Electric Winch. Are they necessary for overlanding/touring?

[LostWoods]

Lol I have both. A Jeep compass trailhawk for longer travels with minimal offroad or light trails ( and I beat on my vehicles like they owe me money) and a TJ unlimited on 37s, outboarded shocks, heaver axles, custom link suspension.... Each serve their purpose. It's hard to fit a car seat in the TJ ... The harness bar and roll cage get in the way, but the compass I can take it easy for a weekend with the family. I agree there is a large decide when it comes to vehicles but it is what it is. Theres a large gap when talking pure trail rigs too if you are a full size guy or a jeep guy or a rock bouncer. Everyone has a slightly different view on the world.

And that's exactly how I feel... different rigs, different capability, different purpose... it's all good and no hate or bad feelings toward anyone who does it differently. I just feel like these threads reliably devolve every time because the term is too inclusive of those differences to have meaningful conversation.

But anyway... that's my rant for today.

 

[MOAK]

It may sound extreme to use a winch for delivery of a calf but when you are alone without help I have seen this done with a come along. The method has saved many breach birth calves from sure death.

I was pulling lambs at 10 and strong enough by 12 to pull calves. I only remember having to use a come along once. Actually you do a lot of pushing and moving limbs into correct placement before the push/pull. Breach is a whole different animal.

 

[MOAK]

Dont get confused overlanding was born from offroading. Before this fad took hold we would be out on the trail and it gets late and we'd say oh I don't feel like driving 2 hrs home after wheeling so let's camp. To me thats still what it is.

You got that backwards. 4wheelin was born of overlanding . People have been traveling by land, on machines since the invention of the motorized vehicle. Short or long distance? It didn’t matter. But, somewhere on those overlanding trips, they had to do some “wheelin” to get from point a to b. Even here, in N America, people used pick up trucks, station wagons and power wagons for expeditions for research and a plethora of other reasons. They too had to do a bit of “wheelin” somewhere along the trip. The veterans of WWII helped to popularize “wheelin” primarily because they had discovered the Jeep and enjoyed wheelin. Ooops, sorry to go on and on, but it is a topic I enjoy. Maybe over a campfire?

 

[Kent R]

It was a simple question let's get back to the topic.
Electric Winch. Are they necessary for overlanding/touring?

 

[Lindenwood]

Dont get confused overlanding was born from offroading. Before this fad took hold we would be out on the trail and it gets late and we'd say oh I don't feel like driving 2 hrs home after wheeling so let's camp. To me thats still what it is.

Well, "Overlanding" started with people driving across hundreds or thousands of miles across the African and Australian continents. Those people were not out playing in the mud; rather, they very consciously avoided such technical challenges as best they could.

Americans co-opted the term to your description, but the ability or desire to deliberately tackle increasingly-tough obstacles with our vehicles is not even part of this websites definition.

 

[Lindenwood]

I can open a soup can with a rat tail file, but why would I, when can openers have been readily available and very reliable for a century.

Can-openers don't add four figure investments and 200+lb to your vehicle, either.

If a can-opener weighed 200lb and cost $1000+, I'd absolutely open cans with whatever other tools I had available.

Given a Hi-Lift + winching chains weighs half as much as a bumper and winch, can also lift and pull in all directions, and costs about 1/6 as much, I am comfortable no longer having the winch that I used to run on my 4Runner. I use my Hi-Lift about as often as your average member here uses a winch--i.e. probably once a year--but again, I didn't spend nearly as much as they did (or that I did on my previous winch setup).

 

[Billiebob]

Ok folks.... let's talk about Winches. Primarily for overlanding/touring.

Do you run one?

Is it needed? Or is it more an insurance policy.

Thoughts please....

Had one for 40 years.
It gets used plenty for yard and trail maintenance. I've not been stuck since I bought a Rubicon with lockers 15 years ago.
Lockers are a far better solution.

 

[Billiebob]

they very consciously avoided such technical challenges as best they could

and this ^^^^
overlanding is all about picking the path of least resistance, treading lightly, preserving the equipment

but if your mantra is "hold my beer and watch this" ....
you need a winch

 

[bgenlvtex]

Can-openers don't add four figure investments and 200+lb to your vehicle, either.

