How big of a winch do I really need?

[Metalhead]

I see a lot of people using the Harbor freight badland 12,000 lb winch. Is 12,000 lbs really necessary? Will a 10,000 lb winch be good enough? I am building my gladiator for overlanding and honestly have really been considering the badland winch. I will most likely be getting the rugged ridge arcus bumper. What do you all think.

Thanks

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[thedeatons]

I've been using Rough Country 9500S (synthetic line) winches on my last 3 vehicles. I pull out Tacomas with ease... Never an issue.

 

[Lost1wing]

I think you can definitely break more things and cause injury with a bigger winch. Like all tools, you need to know what you are doing with them. There is a video of a guy uprooting a tree that my Apex 12k wouldn't budge with a hand winch. It's all about the use of pulleys and snatch blocks that make things easy.

My idea is that you can get away with a smaller winch with a little effort on the setup. Keep in mind you could be using the winch at It's max capacity and duration depending on how much line is spooled out.

Using a 12k winch give you less pull with very little line spooled out. You may not be able to spool out an 8k winch enough to use the entire 8k. Learn about how your winch for each wrap around the cable drum, duty time of the winch and winching techniques. Then think about your most common type of use that you will encounter and make a decision.

Having the capability and the duty time are most important to me. Someone not knowing what they are doing could break things, hurt someone else or themselves with too much power.

 

[Hootbro]

I think 1.5X the vehicle GVWR is the general rule for minimum needed winch capacity. GVWR for most Gladiators is around 6K pounds which a 9K pound rated winch would cover. Submerged deep mud pulls though would stress those margins and make 12K+ pound rated winch a better choice.

 

[Chaos Theory]

Just use pulleys... 9k is more than enough for everything but hanging it from a tree. Even then, more pulleys.

 

[OldButStillJeeping]

I think 1.5X the vehicle GVWR is the general rule for minimum needed winch capacity.

This IS the rule. ^^^^

I have a Warn 8,000 lb on my JT. A Warn 12,000 lb on my Ford F250 which weights 8,000 lbs.

Carry snatch blocks and D rings or similar for your hook up. I've use winches a lot and never had an issue.

Bigger winch means bigger weight on the truck. I use synthetic line for safety and weight.

A snatch block will double your pulling power but reduce your pull (or reach) distance by 50 percent. An 8,000 lb winch with 90' of line, will pull 16,000 lbs, but at 45' length. (The winch is actually only pulling 8K but it is doubled thru the snatch block.... 16K).

Be well. Jeep on.

Eric

My Warn M8000S, Arcus bumper, on my 2021 JT Mojave:

 

[kevman65]

That depends on how much "Hey Y'all, watch this" or "Hold My Beer" you got in ya.....

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I prefer the have it and not need it rule........... Weight difference isn't a lot.

I also bought mine not just for me - but helping others who may have gone off the roads in the winter and so on. It's a tool, so that's how I bought it.

I've seen stuff stuck so badly in mud - ours is the "you're gonna lose your boot in that" type (in fact last year, they buried a decent size dozer trying to clear out our creek for a new bridge - I tried to warn them living here and seen how nasty it is, but they shrugged it off.)


If it was going to be used ONLY to rescue myself, I might have gone different. But again - I hate having something like that and finding out I wish I had bought larger to begin with.
My wife is a "buy the best or biggest and buy it one time" person.
She has made me take things back to the store before if I try to buy a notch down.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I see a lot of people using the Harbor freight badland 12,000 lb winch. Is 12,000 lbs really necessary? Will a 10,000 lb winch be good enough? I am building my gladiator for overlanding and honestly have really been considering the badland winch. I will most likely be getting the rugged ridge arcus bumper. What do you all think.

Thanks

Don’t think of the gladiator being 5-6k pounds. Thats 6k pounds on flatish ground. When winching up a slope with tires stuck on rocks or in mud, 12k is absolutely appropriate for the gladiator. I think 10 is undersized for it.

And I personally won’t trust a harbor freight winch for safety. As is I need to return my shop press from them. It’s been used 3 times, mushroomed and failed. It’s unsafe. I don’t want to find out my winch is flaking out when my vehicle, life, or both are at stake.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I prefer the have it and not need it rule........... Weight difference isn't a lot.

I also bought mine not just for me - but helping others who may have gone off the roads in the winter and so on. It's a tool, so that's how I bought it.

I've seen stuff stuck so badly in mud - ours is the "you're gonna lose your boot in that" type (in fact last year, they buried a decent size dozer trying to clear out our creek for a new bridge - I tried to warn them living here and seen how nasty it is, but they shrugged it off.)


