Confused. help figuring out/practicality?

For the stuff you would get into in the upper great lakes area, Consider four good traction boards (maxtrax or actiontrax, the only ones that will hold up in the cold) and a good come along. That would cost more than a winch, but less than new suspension and bumper.

 

That is an option I am looking at. A lot of winch use would just be getting unstuck from snow and crap. A come along might be the way I end up going. Save quite a bit of weight and money in the long run

 

Was going to suggest the more power puller by wyeth Scott. 3 ton version with synthetic rope, has multiple uses.

 

There might not be any need to modify your front suspension to install a bumper and winch. A winch bumper weighing 100 lb can be found and a 8000 lb winch with synthetic line might weigh 100 lbs for a total of 200 lbs. 200lbs of added weight on the front will cause a stock truck to sit about 0.6" lower (napkin estimate). If you are ok with that, you are good to go. The weight might also cause the truck to ride differently and if you don't like it, the answer is beefier shocks.

Napkin estimate details:

Assumptions:

- stock coils are 700 lb/in
- the LCA makes a 2-1 lever arm on the coil spring

Calculation:

truck ride height change = weight * lever * lever / (numberOfSprings * springRate) = 200 lb * 2 * 2/ (2 * 700 lb/in) = 0.6

The length of the lever arm is squared because it makes the spring compress farther as well as makes the wheel travel farther.

That said, I do not think you need a winch. I take my truck int much more technical terrain and I don't have a winch. I'm still deciding if I need one. Of the two times I've been so stuck that I needed help, a winch might have helped in one of them. I might just get one to have as a toy though.

 

Victory has an aluminum bumper that weighs only 47 lbs.

https://www.victory4x4.com/product/...-uC2FZaCPwZHn1qfNwrrZ6NKzRreoyf8aAky9EALw_wcB

And it looks like a Warn 8274 10,000 lb winch with 125' of synthetic line is only 78 lbs with

https://www.roundforge.com/articles/how-much-do-synthetic-winch-rope-and-wire-rope-weigh/

So you might only lose 0.4" of ride height.

I have 600 lb/in springs, so I might lose slightly more, but I think it's within my preload adjustability limits to offset it.

 

Last season I installed a smittybilt x20 10k with synthetic and a bulldog hidden winch mount. Weighed everything on and off, it was a total gain of 74lbs. About 1/4 lower at the most. The stock suspension will be fine with this.