Tensen winch

Not that brand specifically, but generally you want a winch capacity of 8000 or 9000 pounds. There is a slight cost up for the higher capacity, but the advantage is a faster line speed, plus the extra 1000 pounds of capacity. The rule of thumb is that the winch capacity should be a minimum of double the weight of your Jeep, since a TJ weighs in at about 3500 pounds, and they don't make a 7000 pound winch, the 8000 model is the minimum. We recently had a visitor here that installed a 4500 pound winch on his TJ, and it was not able to get his truck unstuck.

Other options for you to consider are whether the winch works with hydraulic pressure or by electricity. The electric models have an advantage in self recovery because they will work when the engine will not run, but the hydraulic models have the advantage of working for extended periods of time. I lean to the electric models because my Jeep is generally on its side when I need to get it out of trouble, and the motor resists running unless it is right side up. The long hours of operation that the hydraulic winches are capable of is not very useful for the kind of recovery I do here in the desert southwest, but could be extremely useful in the mud pits of the southeast. Here in California, we generally can have a vehicle on its wheels and out of trouble in a matter of minutes (that's winch minutes, which could be several hours if the conditions are difficult), whereras a vehicle that is buried in mud can take half an hour to an hour of winching to get it back on dry land.

You must decide which winching environment you will be in most often, and pick a winch that meets those requirements. Personally, I think the electric winches are the only way to go.

I just did a quick google search on them and they are no longer in business and parts are no longer available for them from what I could see without reading a lot of stuff.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

kid4lyf wrote: