How often do you really use your winch?

[mauricio_28]

For those of you who do expedition or all-terrain travel, how often do you actually use your winch?

This query does not pertain to recreational or competitive rock-crawling and obstacle courses.

 

[madizell]

For expedition or all-terrain (?) rarely, although the other day while exploring a local trail I had not seen before, I found a downed tree that apparently everyone else for the past season had been driving around, making a bypass. Took 5 minutes to move a 40 foot tree from the trail, and the debris from broken limbs are now piled in the by-pass. Different uses on different days.

A winch may not be something used often, but when it is needed, there is simply no substitute.

 

[tdesanto]

For expedition or all-terrain (?) rarely, although the other day while exploring a local trail I had not seen before, I found a downed tree that apparently everyone else for the past season had been driving around, making a bypass. Took 5 minutes to move a 40 foot tree from the trail, and the debris from broken limbs are now piled in the by-pass. Different uses on different days.

A winch may not be something used often, but when it is needed, there is simply no substitute.

I've used mine in that scenario the most. I've also used mine for self-recovery and the recovery of other vehicles.

 

[JackW]

I have probably used mine for moving downed trees or extracting bushes more than self recovery. Second highest use is for recovering somebody elses stuck truck.

Typically I think winches should usually be used more often - I've seen folks break stuff when they could have easily winched up over an obstacle.

 

[laurie-the-lorry]

A winch is only a heavy luxury until you need it, then it becomes a necessity.

In honesty I used mine rarely when on expedition, although I have played with it lot's on winch challenge events.

It gives me the peace of mind to know I can self recover, and that's worth the extra few pounds to me

 

[mauricio_28]

Pardon the ignorance, but can't you just use the vehicle itself, instead of the winch, to pull and drag fallen trees?

 

[IH8RDS]

All 4 previous posts are very good info. I like the insurance of having one. The differance between using a winch or a vehicle is the ammount of control involved. With the winch there is allot more control. I pull a winch line any and every time I can.

 

[adventureduo]

I used my winch 3 times last year. Sand, snow and a river crossing. 2 of those times i was recovering someone else.

 

[laurie-the-lorry]

Pardon the ignorance, but can't you just use the vehicle itself, instead of the winch, to pull and drag fallen trees?

That all depends on the size of the tree!

 

[BKCowGod]

Since I installed it, I have actually needed my winch once. Got high centered on a rock and had to drag myself off. In theory, I could have made it out if I didn't have open diffs, but who knows.

That said, the knowledge of its existence has made me more comfortable off-road. I now blithely plow into mud that would have turned me around before, and I have found that the abilities of my truck are in fact much higher than I previously suspected. It also provides comfort to vehicles around me. Just by parking by the mud pit at Hollister Hills, I quadrupled the number of people who went through it. Every single rig sent an embassy to me asking if I would be around for a while :sombrero:

 

[tdesanto]

Pardon the ignorance, but can't you just use the vehicle itself, instead of the winch, to pull and drag fallen trees?

You can, but as noted there's more control.

In lots of situations, I've used at least one (sometimes 2) pulley blocks to adjust the angle of the pull in order to get the fallen tree in the right spot off the trail and not damage the healthy trees around it. This is especially true if the dead tree has fallen in between a large number of healthy trees.

You could probably still do this without a winch, so long as you still had the cable or winch extension line and proper tackle.

 

[TooeleCherokee]

In the last 3 years I have been on 5 multi day trips and have used my winch on 4 of those trips.. and I would say that it paid for itself on each of those occasions (stopped me from rolling etc)

 

[Hltoppr]

I used mine more often in snow, or recovering other rigs. Maybe 2-4 times a year. I believe that by the time you are old enough to afford a winch, you've been driving long enough to learn how to avoid most situations when you'd have to use it.

That being said, I like having a winch on the front (although the Troopy is winchless....at the moment...).

-H-

 

[ntsqd]

BK's comment about plowing in where he/I would have turned around prior is the argument I use on my self against having one. IMHO if I need one to get through/over, it is time to turn around.

My first trek off road was in 1985. In that time I've needed a winch exactly once, and paying more attention to what I was doing would have avoided the problem entirely.
My M8 winch has done an exceptionally good job of holding down a corner of the garage. For the last 5 or more years. Eventually I'll mount it so that it can plug into a receiver socket on either end of either vehicle, but it's not high on my list.

 

[cruiser guy]

You won't use the winch much but when you need it, you NEED it.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/intl-jdm-owners-alliance/109465-rolled-my-81-i-need-your-help.html

This was the truck of a friend of my daughters. I was with him when we rolled it and if we had not lost the ATF we could have driven out the same day! We could not have righted the truck without a winch.