You got some good advise there, however I disagree with some of the opinions.

I have a Warn 8000i in front of my Jeep. I mostly travel in the Egyptian western Desert dunes and I find the winch very useful, efficient, and most important of all, energy saving.


You can easily hookup the winch to another vehicle and pull. The time it takes to get the control out and hook the cable is no longer than man-handling the stuck vehicle or getting out and hooking a strap. It’s much easier and faster than the traditional routine: pushing, rocking, digging and using the sand mats. If you’re gonna get out the snatch strap and hook up 2 vehicles, you might as well use the winch cable.

A dual battery system is a good idea whether you have a winch or not. I have 2 batteries installed in my Jeep with an Isolator/combiner and I’m very happy with the system

To answer your original question:

Get one of the new generations of high speed winches since they are much faster, lighter and more efficient than the old generation. My personal preference is Warn but the other major brands are pretty good too.

It should have the pulling power of at least 1.5 the weight of your vehicle.

I would go for a permanently front mounted winch. Removable winch mounts are not that strong and tend to bend the cross member or hitch they are attached to. Attach the winch to at least a 6mm steel plate with a front and rear lip for strength. Use a longer front lip and mount the fairlead to it. Attach the whole assembly to both front frame side rails with at least 2 US grade 8, or 10.5 metric, bolts on each frame rail. This is very important. The good news is that there are mounting kits ready to install any winch to your vehicle.

A higher output alternator and dual batteries with a battery isolator/combiner are a good addition but if you don’t have those then just rev the engine to 3000 RPM while winching and don’t turn off the vehicle immediately after winching, give it a few minutes to recharge the battery.

It’s also a good idea to get one of those winch accessories kits that all the major manufacturers sell. They include:
. Snatch block: A pulley that doubles the cable. Shortens the maximum cable length by halph but doubles the winch power.
. 2 shackles: to attach the cable to some of the weird hooks out there
. Tree Saver: Let’s you attach your winch to a tree or any bog object with out killing it.

Nevertheless always take the hi-lift with you.

If you need more info on the subject let me know.

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A.B.
www.ShortWheelbase.com

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A.B.
OasisPhoto.com – Images from the Magical Sahara.