I want to save up for a hydraulic winch. The way I see it, if I get stalled out, an electric winch won't hold out long enough to save me, with 37" tires and my driving style. I have a high output power steering pump for my hydraulic assist system. That "should" put out enough for a winch. But, I also run an NV4500 transmission, which has two pto ports. Hence my question, what's the difference between a pto and a power steering fed winch, besides with a pto, once I press the clutch, the pto will quit?

 

Hydraulic winch, or PTO winch won't help you if you stall either...... neither do anything when the engine ain't runnin'...... Go for the electric winch, and install a second battery.

 

You cloud use a separate hydraulic unit but there are a lot of variables on the amp draw/load, battery/s amp hours, flow/pressure needs and the length of use. Not impossible but you need to do some homework. An electric winch and two batteries would be the easiest. Both will drain batteries.

 

And add a high-amp alternator, just for added insurance.

 

If my engine stalls, I'm screwed either way. The way I figure is, with an electric winch, they have a relatively short duty cycle. And, they draw a LOT of power. Yes, I could install another battery, and I may still do this, but the main purpose I built this rig with is to be self-sufficient. BUT, if she stalls out, am I not finished, even with dual batteries?

 

A good battery and a dead engine will still get you probably out of a tight spot. 2 good batteries and it WILL.

Deep cycle battery on the 2nd battery.

 

I also agree on adding a second battery and going with,me electric winch. But your best route is run the batteries in parallel. To do it correctly, both batteries should be the same style. So I would get 2 deep cycle agm batteries.

 

Yes, parallel but with an isolator.

 

I'm not sure I understand what you don't like about an electric winch. And to say you are sunk if your stalled with either a an elec or hyd winch I really don't get. Yes with the hyd you are because your engine isn't running. But with the elec winch at least you can get moving. Now a few things you have got to figure out first. You need to get a winch that is a minimum of 1 1/2 times the GVW of your truck. So if we say your truck is 8,000lbs then you need a 12,000lb winch or bigger. I'd go with a 15,000lb or the 17,500lb if it was me. Yes under a full load a elec winch can pull 500-600 amps but it isn't for a long period.
You will want to get a controller kit like this one from Kodiak which is like the one I have in my Jeep. Next is you have to run QUALITY batteries. You want Odyssey or Optima batteries. They ain't cheep but if you just use some battery from WalMart you'll be buying new ones every year.
You say you have a high output power steering pump on the truck already. Is it from one of the companies like PSC or other businesses that deal in this type of stuff? That is what you will need for hyd winch to work. And a word of caution about hyd winces is while winching you steering will be HARD to turn.

Last but not least is a winch bumper. Again you can't cheap out here either. If you do you'll be stuck worse than you were before. It needs to have a heavy winch mount. It needs to be 3/8's thick or thicker.
I'm a avid JEEPER and eat, breath, sleep and just plan Jeep every day I can. I run a dual battery system on my Jeep and I like it. I run dual yellow top Optima batteries.
If it was me I would go with a electrical system over hydraulic just because I can still use it if my engine dies.