Which Winch for Hunting:

The XRC8 was definitely in my budget, but I read too many concerning comments about them. It seems people either love and trust them or hate them; however, those that don't trust them seem to save enough money to just buy another should it crap out.

 

On my 2004 Tacoma, I had the ARB+M8000 (plus a bunch of other stuff, 2" of lift via SAWs, etc.). It was a hunting/fishing rig and doubled for moderate expedition duty. That winch saved my bacon (and my back) several times over the years. But the weight up front, even with a lift, was crazy.

I just picked up my 2012 DCSB a month ago, to the day, and I don't want to load up the front suspension with a ton of weight. I have a CBI Offroad front receiver hitch on order (waiting....waiting...) that sits behind the stock bumper fascia, as well as the CBI winch carrier. My plan is to toss the winch in the truck when I take off to the woods and use it as-needed. An advantage is that I'll have things wires up so I can use it on the front or the rear (factory towing hitch installed) - more options for a pull-through or a pull-back. Plus I can slap a WARN recovery shackle in the front receiver if I want to get pulled out, as opposed to pulling myself out.

There will be pictures and commentary when I actually GET the stuff from CBI and install it all. Deer season isn't that far off.

 

I'll keep my eye out for it. I like the idea of not having all the weight sitting on the front, and then, if I were stuck nose down in a ditch, I could hook up the winch to the rear receiver and pull it out a$$ first. I'll need to look into this!

 

I went with the M8000 and synthetic line because I wanted to use it in a winch cradle and weight is definitely a factor with the winch cradle. You want it light as possible. The CBI hidden hitch is awesome. I can't understand why anyone wouldnt want front and rear winching capabilities. I still haven't bought a lightweight hawse, but that is coming.

Here it is: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/161873-receiver-winch.html

 

Thanks for the link! I love what you have going on there. It offers you a lot of flexibility with your pulls and decreases your frontend weight too. Now I really don't know which way to go, ha-ha.

 

Hey AST,

What part #'s did you order for the front and rear wiring? Your setup looks nice, and about what I'm looking to do.

 

I followed what BJMoose did except raised the plug up to a higher position. Also get the guys at CBI to put a nut in the side of the reciever to keep the cradle from waggling if you decide to run with the winch installed.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/144184-bjmoose-installs-receiver-winch.html