thoughts on winches

[idratherbesurfing]

i'm having a think about putting a winch on my pajero for general offroad stuff - recovering my truck and others out of the sticky stuff, winching up slopes/rocks, shifting fallen trees etc. not looking to do winch challenges (yet )

have been loking at the goodwinch goldfish series. anyone got one of these?

whats the minimum weight rating people go for?? 14000lb goldfish is about £400

also, paj currently has a 90A alternator and is the single battery model. Would that be enough to drive a winch that size or would I need to upgrade the availiable electricity!!!

cheers lads

[james_hillerby]

I have a come-up thats about the same money, never used a goodwinch but i think they have a good reputation.

If you can afford it then go plasma 12 strand aswell, its a breeze to use rather than steel and also a lot safer.

The minimum for a landrover is really 9000lb. I have the 9000lb come-up and it pulls fine when im fairly stuck. Id reckon the pajero would need about the same.

A 90amp alternator and a battery about 90-105 Ah is fine if you are not into winch events but you can always upgrade later. I run a 130Ah battery and 80Amp alternator on mine.

Make sure you get some proper rated shackles and strops for attaching to other vehicles, anchoring to trees etc.

Also make sure all your electrical installation is up to scratch with good quality/rated cable, crimp and solder your connections for the best of both worlds and an emergancy cut off switch before the solenoids.

[northumberlad]

I have a good winch TDS 9.5C on my discovery & it's been realy good every time I've used it, Goodwinch also do an upgrade to sythetic rope for an extra £125 + vat (remeber the prices on thier website are ex vat)if thats what you are looking to get.
as has already been said if it's for occaisional use you should be fine just connecting via an isolator directly to the starter battery (that's what i have done for now), & as a bonus if you paj is a diesel one you probably have a hand throttle so some one doesn't have to sit in the car o keep the revs up while you are winching

[teamidris]

Just fitted the 12000 lb goldfish to the middle of the challenge truck. Its the 6 hp one, as we are a bit heavy. The 9000lb is faster, 5 hp and the recomended unit for challenge. 14000lb sounds a bit big?
For a guide the 12000lb is roughly five and a half tonne, while our main mile marker type R hydraulic is four tonne pull on bottom wrap. You'll need some decent metal to hold a 14000lb winch on

[Jeepster]

A winch capacity must be carefully considered. There is the additional weight on the nose of the 4x4 to consider, and the integrity of the 4x4. I have seen a 9000lb winch tear itself free of a rotten landy.

I have a 4700lb winch on my jeep small and light. If I need a stronger pull I use a snatch block (pulley) and take the hook back to a towing eye and this doubles the pull to 9400lb okay it is not fast, but it is strong, tidy, and light.

It is surprising what you can do with a smaller winch if you know what you are doing and do not need speed or extreeme whinching competitions.

[idratherbesurfing]

thats other other thing I was looking at is the weight of them.... a 12000lb one on ebay weighed around 50kg thats a hell of a weight to mount on a bumper???????

paj torsion bars are wound up to the top bumpstops, so maybe a bit of weight on the nose to bring it down a bit isnt a bad idea though

[jamhod]

i have had a goodwinch tds 9500 lb winch for about a year now and bin a good winch i use it for winch challenges and pay days and it has never lat me down a have enough palled a 7.5 ton lorry with it a 9500 lb would be the bast on to fit on the front not too have but has enough pull to gat you out of anywhere i have nave had to double line pull

[RichardD]

I used a Come-Up (aka Superwinch) DV9000i for 2 years in a 1998 LWB Shogun in an ARB bumper standard battery and alternator and it performed faultlessly. Take your time to learn how to use it safely and don't be shy to use a snatch block to reduce the pressure on it if you are worried.

[dxmedia]

For self recovery you'll need a winch which is capable of pulling 1.2 times the weight of your vehicle.

That will get a non moving vehicle axle deep out of clay on a single line pull on the first wrap of the drum.

Recovering other vehicles is where the overhead comes in.

In the past couple of years it's become really fashionable to fit the larges winch you possibly can, think back 5 years and 8K was considered a big winch.

Anything from 6K up will be fine. Depends what you think your likely to be recovering.


Amazon sell a couple of brilliant books about the maths of recovery - well worth a read.


Winches are lethal. Don't ever forget that and you'll be fine.

[Jeepster]

It is also worth mentioning that wire ropes need lubricating. For two reasons: first it stops corrosion, external and internal to the rope. the corrosion reduces the metalic area of the rope and hence strength.

Secondly consider the rope as a machine, as it rolls round the winch drum or snatch block all the wires and strands rub together creating wear and reducing metalic area, especially when used frequently.

As said before winches can be leathal, especially if the rope snaps or vehicle slides. Some winch schools recommend keeping the bonnet open to make a guard to stop a snapped rope coming in through the windscreen.

So whatever you do respect the equipment.

[idratherbesurfing]

was told today by a mate of mine that I only need a 1 ton winch . He works in forestry and says that on their landrovers the biggest is a 3 ton one

I'm gonna stick with the 12000lb tho

[Jeepster]

you can get a new 4500lb winch for under £200 and they weigh about 16kg

food for thought - before you go and spend £500 and add 40kg to the bumper!

[winchman]

[clbarclay]

I do wounder what some people are trying to extract with 12000 lbs whiches on 4x4s.


Its only occasionaly I have needed a snatch block with my EP9 and thats only been due to close range pulls where it would have been pulling from the top layer of rope on the drum.

Single line its dragged the RRC through a mud hole with all four 33" tyres submerged. That was a slow recovery and it flattened the battery, but the winch its self was fine. For referance that was with a 65amp alternator, an old standard 69 Ah battery and around 5 minuets of near constant winching.


Finding an anchor capable of resting 12000 lbs force (particuarly once snatch blocked) can be difficult. I've seen a few trees up rooted and chains of 3 land rovers dragged while the stuck vehicle remains stationary by winches around that size. In these situations a more power full winch would not have helped. Having additional recovery tools (spade, boards, jack etc.) can often be more efficent, either on their own or used with the winch.

[winchman]

I cant remember now have to have a look but the Come up DV9000 range was very similar in apperance to the superwinch but with better quailty internals etc
The come up are one of the few in the world manufactured in a ISO 9000 standard factory, with out doing a company history they have been around a long time and make good stuff, listen to the end user and have improved any potential problems over the years.
When I was selling and repairing winches Come up where the only manufacturer who offered training and where interested in you doing well and offered good support.
We got loads of help from Come Up and Phil at PG winches ( another Come up agent in Cornwall) none of the other manufactures where interested they only looked at how much stuff you would buy, oh and come up actually stock parts in the UK for all the stuff they sell.

[teamidris]

"I do wounder what some people are trying to extract with 12000 lbs whiches on 4x4s."


Its a very good point, especially with a 1.5 tonne truck. But the max pull is on the bottom wrap, so our long rope means most work on our truck is at half rated.

And 'bogged' appears to be a relative term? There's stuck in water up to the wheel tops, and sunk in thick mud up to the wheel tops. Seems to require enough pull to move 1.5 tonne truck and doze 3 tonne of mud
Sometimes I think it would be easier to turn the truck sideways and roll it along