.

Originally Posted by jakbob

For me, its when the jeep starts moving very slowly, but faster than the winch. Steeper the incline, i go slower and use ****** blocks

Originally Posted by caged

you will still need to spool in the winch cable anyways, and it's better to do so with a load to keep the spool wound tight and clean.

you can damage the winch rope if it crosses the lower wrap and the next wrap pinches the rope's internal core rendering it dangerous.

so it's better to just winch the vehicle using only the winch power.
just remember, winch electric motors have a duty cycle, so they need to be paused for a minute to cool down.

Originally Posted by caged

you will still need to spool in the winch cable anyways, and it's better to do so with a load to keep the spool wound tight and clean.