If a can-opener weighed 200lb and cost $1000+, I'd absolutely open cans with whatever other tools I had available.

Given a Hi-Lift + winching chains weighs half as much as a bumper and winch, can also lift and pull in all directions, and costs about 1/6 as much, I am comfortable no longer having the winch that I used to run on my 4Runner. I use my Hi-Lift about as often as your average member here uses a winch--i.e. probably once a year--but again, I didn't spend nearly as much as they did (or that I did on my previous winch setup).

I'm using a Smittybilt X20 12k with synthetic rope, it's a little over 60 pounds, and the winch plate is another 30, so less than half of your hyperbolic estimation, and I have $650 in the winch and plate, all in the factory bumper.

There is no need in exaggerating to make your point, I'm not going to agree with it anyway. The high lift jack which I (have used) and chains you speak of, if they are long enough to be of any value at all will weigh almost as much (if not equal or more) than the winch and plate.

Cost? It's a $50k truck, if $650 worth of winch is going to alter the game I have already screwed up.

So the question is is a winch necessary? Obviously that answer is no. Hell a vehicle isn't necessary to Overland. People were doing it before the wheel was invented, they just weren't doing it recreationally.

Since I'm doing it recreationally, and I share none of your concerns, I'll use a winch. It's really that simple.

People view "recovery as getting" unstuck", and then going back the way they came. I view it differently, recovery is about getting unstuck, but it's not necessarily about turning around, and the convenience, safety and low effort a winch affords enables that.

If I pull up to a bad spot that is 150' across and my vehicle is equipped with a winch and proper rigging, provided there is an accessible anchor it is a simple matter of casually wincing across it. Are you carrying 150' of chain? And if you are are you going to exert the effort to jack your way across it, or are you going to turn around?

I don't think anybody here is saying that a winch is necessary or a hi lift is necessary, because neither one is. What IS being said, is that there is such a broad spectrum of vehicle based adventure travel, under so many different circumstances, that the question itself is moot.

 

[MidOH]

Claiming fear of mechanical failure or required maintenance on a winch as a valid reason not to own a winch, which is mounted on something that requires routine maintenance to be reliable is disingenuous at best. Mechanical items require some minimum level of maintenance.

I've got 100' of rope and 100' extension and have used every usable bit of it. You'd die of exposure before you got that done with a high lift.

I can open a soup can with a rat tail file, but why would I, when can openers have been readily available and very reliable for a century.

Yeah well, in the salt belt I serviced my winch more than I got to use it. So I yeeted that turd on craigslist. It was a bit more than ''minimum level of maintenance''.

I don't recall ever winching more than 4 feet. 200' sounds more like operator error, than overlanding.

 

[M Rose]

Yeah well, in the salt belt I serviced my winch more than I got to use it. So I yeeted that turd on craigslist. It was a bit more than ''minimum level of maintenance''.

I don't recall ever winching more than 4 feet. 200' sounds more like operator error, than overlanding.

Depends on where you are... I’ve been in situations where needing to winch a mile or so through a snow drift in August was needed... as @bgenlvtex was implying, some times better to keep going forward than turn around. I had been on the trail 3 days, and to turn around meant 3 days back the way I came to go back to the place I was trying to reach a day further ahead.

 

[leeloo]

I think it depends. I like off roading because I can reach remote nice areas. It can be fun. But at some point, if the trail is too difficult I will try find my way around it. I am out there in my limited spare time. Do I want to spend it digging and winching ? For many this is fun. Me, I prefer to spend it camping with family, having a BBQ and some bears.
In an extreme situation, except maybe rivers, you can extract yourself with other tools, if you have the experience and don't lose your cool.
So, like all else you need to consider pros and cons.. like weight, you comfort level being on very difficult trails that might require it, you experience.. etc..
So far I did fine with no winch. I did many long trips across multiple countries. I can afford one, but I hate weight. Until I will plan a trip that will involve many river crossings ( something that I would like to avoid but sometime there is no other way in some parts of the world ) I don't think I will install one.
For example, for a trip in Iceland, if you really want to go deep, you absolutely need a snorkel and a winch ... But if you just do more of touring thing, and still have access to many beautiful places , you can do it in a campervan as well..

