Choosing A Winch For Your Truck

If you're looking for a versatile piece of gear to add to your truck, there are few options that will be as useful as a winch. Winches offer the ability to pull both your own vehicle and other vehicles out of tricky situations, making them a great option to add some extra versatility to your truck. Although commonly associated with off-roaders, winches are also an excellent piece of equipment to add to any work truck which may be forced to occasionally spend time on unpaved surfaces.

Electric Winches vs. Hydraulic Winches

Winches come in two general flavors: electric and hydraulic.

As you might expect, electric winches hook into your truck's electrical system. They are powered directly from your vehicle's battery, so ensuring that your battery has sufficient capacity to run the winch is the first step in choosing the right electric for your vehicle. Winches of this type are relatively easy to install and connect, which is one of their primary advantages. They can also be used with the vehicle turned off, although this is rarely recommended since they can potentially drain the battery very quickly.

A hydraulic winch is powered by your vehicle's hydraulic power steering system. Hydraulic winches are usually more powerful and more durable than electric winches, but they require more work to install and are less common. Hydraulic winches cannot drain your battery, but they also cannot be operated if the vehicle is off or if it can't be started.

Winch Capacity

Aside from selecting the power method, choosing a winch by capacity is important as well. If you only plan to use the winch to get your own vehicle out of tough situations, it can be tempting to choose one that has roughly enough capacity to haul your vehicle's weight. Instead of using curb weight, however, you should be looking at your vehicle's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). This value is the maximum weight of your vehicle, including occupants, fuel, cargo, etc. Your winch capacity should be a multiple of this value, with the commonly recommended figure being 1.5 times your GVWR. Why so much? There are several reasons:

• Your winch will be up to 40% less powerful if used with several layers of cable still spooled up
• Anything other than a perfectly straight pull will reduce your winch's pulling capacity
• If you are stuck in mud, the force of the mud holding your vehicle in place can add significantly to the weight that the winch "feels" as it pulls

In other words, you cannot expect your winch to pull at its full capacity under all circumstances and, even when used perfectly, the apparent weight of your vehicle may be greater than your GVWR.

Making the Right Choice

Remember that the purpose of your winch is to help you get through emergency situations safely and efficiently. When choosing a winch, it is always a good idea to choose one with the greatest capacity availability. While selecting a winch that is too small can leave you stranded, you will rarely regret choosing a winch that has more power than you need.

So, if you're looking for new truck equipment and parts, consider buying a winch. You won't regret it!