How to choose an off-road winch

SUVs are SUVs because they can drive on any off-road. And if you happen to drive into such a wilderness that it is impossible to get out, then a winch will help.

The winch is a special device that can be mounted in front under the bumper on a reinforced base welded to the frame, or at the back. With the help of a winch, you can get out of any pit or swamp, you just need to hook the cable to another car, tree or rock, and the winch will pull you out, if you choose it correctly, of course.

Who needs a winch anyway?

If a person drives his jeep exclusively around the city or on intercity highways, then he does not need a winch, except perhaps just for beauty. You need to install it only if you really use your jeep for its intended purpose and know from your own experience what impassable roads and steep slopes are.

What are the types of winches for SUVs?

Electric winches - this is the most common option.

They are powered by an electric motor, and it is battery operated. That is, if the car fell into a trap, you will have to discharge the battery. Accordingly, it cannot be used for a long time, and it is suitable only for cars with powerful batteries and a good generator. A battery for 60, 75 or 90 Amp-hours, such a winch will land very quickly.

But electric winches also have an advantage - ease of installation. it already has an electric motor, it only needs to be fixed to the frame, put the terminals on the battery and the whole installation is over. True, you also need to take care of waterproofing, because the ingress of water inside can lead to burnout.

Hydraulic winches - Their disadvantage is that installation and installation is very difficult.

Such a winch is powered by a power steering pump. That is, if you do not have power steering, then installing it will be problematic. To connect the winch to the car system, you will have to make a variety of adapter fittings and buy high-quality high-pressure hoses.

The hydraulic winch only works when the engine is running. The force is transmitted with the help of oil, and sooner or later the oil starts to leak. However, not everything is so bad - hydraulics, in turn, are more reliable than electrics and are suitable for drivers who know what real off-road is.

A good choice would also be mechanical winch. It is mechanical because it works directly from the engine through the PTO - the power take-off shaft that comes from the transfer case.

If you have such a winch, then you can not be afraid that oil will flow and hoses will burst or the battery will sit down - you simply control the speed of rotation of the winch drum by shifting gears on the gearbox, while the transfer case should be in neutral.

It would seem that mechanics is an ideal option, but there is one significant problem - not all SUVs have the ability to install a PTO shaft. You have, again, to give your car into the hands of the craftsmen, so that they “scrub” something there, install various adapters and carve cardan shafts, and so on. That is, the installation will result in additional costs.

Thus, the choice of the type of winch lies entirely with the owner, electrics are the easiest option, but not always reliable, hydraulics and mechanics are installation problems.

What are the criteria for choosing a winch?

The main criterion is traction. Experts recommend mechanisms with a force that exceeds the mass of the car by one and a half times. However, the concept of “traction force” is very vague. If the value of the effort is 5 tons in the passport, this does not mean that such a winch will be able to pull a car weighing five tons out of a swamp. It is unlikely that she will cope with a machine weighing 4 tons.

The only thing that can be advised here is a good consultation with experts. They will offer you winches for extreme sports, for hunting or fishing trips and so on. It all depends on the operating conditions of the SUV and the roads you drive on. Also, the choice of winch depends on the mass of the car:

• light class - Niva, KIA Sportage;
• medium - UAZ Patriot, Mitsubishi Pajero, Land Rover Discovery;
• heavy - Land Cruizer, Land Rover Defender 110.

Well, and the last - winches come from different manufacturers. There are relatively inexpensive Chinese options, there are premium samples made in the USA and other countries, they are also produced in Russia.

An excellent video that will help determine the type of winch

That's what a winch is!

Loading…