8k capacity winch enough?

The army has had a lot of things wrong for a very long time.

 

Sorry but that is WAY OVERKILL on a Tacoma. Are you really suggesting a 15k+ winch for a Tacoma? I’d be shocked if you found a bumper that can even fit a winch that big on these trucks!

A winch that big you could rig it up to a treetop and airlift yourself out for recoveries.

OP for your uses described the 8k will be fine. I wouldn’t worry about going and returning it or anything. If i found a deal on an 8k winch I wouldn’t hesitate to put it on my truck at all. But paying full price I would go 10k since it’s typically not a huge price difference.

 

Exactly my point... You wouldn't have an issue wicking would you. Maybe 15k is too much but I'd go 12k. I'll winch you out whenthe time comes bud

 

With that said your talking to a guy that has a 6k winch on his 1400 lbs side by side. My buddy got stuck with his. Only had a 3k winch on his. The winch wouldn't even budge it. He was happy i had mine that night.

 

Just gotta be careful with your bumper selection if you’re planning on 12k. Sounds like they only fit in a select few Tacoma bumpers. A lot only fit 10ks and are too tight to fit a big boy in, quite a few threads on here about it.

 

@TomHGZ can help you with this.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/that-8-000-lb-winch-is-a-waste-of-money.682105/

 

Yup

I knew I was making my truck heavier with all the armor and other ish I put on. Decided to go get weighed for an upcoming trip to see how much. With the truck near empty, only carrying armor, bumpers, winch, swingout w/ spare, and a roof top tent mounted on a bedrack, the truck came in at 5440 without me in it. Putting it right at factory GVWR when I'm driving.

Then there's all the camping stuff that I throw in as well, and the lady, which comes out to probably another 300lbs or so.

As I'm sure you could guess, my next big upgrade plans are larger wheels and brakes.

 

I assume you don't mean just your lady.... Not to judge, one of my best friends likes big girls.

But seriously, this is great info, and I'm glad you went out and got it weighed so we can see a real world example of what I was talking about.

Tacomas aren't big trucks, and they certainly aren't known for their cargo capacity.

With all that added weight, not only are bigger brakes a good idea, you'd probably want to add frame stiffeners, especially when going off road. People forget that extra weight adds a lot of extra stress not just to the frame, but the entire drivetrain.

https://trail-gear.com/armor/tacoma-rear-frame-reinforcement-plates.html

 

Fortunately not just the lady...she's only about 100. the other 200 is supplies, gear, water etc lol

I was pretty surprised that I'd climbed so quickly to the factory GVWR, i expected it to weigh in somewhere around the 5200 mark or so. imagine my surprise lol.

Frame stiffeners aren't a bad idea...I'll have to look into options for the 2nd gen.