 

[Boostpowered]

To me this thread Seems like a good indicator of who really wheels and who don't. If your just into the camping aspect which I know alot are because of all the posts about tents and stoves and such vs the mechanical technical posts which turn into arguments. Just admit it instead of trying to defend a hi lift as a winch. They aren't called hi lift winches for a reason.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Ok folks.... let's talk about Winches. Primarily for overlanding/touring.

Do you run one?

Is it needed? Or is it more an insurance policy.

Thoughts please....

Hyperbole has become the exchange currency in this thread, so I'm going to quit doing business in it.

@Steve_ohhhhh the answer you seek is no.

 

[MidOH]

I ''wheel'' a DRZ400s or CRF450r. Overlanding is a Fullsize. It just doesn't get stuck often enough to need anything close to an electric winch anymore. I've had them in the past, but it's just not worth it anymore. Any decent ride can do the TAT without one. Tire claws, lockers, MT's, and a Hilift do fine.

Heck, we got Sprinter vans and Subaru's on the dunes now.

I don't get to look cool like a longhorn rancher with an 800# bumper though.

 

[LostWoods]

To me this thread Seems like a good indicator of who really wheels and who don't. If your just into the camping aspect which I know alot are because of all the posts about tents and stoves and such vs the mechanical technical posts which turn into arguments. Just admit it instead of trying to defend a hi lift as a winch. They aren't called hi lift winches for a reason.

Exactly. Like I said... overlanding is an overly broad term at this point so OP needs to come back in and provide some context or this thread is going to continue off the rails.

 

[Boostpowered]

Well, "Overlanding" started with people driving across hundreds or thousands of miles across the African and Australian continents. Those people were not out playing in the mud; rather, they very consciously avoided such technical challenges as best they could.

Americans co-opted the term to your description, but the ability or desire to deliberately tackle increasingly-tough obstacles with our vehicles is not even part of this websites definition.

Are you sure about that history because here in america we have the Butterfield overland mail route which was a mail route established in 1857. They used horse and buggy before cars and they called it overland, any idea why? Well probably because it wasn't over sea or air it was going over land. And there is a defunct semi ghost town 25 minutes or so east southeast of me that is named overland
But hey if africa or Australia had cars before then I'd love to hear that history.

 

[MidOH]

Overlanding over here started out with Buick LeSabers that could tow boats, and those giant Caprice Classis station wagons that were bigger than a Suburban. Absolutely terrible off road, but got the job done if you rebuilt the "posi" every year.

It was the boomers kids that realized that there was a better way with trucks and Toyota's. Nobody that I knew could afford a Land Rover, Jeep, nice truck, when I was a kid during the Carter administration. Actually having a capable vehicle to camp in, didn't happen for us until the late 80's early 90's. We had to carry our tents to the off road camp sites on our backs. Now those same camp sites are "4x4 only" campsites.

My first overlander lolz:

 

[Alanymarce]

re "I don't recall ever winching more than 4 feet. 200' sounds more like operator error, than overlanding."

I recall that many years ago I found 3 vehicles stuck in a river bed. The closest, which I pulled out first, was about 15 m away from the bank; the second was about 20 m, and the third (Land Rover) was in the middle of the river bed, about 30 m away, and (with an excess of connfidence) was seriously stuck. We winched it out with two winches at once. Getting any one of them out with a High Lift jack would have taken at least a day, a shovel or three, and one or more "deadman" anchors. Winching took about half an hour for all three...

 

[Lindenwood]

re "I don't recall ever winching more than 4 feet. 200' sounds more like operator error, than overlanding."

I recall that many years ago I found 3 vehicles stuck in a river bed. The closest, which I pulled out first, was about 15 m away from the bank; the second was about 20 m, and the third (Land Rover) was in the middle of the river bed, about 30 m away, and (with an excess of connfidence) was seriously stuck. We winched it out with two winches at once. Getting any one of them out with a High Lift jack would have taken at least a day, a shovel or three, and one or more "deadman" anchors. Winching took about half an hour for all three...

Anyone who accidentally gets stuck in the middle of a 200 ft-wide mud pit was not just "overlanding." :P