9k winch on a full size pickup?

Jayne

Jayne

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Used to be some rule of thumb about winches having 1.5x the weight of your vehicle in rated pulling power. So wranglers of yore should have a 6k winch but everyone went with the 9k. Pickups wanted 9k, people went 12k.

Has the arms race gone away while I was out of the game?

I've got a full size chevy 1500 and want to put a winch on it for light duty use (hauling trees out of the pond, occasionally un-sticking the truck on a trail ride, etc). No rock crawling, no mud bogging, occasionally pulling an SUV out of the snow when they think they can go down our hill ('cause it's gotz four wheels drive!')

A 9k should suffice, yes?
 
LeeMajors said:
Use a 6k and a snatch block. Instant 12k
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Yep, there is always that. Especially on a short pull where you're already getting reduced power by not being on the 'first winding' of the line against the drum.

Searching around, it looks like things have (almost predictably) gotten larger while I was out of the 4x4 world. Now they want 9k for wranglers and up to 15k for pickups. More more more!

Of course a wrangler is freakin' huge now, as are trucks.
 
There used to be a whole formula for choosing the proper winch based off of vehicle weight, type of stuck, how deep, etc. By default, people would go for the “stuck to frame in mud” and buy that size winch, forgetting about utilizing snatch blocks.

For your intended uses, 6-9k would be fine
 
9k should be fine, 12k is just for insurance.

Depending on how deep in mud or having to overcome an obstacle such as a rock, stump or incline factors in to the size winch needed.
 
you'd be good with a 9k. the truck only goes, what, 5k ? add a snachblock and you're golden.
 
There are so many brands now. I'm assuming almost all are just chicom stuff rebranded with random names.

Anything not from a name I recognize from the 90s worth anything?
 
9K will be fine on a 1500. I used to be Warn all the way but if its not life or death (aka hanging upside down on the side of a cliff) the Badlands/etc do fine for 1/2 the price. I put a TSC Traveller 9k with synthetic line on my old CJ and it works great for around the house stuffs.
 
They have a factory option of 12k warn winch for new f250 350 and 450. I would assume based off that 9k would be fine for a 1/2 ton truck doing what you describe.
 
I've got a Warn 12K on my loaded down f350 work truck. The truck weighs 11,500lbs, and the 12k will pull it.

I haven't had to use it to pull myself out since I got it though. Its like anti-stuck insurance. :D
 
Infamous1 said:
9K will be fine on a 1500. I used to be Warn all the way but if its not life or death (aka hanging upside down on the side of a cliff) the Badlands/etc do fine for 1/2 the price. I put a TSC Traveller 9k with synthetic line on my old CJ and it works great for around the house stuffs.
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Kinda eyeing this off-brand, about half the smittybilt:


Still IP67 so it will survive under the truck bumper.
 
Infamous1 said:
9K will be fine on a 1500. I used to be Warn all the way but if its not life or death (aka hanging upside down on the side of a cliff) the Badlands/etc do fine for 1/2 the price. I put a TSC Traveller 9k with synthetic line on my old CJ and it works great for around the house stuffs.
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@Jayne

Badlands and this coupon.

1642194508600.png

Brings this BMF down to $250

1642194598857.png
 
I bet you could reroute the control box at another, upright position
 
Have been sitting on the mount for a bit, knew how it fit and how much room I had but it's been cold and I'm lazy so... only today did I finally pick up a Harbor Freight 12k winch and with the help of another forum member got it mounted up. Looks pretty clean I think considering the hole cutting was done free hand:

truck_winch.jpg

Next up I'll wire it in. Gotta do a bit of thinking about how I want it arranged, where the control box makes the most sense, etc.
 
Jayne said:
Have been sitting on the mount for a bit, knew how it fit and how much room I had but it's been cold and I'm lazy so... only today did I finally pick up a Harbor Freight 12k winch and with the help of another forum member got it mounted up. Looks pretty clean I think considering the hole cutting was done free hand:

View attachment 440735

Next up I'll wire it in. Gotta do a bit of thinking about how I want it arranged, where the control box makes the most sense, etc.
Click to expand...
Update us how it works. My dad and I have the harbor freight 8k hand winches and found we have to weld the spool in a few spots to keep it from stripping. Mostly used it pulling a 95 single cab dodge 1500 out of the mud and didn't have issues once it was welded up. Always wondered if the electronic winches had any odd quirks like the hand ones do.
 
Here's how it tucks up in there. It's laying on it's 'back' with the wire spooling out what would normally be the 'bottom' of an upright setup like on the front of a jeep.

The control box will fit right on what would normally be the 'top' with about 1.5" of clearance to the center frame bit so I'll probably just stick it there since it comes with a mount for that position already installed.

Reaching up there to use the free spool clutch is going to be a dirty job, let's just hope I never actually get stuck.

truck_winch_2.jpg
 
Nice looking install! I would put another strap in your truck to attach it to something as a achor point as well as a snatch block. The Warn 12k I had would slide my old regular 2500 diesel pretty easily if you were pulling anything very hard and more than couple times had it slide it and other vehicles it was achored to pulling equipment out.
 
Jp8819 said:
Nice looking install! I would put another strap in your truck to attach it to something as a achor point as well as a snatch block.
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One of the purposes of this was to give people (family) something to get me for my birthday that wasn't 'gun stuff'. Lotta liberals in the family that will happily buy me tow straps, snatch blocks, shackles, etc because it's not against their beliefs.

See how thoughtful I am? :)

Curious to see if I can find some sort of flexible weather stripping or something to put along that cut edge to make it look less like cut plastic. Or maybe hit it with a heat gun and roll the edge a bit? Something to think about anyway.
 
Jayne said:
Curious to see if I can find some sort of flexible weather stripping or something to put along that cut edge to make it look less like cut plastic. Or maybe hit it with a heat gun and roll the edge a bit? Something to think about anyway.
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You might try a finer grit flap wheel on a grinder or they make them for scotch loc wheels which would allow you get in smaller corner. Just recently helped brother cut some acrilic and we ended up trying one to debur it and it worked really well. I have also used them on wood with good success.
 
Jp8819 said:
You might try a finer grit flap wheel on a grinder or they make them for scotch loc wheels which would allow you get in smaller corner. Just recently helped brother cut some acrilic and we ended up trying one to debur it and it worked really well. I have also used them on wood with good success.
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Might have to check that dremel bit set I got, it might have something along those lines.

Whoa, if I'm cutting plastic and using a dremel... am I ready to do some kustom work on a polymer gun now????
 
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