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To get to the other side.

He's following the chicken.

good ole '88 ?

sumbitch was stuck eh ?

at least the water was below the seat.........

I did that kind of stuff with my first truck until I figured out that it wasn't a tank with rubber tires. In my experience if the first mud hole is impassable, there are probably more over on the other side and I'm engaging the brain before I need to pull on the 4wd lever or dig out the winch and shovels. I did have a front and back 2" receiver on my first truck and used a portable Superwinch that mounted off the 2" ball when I needed it, which wasn't that often. I found the front receiver was handier for moving a trailer around into a tight spot, launching a boat at night with the help of the headlights and pulling other people out of similar examples like the one pictured.

Yep, 88.... I got it deeper before I got it out - plenty of stuff got wet Sometimes if you want to get to moose camp, the trail in is going to be a bit rough. Although that happened on the way out. I mentioned "judgement" above didn't I?

Good deal on Smittybilts right now...Winch

I took my 03 Tacoma DC to iron pig in Fredericksburg VA. For a full OME suspension and an ARB bumper. Was set on Warn but they talked me into an engo. 12,000 lb (I know, way Overkill but it was on sale) got it with synthetic which I broke (my fault, long story) then replaced with dyneema. It's saved me a couple times and is near 8 years old now. Been used at least once a year. Can't complain and would by an engo again.

I have some heavy dually work trucks in excess of 15,000 at times. They all have ranchand grill guards.

I am wanting to get at least 1 if not 2 mounted with winches. These dual low profile tires absolutely suck in the mud. And wehre we travel and work, a tow bill will be in the multiple thousands of dollars.

I am not sure what direction to go. Don't want to have to replace all the bumpers and grill guards. Thinking if I have at least 2 with winches, I will always have an outfit to come pull the stuck outfit out.

Use the winch on the back of my jeep more thn the one o the front, but they both come in handy.




Rio7

Last month I bought 12000 lb viper brand(Amazon) winch for my 99 2500 4x4 Suburban it’s over 7000 lbs.I believe they recommend 1 1/2 times the weight of towed/winched vehicle, as a minimum. 6000 lb truck 9000 lb winch.

I have a Viper ATV winch on my Razor. So far, all I've used it for is snowplowing although I did winch the Razor into my pickup just to try it out. It's worked well for that little bit of use. I wasn't aware that it's an Amazon brand though. Who makes it?

That's the one I'm 99% sure I'm getting. Gotta pay Uncle Sam $1800 next month though and I'm hoping I can still find one at that price in May or June.

I’ve been super happy with the Warn VR12000 winch, I don’t use it much but it’s be reliable when I have used it and it didn’t cost an arm and leg. The bumper, now that’s a different story for cost.

Just remember that the maximum pull weight (12k on that winch) is only available at the first layer of cable. As the cables stack on top of each other they change the overall drive ratio, reducing max pull weight. Moreover, there's a big difference winching up an incline...in soft conditions.

Hence the 1.5x recommendation.

Plus, even a 4" rock or log in front of a tire is a big obstacle. Try pushing it over one in the driveway. It takes a lot of power to lift the truck even that much.

My truck, with me and my wife in it along with the cap is 6000 lbs according to the scales at the landfill. 6000 X 1.5= 9000 lbs. I'm looking at 9500 or 10,000 lb winches. That might be the minimum but I don't plan to bury my truck in mud like the photo of the Tacoma earlier. As said earlier the most I expect is to need some help on farm roads or if I slid into a ditch on a muddy or snow covered forest service road. Based on past experience I'm more likely to use it to pull someone else out of a bad spot than myself. While I can see the advantages of being able to mount it on the rear I think I'll be OK on the front. Plus I want to go with the hidden winch mounting to put it behind the bumper. I'm concerned a bigger 12K winch might be too big to work there.

I'll probably buy one this month or next. Will post photos and info here when I do.

On my 2012 Tundra I have installed a receiver hitch on the front end. Have a 10,000 lb Superwinch mounted in a cradle that can be mounted either fore or aft.

I went ARB bumper also but for the winch I actually found a Warn 8000 or maybe 8500 lb on a parts truck, robbed it of everything I needed and sold the truck so the winch basically cost me nothing. I found this video which was super helpful in troubleshooting and making it work. Overall and enjoyable experience in the wintertime when work is slow. Truck before the winch.