HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST RECOVERY WINCH
Having the right winch ensures self-reliance, convenience, and safety when travelling over tough terrain. Here are a few of our top tips on how to choose the best winch for your off-road needs.
WHETHER YOU HIT THE TRAILS AND BACKCOUNTRY ROADS FIVE TIMES A YEAR OR 20, SOONER OR
later the rough conditions will get the better of your driving skills or vehicle. Getting in a jam is literally a natural part of wheeling. Stubborn logs, rocks, mud, snow, sand – you name it – all smile and wait innocuously for your vehicle’s arrival.
When you fall into dire straits after failing to properly negotiate tough terrain, a buddy with a winch is a friend indeed. Wheeling is also about being self-reliant in the wilderness, especially if you travel solo. So, the old off-road cliché of ‘preparation is everything’ couldn’t be more true.
“We often joke about the common 80/20 rule among off-roaders with winches,” explains Andy Lilienthal, Strategic Communications Manager for Warn Industries. “Eighty percent of the time we are recovering someone else, and 20 percent of the time we are recovering ourselves.”
Understanding and choosing the best recovery winch for your off-road needs is not difficult. If you do a lot of wheeling it’s recommended you get one – if you don’t have one already. While they may initially seem like a high-ticketed item (depending on the model), winches are a small price to pay when it comes to recovering your tricked-out $40,000-plus rig with all its bells and whistles.
Shopping the shows or browsing any of the online aftermarket accessory retail sites are great places to start. Here are a few important factors to first consider when choosing the best recovery winch for your off-road needs.
Have the Power to Pull
There’s no sense in having a recovery winch if it doesn’t have the pulling capacity to free your rig from distress. With many different winches on the market at varying prices, features and pulling capacities, the latter is one of the first considerations. To determine a winch with the ideal pulling capacity for your rig simply multiply your vehicle’s GVWR by 1.5. So, if your shiny new 2020 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited has a GVWR of 5,300 pounds, you require a winch with at least a 3,628 kg (8,000 lb) capacity. As more capacity is always better (and given all the added gear in your rig) it’s best to opt for a winch with a 4,535 – 5,443 kg (10,000 to 12,000 lb) capacity – including those from Warn Industries such as its newer VR EVO series or its more heavy-duty Zeon series.
Mounting Options
If you’re not sure about the mounting options for your vehicle, it’s best to speak to your local dealer for advice. If you’re pretty sure you know all about the available mounting options for your vehicle, its best to speak to your local dealer for advice.
“When you don’t have the proper winch mounting setup, there’s risk of damaging the vehicle or having the winch come apart from the mounting surface during recovery,” says Lilienthal. “You always want to make sure the winch is mounted to a mounting plate that is designed specifically for winching tasks. Also make sure to buy from a reputable manufacturer that conducts extensive R&D, as well as testing to ensure a proper, secure winch mounting surface.”
Although Warn offers a series of reputable mounting options, there are three common choices available. These include a bumpermounted winch (that bolts right to the top of your vehicle’s stock bumper with a mounting plate); a multi-mount winch, where the winch is mounted to a carrier, then to a receiver and the bumper; and a heavy-duty winch bumper where the winch plate is integrated on the bumper for added strength and durability. The choice really depends on your vehicle, the size of the winch, and your off-road requirements.
Cable or Synthetic Rope?
Ask two different off-road enthusiasts about the best lines to use for winch recovery and we guarantee you’ll come away with two different answers. To avoid the confusion between choosing cable or synthetic rope, be sure to know difference.
Commonly used in the shipping industry, synthetic rope has become popular among offroad enthusiasts in the last decade primarily due to its strength-to-weight ratio, ease of use, quicker (and easier) ability to re-spool it back on the drum, and the fact that it stores little energy. So, in the rare event of the rope snapping during recovery, there’s little chance of it whipping back. On the down side, synthetic is known to be more prone to abrasion, which over time, can hinder its overall recovery performance.
As cable is a proven means for utility applications, it’s a real juggernaut for winch recovery. It’s strong, durable, and more resistant to abrasion. Of course, the disadvantage is that its steel cable. This means it’s heavier than synthetic rope, capable of providing sharp burrs over time, harder to re-spool and stores more energy with a greater chance of whipping back if its snaps during recovery.
“The choice is essentially up to the user as both have pros and cons,” says Lilienthal. “There are some off-roaders who swear they’ll never use cable and then there are those who swear they’ll never use synthetic rope.”
Line Speed
Line speed is another common term that will arise during your browsing experience and plays a big role in recovery. While horsepower ratings and drive train ratios vary from winch to
winch, so do line speeds. For example, in Warn’s popular Zeon series the maximum pull and line speed range from 1 m (3.3 ft) per minute with a load of 5,443 kg (12,000 lb) all the way to 1.9 m (6.2 ft) per minute with a load of 3.628 kg (8,000 lb). While faster line speeds are available with larger winches, they will also likely have a higher amp draw, so more battery power may be required.
“It’s not as important of how quick you recover a vehicle with a fast line speed as it is to pull a zero load back on the spool after recovery,” explains Lilienthal. “The quicker the line speed, the faster it is to get back on the trail. Our fastest winch is the Warn M8274.”
Waterproof Winches
Short of always wheeling in dry, desert conditions with no rainfall or deep creek beds to cross, your winch will get wet. Some of the more popular units from Warn are its IP68-rated waterproof models (including the VR EVO and Zeon series), which greatly prevent water or other elements from entering the gear train and motor – an ideal choice especially if you commonly travel in wet, damp conditions.
While a great feature for added reliability, winches that are not IP68-rated can still get wet and function properly. If they are commonly submerged with every trip, service is mandatory, which means draining water from the motor and re-lubricating the gears.
Stopping Power
Among the many features incorporated into a winch, most of the popular models have what is called an automatic load holding brake and are definitely something to consider. How they work is simple. They securely prevent the winch from paying out any more line when the winch is stopped and safely hold the vehicle in place when or if adjustments are needed. Load holding brakes are available in the style of tone brakes, spring brakes and disc-style brakes, and ensure the winch will hold the full rated load of the winch.
What’s New?
Although many wheelers are accomplished in vehicle recovery, it’s worth noting – for novice and veterans alike – that new technology is introduced every year, and 2019 SEMA showcased what’s coming up for 2020. While tether based controls are an ideal option to control a winch, wireless remotes are becoming more popular among many manufacturers – and for good reason. For instance, the wirelesscontrolled models in the Warn Zeon Platinum Series can be easily charged via a USB cable, have a range of up to 30 m (100 ft) (compared to 3-4 m (10-12 ft) with tethered remotes), and allow you to control the clutch, accessories and even monitor the motor temp. Plus, any wireless remote system means you don’t have to be positioned anywhere near the hitch during recovery, allowing you to clear debris from the recovery path or other tasks. It’s also handy for when removing logs, rocks of other obstacles.
Warn also introduced a new Bluetooth winch controller compatible with smart devices via its app. It will offer many of the same advantages of a wireless remote. Be sure to keep an eye out for it mid-2020.
“Winches are a great means of insurance for off-road vehicles,” says Lilienthal. “Whether you have a $2,000 beater-rig or a $150,000 G-Wagon, when a lot of time, effort and money is invested into building your vehicle you need to be sure you can safely recover it. When that time comes, you want a winch that’s reliable and one that will work properly for your vehicle.”