Can yall give me some clues as to what kind of specifications on a winch for my 95 runner would be sufficient...I do get down and dirty with this bad boy and sometimes it would be nice to be pulled out by myself. And, how easy is it to reattach the winch to another truck if i had to sell mine. thanks

 

8000lb as a minimum. As far as removal, they are merely bolted on so they can just as easily be unbolted.

 

I use a warn XD9000i on my 95 4runner. Believe me, it moves a lot more than 9000 lbs. I was using it to turn over a very large piece of structure, I had my 4runner's tires blocked with 4X4's and it was chained to a dodge pickup (diesel). The piece of structure would not budge, but the winch dragged the 4runner and the dodge forward. It was very impressive. A winch is an awesome mod. It allows you to try stupid ˟˟˟˟˟ that would normally result in hours of digging out, without worry. I love mine.

 

i think that the stated weight on winches is how much dragging weight, as in no wheels or anything, so it could drag 9000k #'s but rolling would be much higher, isnt it?

wade

 

keep in mind...you also have to calculate if there is an incline..what kind of area your in...such as..if you are stuck in mud..or over a log or something else.....all of those are factors

personally, i run the warn xd 9000 winch. its a life saver. its a lot of money..and you may not use it all the time..but its worth the security. its saved my rig from flipping head over heels down hill.

 

I was under the impression that the stated weight was how much it could lift straight up (if it were bolted to a crane). As I stated before, It 'dragged' my 4runner (4,500 lbs) with 10ft 4X4's under the front and rear axle (plowing dirt), as well as a dodge pickup (7,000 lbs) at the same time. You do the math. I assure you, it will move a hell of a lot more than 9000 lbs.

 

perhaps, but id say not to routinely try to pull more than what the "label " says. if you think you are pulling a heavy load...use a snatch block. they work wonders.

 

Most winches will "stall" when they hit the rated pull. When they stall, pull out your snatch block and get back to work Keep in mind that a 4,000 pound truck attached to a 7,000 pound truck does not equal 11,000 on the winch, unless both are hanging from it. Most of the weight of those rigs is still being supported by the tires, you are just overcoming the friction of having to drag the load, plus a percentage of the weight of the vehicles.

There is a formula on the web for figuring out the approximate load if you know the weight, angle of incline and approximate drag friction (a product of weight per tire, tire footprint and surface). I would go find it but doing the math makes my head hurt

In the same way that you can push a two-ton car around pretty easily, the winch only sees a small portion of the weight of the vehicle and does surprisingly little work in a near level pull, even with the wheels locked. Add mud or other means of impeding forward travel (blocks) and that load goes up, but most of the weight is still sitting on the tires. The exception is in a near verticle situation, where the weight is literally hanging off the winch. Then the numbers go up in a hurry. The same applies if you bury it DEEP in the mud. If all you see is the roof of the rig sticking out of the mud, you need to move the rig, move a bunch of mud in the way and overcome the suction that the mud has on the vehicle.

 

General rule of thumb is 1.5 times the weight of your rig- so if your Runna is at 4500 LBS, an 8000 LB rated winch should be sufficient.

If you think your gonna be moving the winch, check out the type that fits into a class III reciever hitch- most companies make'm. The big advantage to this type of winch is being able to pull from the front or rear.

 

here's a site on winches
http://www.off-road.com/4x4web/faqs/winches.html

pirate has a HUGE write up on recovery, everything you need to know here.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...ery/index.html

 

Lot's of good stuff there.

 

Have you fellers seen the March 2004 issue of Four Wheeler, on pages 62-68, it gives some "beyond winching basics" pointers, including some general calculations on how much force it will take to pull a vehicle out of some situations and some rigging pointers

Chris

 

I read that article it was very imformative,but like Rob said reading all those formulas/calculations gave me a headache.

 

whoah there.....an 8000lb winch is not rated for 8000lbs of overhead lifting. it may lift it, but its definitely not safe. if the winch is truly maxed out at 8000 lbs then its overhead lifting rating would only be around 4000. since the winch is rated at 8000lbs horizontal, its max is most likely around 10k or so

 

Winches are rated by how much force they can exert with the cable on the FIRST turn of the drum. An 8,000 lb winch (from a reputable company) can therefore lift 8,000 lbs minimum, as long as the cable is on the first wrap around the drum. The rated pull decreases with more turns of cable on the drum. As more turns of cable are wrapped on the drum the distance from the centerline of the cable to the centerline of the drum increases. This increases the torque the motor must exert to move a given load. Since the available motor torque is fixed, the amount of load the winch can pull decreases. Effectively this means that a winch can pull a heavier object if it is further away from your truck.

Now, one other bit of safety warning: An 8,000 lb winch should be able to lift a minimum of 8,000 lbs. However, there may be no factor of safety. By comparison, an 8,000 lb crane is designed with a safety factor, sometimes of 3 or more. This means it was designed to lift 24,000 lbs, but is only rated at 8,000 lbs. This is to protect the end user against injury due to any manufacturing defects, design errors, or imperfect loading. An 8,000 lb winch is not intended for lifting, so it is not designed and tested as completely as a crane. This means DON'T PICK UP 8,000 LBS WITH A WINCH. It also means BE CAREFUL. Always assume a winch or winch cable is going to fail under load. Don't get around a cable under tension, and don't get behind a truck being winched up a hill.

Now, with that said, I've got a Warn M8000, and it pulls like an ox. I've used it to pull a fully loaded 26 ft. long moving van up a hill. At one point we had two snatch blocks going to direct the pull. During the extended winching the winch go so hot it would burn you if you touched the motor. I poured a bucket of muddy water on it and kept going. I have very little doubt that it could pull me out of anything I got stuck in, as long as a little common sense is applied.