Hey does anyone know of any good winch brands? I heard hydraulic were better than electric, for quite a few reasons any truth to that? Also, is there anywhere on our trucks we could mount it?

 

There are several good ones out there. Most aftermarket ones I have seen are electric. Good brands are Ramsey, Superwinch, Warn, Mile Marker (the ones the military uses) and others. Just make sure you get one that can pull the entire weight of the vehicle and the amount of weight to get it unstuck.

As far as mounting, you can get a mount for the front of the truck that attatches to the frame and is integral to a brush bar. You can also find some you mount into the rear reciever. There is also one that runs off a chainsaw motor and you attach it to a stationary object with a chain and then attach whatever you want to pull with the other end, however this is light duty occasional sort of work for that one.

Just google and you will see all sorts of variations.

 

People love hydraulic, but if your motor stops running you have no winch. With electric, you'll need two batteris and can winch without the motor running. I have always had electric Warn winches and never had a problem that I didn't cause myself. I think Hydraulics are more durable in the long run but I see more electrics.

Most off-road questions should be referred to pirate4x4.com and go to the bulletin. That website is the holy grail for serious off roaders.

 

How would I hook up a second battery? Would I just put it there, and run the winch to it? Or could I run two off my alternator..or somethin?

 

Two battery's aren't definitely necessary. It just allows you to run your winch longer in the worst case scenario that your motor dies. Hooking up two together makes one bigger 12v battery when hooked up in series. If your motor is running you're all set. I have never been in the situation when I had to rely on just battery power.

There was a really good article within that last year or two in either Peteerson's four wheeler or four wheeler magazine. Mabey you could do a search on there websites. The best resource would be a search of pirate4x4.

 

Go with an electric one. Honetly unless you are going seriously hardcore you will not need an extra battery, although I would recomend something like an Optima deep cycle battery. If your truck is running the winch will be runnning off of your alternator, and if if ti not running then you should start it... unless of course you are upside down in a river, and will probably have bigger issues to deal with than a dead battery once you pull your truck out (read: Hydrolock). For light duty you can get a receiver mounted winch that you can hook to a fron or rear mount receiver. Just remember receivers max out at 3500 or 5000 lbs on a light duty truck, so take that into account and consider ****** blocks... if you go that route make sure you have something to hook back to that is not connected to your receiver or receiver mount (the bumper support on our trucks). In any case if you are offroading seriously enough to need a winch definatelu get some front and rear tow hooks that mount directly to your bumper.

 

Hooking two 12V batteries in series will give you 24V, parallel gives you 12V. The second battery is a wise idea as your alternator will not keep up with the winch current draw. Ever notice how the heater blower speed changes when stopped at a stoplight? Its because the alternator does not put out much current at idle speed.

 

My bad on series vs. parralel

I wouldn't rely on a ****** block. You lose half of your cable length if you do. Been in that situation before. Need ten more feet, winch won't pull the truck unless you use the ****** block. Your winch point isn't always close or convenient. The best advice would be to buy the biggest winch you can afford.

 

True that on the length thing... of course with ****** blocks you halve the strain on your winch, cable and mounting point...

 

How would that work with the truck still running?... Wont the computer shut it off? Its like boosting a car with your car on, is it not? Its such a huge power draw that it will fry your computer or whatever?