My truck will never, ever, ever weigh 6,000 lbs, let alone 9,000. But the winch is something I'm never going to upgrade if I can help it. I've definitely decided on Warn unless someone gives me a REALLY good reason to go with something else. So which winch should I get, the biggest one I can (so I can winch out others perhaps?) or the one that makes the most sense for self-recovery (ie the smaller one)

 

thats a great question and was thinking the same, it probably just personal preference, go big if u expect to be pulling suburbans out of stuff, if not just take into consideration not only the weight of your truck but the amount of force required to pull you out of a goopy mess -the stuff can act like a suction cup and not want to let you out

 

I dont know much bout winchs but i do know much about science. And i do know that there is defiantly reistance when pulling yourself out. say your truck weighs 3500lbs. try pulling it thru mud. there suddenly is so much more resistance that 6k isnt enough. another situation. you fall into a ditch and need to pull yourself out. your 4000lb truck suddenly is going to need somewhere around 7000lbs of tugging force to get you out

id definatly go with the 9k

 

Or.. Save money, buy a 6000lb and use a snatch block. I had a 6000 on my truck for 10 years and it was fine.

 

i would always get at least an 8000 for any truck...

 

The rule of thumb goes something like 2.5 times the weight of the truck is the winch you should get.

You only get 6,000 of pull on the very first wrap of wire on the drum. The second wrap decreases and the third wrap even more.

 

Its at least 1.5 times the weight of the truck

 

Well after reading all this, I guess it will come down to price, I'm gonna figure out how much money I can put towards the winch and go from there (ie biggest winch possible)

Now that we are talking about 8000 lbs of pulling, though, I am worried about how I would attach it to the truck...I was thinking of recievers on each end of the truck so I could move it around depending on where it is needed, but with so much force involved, even a class III hitch isn't good for 9k lbs, right??? I don't want to be ripping parts off left and right here...