If it was going to be used ONLY to rescue myself, I might have gone different. But again - I hate having something like that and finding out I wish I had bought larger to begin with.
My wife is a "buy the best or biggest and buy it one time" person.
She has made me take things back to the store before if I try to buy a notch down.

This^^^

A stronger winch is under less load doing the same job. Also remember that your bumper/winch plate needs to be rated for that pull by the vendor. My current bumper is guaranteed by warn to handle a 12k pull without distortion. My new bumper coming soon is designed around warn Zeon 12 bumpers from the ground up.

If you attach a block and tackle that can handle a 2,000 lb lift to a 1/4” eye bolt in a 2x6, guess what’s going to happen.

 

[OldButStillJeeping]

Don’t think of the gladiator being 5-6k pounds. Thats 6k pounds on flatish ground. When winching up a slope with tires stuck on rocks or in mud, 12k is absolutely appropriate for the gladiator. I think 10 is undersized for it.

And I personally won’t trust a harbor freight winch for safety. As is I need to return my shop press from them. It’s been used 3 times, mushroomed and failed. It’s unsafe. I don’t want to find out my winch is flaking out when my vehicle, life, or both are at stake.

I agree with you almost all the time. But this one, not so much.

An 8,000 winch down to it's final wraps on the spool will pull your 5 to 6K Gladiator straight up and off of the ground. Lift it completely in the air. Without a snatch block. Flat ground means nothing, we are talking full verticle flight.

I am not a HF winch guy either. I buy Warn. But the price difference is a lot. So having a Smittybuilt or Harbor Freight winch is better than no winch. Especially if that is the budget. I don't knock the HF winch folks.

Many folks never use their winch. So its there for emergency or bumper jewelry.

I use mine a lot on the farm, for work usually. Back in my Jeep club days I used them a lot for fun.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I agree with you almost all the time. But this one, not so much.

An 8,000 winch down to it's final wraps on the spool will pull your 5 to 6K Gladiator straight up and off of the ground. Lift it completely in the air. Without a snatch block. Flat ground means nothing, we are talking full verticle flight.

I am not a HF winch guy either. I buy Warn. But the price difference is a lot. So having a Smittybuilt or Harbor Freight winch is better than no winch. Especially if that is the budget.

Many folks never use their winch. So its there for emergency or bumper jewelry.

I use mine a lot on the farm, for work usually. Back in my Jeep club days I used them a lot for fun.

I totally agree with buying quality. I’d rather have a 8k warn than a 12k HF. But I want extra power for those really bad situations. I’ve found time sensitivity to be a real thing in recovery. Sometimes there’s not time to do anything but hook it up and pull, or your friend is rolling off of a dune.

I’m not arguing that an 8k can lift my 6.2k Jeep. I’m sure it will. But I choose to have that extra power for the terribles. But that doesn’t make you wrong.

 

[Stan H]

I think 1.5X the vehicle GVWR is the general rule for minimum needed winch capacity. GVWR for most Gladiators is around 6K pounds which a 9K pound rated winch would cover. Submerged deep mud pulls though would stress those margins and make 12K+ pound rated winch a better choice.

Or down over an embankment .
My theory Go Big or Go Home.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I think you'll find internally, the HF winches are pretty nice, and decently built. There's a guy out there who abused the crap out of his - bent the winch plate and twisted the winch a bit. He takes it apart on the bench and shows the internals and so on - nothing to suggest you'll be stranded just because of the HF brand. These days - I really wonder - is it a name for the most part?
A lot of people have used the HF winches on a pretty regular basis - I tend to think people are overlooking a quality winch just because of a name or stigma - "my Jeep peers will laugh if I won't buy a warn".

 

[OldButStillJeeping]

I think you'll find internally, the HF winches are pretty nice, and decently built. There's a guy out there who abused the crap out of his - bent the winch plate and twisted the winch a bit. He takes it apart on the bench and shows the internals and so on - nothing to suggest you'll be stranded just because of the HF brand. These days - I really wonder - is it a name for the most part?
A lot of people have used the HF winches on a pretty regular basis - I tend to think people are overlooking a quality winch just because of a name or stigma - "my Jeep peers will laugh if I won't buy a warn".

I've been using Warn and Superwinch for a long - long time. Ramsey a little too. Decades, actually. Nearly 50 years.

I'm totally a Warn fanboy to this day. And I am an old man and could give a rats ass about impressing my friends. I just use what works and I have a long history with.

HF winch if that is what you can afford. I hear that they are good.

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