Winch for a Land Rover Defender - any advice??

[RightOn]

I'm looking for some advice on winches.

I recently bought a Land Rover Defender and plan on doing some off roading over the next few months. But i need to get a winch fittted to it. After doing a little research online it's pretty overwhelming the choices and varietys out there.

I need something reliable but hoping not to pay too much for it. The old conundrum.

My defender is a 2004 2.5l Diesel so it's going to need something pretty strong.

Has anyone looked into anything like this recently?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

RO

[Turn7]

Been away frrom the scene a good while now, but I had an X9 with synthetic rope on my D90. Worked well when needed, and nicer to handle than wire rope.

Is David Bowyer even still alive ?

[anonymous-user]

Why D'you "need" a winch? Have you got stranded/stuck to the extent that only a winch would've recovered you?
Unless the answer is yes, forget it. You simply don't need one.
And there is no cheap route to fitting a winch. As well as the winch itself you'll need to consider upgrading the electrics and beefing up the suspension on the front a bit.

[100SRV]

RightOn said:

I'm looking for some advice on winches.

I recently bought a Land Rover Defender and plan on doing some off roading over the next few months. But i need to get a winch fittted to it. After doing a little research online it's pretty overwhelming the choices and varietys out there.

I need something reliable but hoping not to pay too much for it. The old conundrum.

My defender is a 2004 2.5l Diesel so it's going to need something pretty strong.

Has anyone looked into anything like this recently?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

RO

You would be better off spending your money on some training and buying basic recovery equipment like a hi-lift jack, shovel and some ropes.

Walking the route is free and much easier than committing the vehicle, getting it stuck and needing recovery.

All the times I've got stuck have been due to not surveying the route first.

[Hainey]

OP, to answer the question you actually asked I bought a winch last year for my disco.

It is a cheap winchmax 13500lbs static pull job and you know what, its been fantastic. It gets used every second weekend and its been faultless.

I went for steel rooe as mud and grit killed a friends synth rope fairly quickly.

The winch was around 350 delivered. Hauling two daisy chained landies out the sticky mud that was up past the diffs and up the side of a bog; priceless.

[moleamol]

I'd say we'd need to know what it will be used for. If it's out in a group you'll probably not use it much if at all. Especially if others have one. Mine had a Warn 8274 on it when I bought it so I sometimes get 'roped in' (sorry) to winch things out. I've not had the 90 that long and never had to use it to winch myself out (famous last words) as if someone gets through in front of you they can usually drag you out just using a strop/rope.

If no-one has a winch or you're going it alone then I'd say you definitely need one. And also look into recovery techniques and things like snatch blocks to increase pulling power as they are a pulley. The one in the post above sounds good but I must admit I never looked into buying any, it was already on.

[Hainey]

Agree about needing one as a must if you go solo. Its saved me countless times.

Having a stuck landy 30 miles from home with no phone signal as the sun sets is no fun. At all.

[100SRV]

moleamol said:

I'd say we'd need to know what it will be used for. If it's out in a group you'll probably not use it much if at all. Especially if others have one. Mine had a Warn 8274 on it when I bought it so I sometimes get 'roped in' (sorry) to winch things out. I've not had the 90 that long and never had to use it to winch myself out (famous last words) as if someone gets through in front of you they can usually drag you out just using a strop/rope.

If no-one has a winch or you're going it alone then I'd say you definitely need one. And also look into recovery techniques and things like snatch blocks to increase pulling power as they are a pulley. The one in the post above sounds good but I must admit I never looked into buying any, it was already on.

I agree - probably the best bet is an 8000lb rated winch and use snatch-blocks if the vehicle is properly stuck.

Good advice here:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/

[RightOn]

Hainey said:

Agree about needing one as a must if you go solo. Its saved me countless times.

Having a stuck landy 30 miles from home with no phone signal as the sun sets is no fun. At all.

Agreed Hainey. I've been in a couple of hairy situations previously.
Thankfully I wasn't out on my own at the time.

Thanks for all the advice folks.

[g7jtk]

Who cares if you need one. It's if you want one that counts.
I would get as big as you want to spend as long as it's strong enough. In an ideal world it would be demountable and able to fit on either end. It's no good on the front if you need to pull from thee rear. 2" receiver tow bar at t each end with Anderson connectors for the power and wireless controller.

[KevinCamaroSS]

g7jtk said:

Who cares if you need one. It's if you want one that counts.
I would get as big as you want to spend as long as it's strong enough. In an ideal world it would be demountable and able to fit on either end. It's no good on the front if you need to pull from thee rear. 2" receiver tow bar at t each end with Anderson connectors for the power and wireless controller.

The military vehicles I used to drive had a rear-mounted winch and wire guides around the side of the chassis to route the cable to the front if you needed a front pull.

[Ayahuasca]

All this 'walk the route first to avoid getting stuck' stuff might work on a short section of a pay and play site, but if I am doing a long off road trip I want to drive it, not walk it.

I have a Warn 9500 winch on my Defender 110. Only used it in anger a few times, but each time it was the difference between getting home and not, mostly on steep slippery slopes. Would suggest dyneema rope, not steel cable, as safer and better. My steel cable snapped once, thank goodness no dramas, but it meant the winch was then unusable. Dyneema you can just knot back together again in an emergency.

Echo the advice given earlier about getting a hi-lift jack, and a shovel too.

Be aware that a winch, and a hi-lift jack can be lethal.

[moleamol]

Ayahuasca said:

Would suggest dyneema rope, not steel cable, as safer and better. My steel cable snapped once, thank goodness no dramas, but it meant the winch was then unusable. Dyneema you can just knot back together again in an emergency.

I've just had a look at these because mine is still steelbut a 3.15 ton hook doesn't seem enough. Am I missing something?

[Ayahuasca]

moleamol said:

Ayahuasca said:

Would suggest dyneema rope, not steel cable, as safer and better. My steel cable snapped once, thank goodness no dramas, but it meant the winch was then unusable. Dyneema you can just knot back together again in an emergency.

I've just had a look at these because mine is still steelbut a 3.15 ton hook doesn't seem enough. Am I missing something?

I don't use a hook anymore, just a shackle onto a tree protector. I mean to get some 'soft' dyneema shackles.