Winch Power

I have stalled my Warn 9000i and bent the hook. Mud is like glue.

A 6000 would be fine for rocks or even pull you up a cliff, but in mud I have seen 3 vehicles linked in series (have photos) lined up to get one Cherokee out.

Serious glue....

Mike

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

griff>

9000 or 9500lb I'd say.

I think the general "rule of thumb" is 2 times the vehicle weight. Stock CJ-7 is 3000 lbs. then add gear and passengers (hard top, over sized tires, etc.). My modified CJ-7 weighs about 3400 lbs.

It was easier to use 12 wheels.....

Mike

"L.W.(ßill) Hughes III" wrote:

A winch with an 8,000 lb. capacity has long been considered the minimum capacity recommended and accepted by experienced offroaders for a typical Jeep. :)

Jerry

You need a minimum of 8000 pound capacity, and 9000 is much better.

You should think of the the weight equivelence of being stuck in mud. Basically your CJ weighs in at about 3500 pounds, and the stuck-value is another 3500 pounds, so you need at least 7000 pounds capacity. And, you are not always going to be saving yourself, you might tie another Jeep to yours, then recover a Bronco ...

Interesting you mention recovering a Bronco, at Coal Creek in TN last spring we goaded a guy in a Bronco to try to get through a mudhole, since he had the tallest tires in our group, but he got stuck. We couldn't winch from the rear because it was a straight drop into the mud, so we had to winch from the front, through about 20 yards or so. For some reason I was the only one who volunteered for winching duty so we doubled back with a snatch block and secured my Jeep with another one strapped behind it. It pulled out OK, but the strain burned off the battery lead on my alternator. I had to clamp the end of the wire back onto the altenator post with a set of locking pliers. Warn HS9500i.

Still got pulled out by a TJ. If I can dig up the pictures of the extraction I'll post the URL.

BTW the 2005 Ford Superduty 4x4's are getting coils and radius arms in on the front axle. Sweet.

There's several things that are not worht skimping on and a winch is one of them!

I'd go with a minimum of 9000 and I'd go with one of the better lines of mfrs. like Warn

NT

I do not understand why some people want to buy just enough winch when for another $100.00 you can go up to a 9000 or 9500.

You mentioned you like mud well that stuff can really graba vehicle and create one hellacious suction grab. Having a little more winch than you'll think you need is a dam good idea.

NT

Not only that, but it's a damn good idea as well ...

You will never sit around the campfire lamenting the fact that your winch is just Too Damn Big, but if it is too small, you might not get back to the campfire in time to enjoy it.