Few questions about winches..

I am relatively new to trucks, and new to electric winches.

I am considering upgrading my truck with a new bumper and a winch at the same time. I am leaning towards Aluminess front bumper, primarily because it seems to offer the most deer protection at the minimum weight.

While having the winch as insurance for my truck is nice, I expect it's primary use will be not to pull the truck, but help me pull something up a very steep hill (a wagon or a wheelbarrow) where I wouldn't dare to drive my truck (slope estimated to be 20-35%).

The trick (other than putting the truck in position to do so) is to have enough rope/cable on the winch, as the linear distance (and it is a linear road) is about 200ft, maybe up to 250ft. Most winches I briefly looked usually have 100ft of rope or cable on them.

So questions
1) is that a good use of the winch?
2) can most winches be controlled remotely wirelessly
3) are there winches with more rope?
4) can you replace rope with thinner rope (at which point might as well get a different winch)
5) what's the benefit of having the winch inside or outside the bumper?

Is there a better solution to my problem? Most winches I find are either for trucks or for pulling the boat into a trailer

 

I don't see there being a bad use for a winch personally. I've used mine for everything from pulling T-posts to crawling out of a swamp. But ultimately that's your call. I've seen them run wirelessly and wired both and both are great. I know WARN winches at least require a separate remote to run wireless though. Most winch cables run around a hundred foot or so as far as I know and I'm really not sure about swapping for a lighter cable to allow more room on the spool. As far as inside outside the bumper I've run one inside my bumper for a while and as far as I'm concerned the only con is that changing the cable can be a pain. It keeps your winch and cable out of the elements a little though which is a definite plus in my opinion. Hope that helps some and good luck with whatever you do

 

I don't think you'll find any winch with that extra long cable. But I can't see any reason why you couldn't temporarily attach another cable as an extension for the times you need the extra length. And just remove it when you've pulled the items closer.

 

Couldn't you just find one or 2 long tow straps for the item being pulled and attach your 100ft winch line to that tow strap to pull up the load? I know Harbor Freight carries a wireless winch controller for their badland winches which I heard will work with the Smittybilts due to similar wiring / connector.(I can't confirm this though)

 

1) As long as it's within the safe working load of the winch. They are not rated for vertical lifts or lifts involving people. The more direct your pull the better.
2) Yes; several of them make wireless remotes for their winches or you can adapt a Harbor Freight controller (there are posts on how to do this on forums like mud).
3) Yes, but remember you get your rated pull on the first wrap, it goes down with each subsequent wrap on the drum. You must keep at least one wrap on the drum though.
4) Yes, you can replaced wire rope with synthetic and get more on the drum. See above, it's better to get extensions.
5) Inside provides better protection for the winch and, more importantly, the cable/synthetic line. Any road grit getting into the cable has the potential to cause wear, especially on synthetic line. UV light is also not good for synthetics.

DISCLAIMER- DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOU CAN SLAP A WINCH ON THE FRONT AND USE IT SAFELY OR PROPERLY. Get some instruction from someone knowledgeable about using winches and vehicle recovery (and that doesn't always mean Cletus driving the local tow truck- I've seen some really dumb things on accident scenes). There is a lot of energy within a winching system and when things go wrong they have the potential to go very wrong up to and including death!

 

This thread might be useful

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off-roading-trails/263278-show-us-your-winches-not-your-wives.html

 

Thanks for all the pointers and the winch thread.. Another point Aluminess folks brought up as a reason to have the winch on the outside

 

1- Its not too bad of a use for a winch
2- Only some winches can be controlled wirelessly, however if your fancy with electronics, you can hook pretty much anything up to a wireless controller, just got to be creative sometimes
3- Most winch manufactures have winch models with various drum lengths (short vs long, sometimes something in between) And that determines how much wire (or synthetic) rope you can spool up on said rope.
4- you can most certainly use a smaller diameter rope, just remember not to exceed that ropes break strength
5- well, as for in or outside the bumper.... inside its permanently mounted so you cant move it should you need it at the rear of the truck. However, in saying that, if you have some good skills, you can winch a truck backwards using the winch in the front via snatch blocks (pullies, block n tackles, your choice here)

For what you want to do with it, seeing how it will be seeing kind of longer service pulls, Id honestly recommend a hydraulic winch. They are the only winch with a real good and 100 % duty cycle. Every winch has its ups and downs. Electric ones put a strain on your battery and your alternator. Are also sadly susceptible to heating up when they are worked hard. Hydraulic winches NEED the engine running in order to function correctly, then you gotta keep an eye out for fluid leaks and the like.

.... So yeah, many routes you can go for a winch lol. But since your not going to really be using it for a straight line, hard working pull... id say a lower power hydraulic winch for you. Hooks up to your power steering. But, if extra pulling power is needed (ie, you take er off road and get yourself stuck in some good thick mud) Just whip out a few snatch blocks.

Low and Slow is the key to any successful recovery.

 

get a snatch block kit and rope extension. this way you can pull from any angle.