Rear winch power line routing (1 Viewer)

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I run a rear winch on my 80 (it actually just saved my butt on a solo camping/wheeling trip this past weekend). I ran 2/0 from a single front battery, but definitely overkill. Put something like this right off the battery connection so you don't have a live, large gauge wire running under the truck during normal circumstances.

Amazon product ASIN B00445KFZ2
Rear winch in action. I was 2+ hours from help too. Great if you do a lot of solo trips.

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For a moment I thought that was your front axle and was wondering how freeing yourself from the first photo would matter if you only had 3 wheels.

Then I realized after zooming in you buried your spare as a winching point. Very nice
 
Would definitely need heavy gauge wire to run that distance. Perhaps terminated to a monster Anderson plug.

Perhaps another opportunity... It's not unheard of to pull a winch line underneath and back. It'll work so long as there's routing that would avoid working over sharp corners. This would reduce pull power to a degree depending on the angles.

I've toyed with the idea to have another fairlead port on my winch that would exit downwards, allowing for cleaner routing and less drag. Perhaps a downward facing roller fairlead even.

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That is a nice looking winch install. Would you be kind enough to post a photo from the front, level with the fairlead? I thought I saw a pic of your rig with the fairlead just attached to the front of the bumper before, and I was wondering how you accessed the line and the release lever. Did you cut a window there for better winch access? It looks very clean and practical. Well done.
 
I ran 2/0 battery cable from LH front fender from switch box, so I have no power to either winch until I select. It goes just
along trans tunnel held up with P clips and back to LH rear corner. Contactor in waterproof box with waterproof plugs.
No live wires to the rear unless selected. Contactor never sees a day of dirt or abuse. 2/0 guarantees no power loss over
14' run to rear. I have wireless remote for the Runva 11500 winch out back. Hope this helps give you an idea. My winch
utilizes trailer hitch as support. BTW 60 series, not that it matters.
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That is a nice looking winch install. Would you be kind enough to post a photo from the front, level with the fairlead? I thought I saw a pic of your rig with the fairlead just attached to the front of the bumper before, and I was wondering how you accessed the line and the release lever. Did you cut a window there for better winch access? It looks very clean and practical. Well done.

I think you'll find all the details you're looking for here. Feel free to ask there and I can try to answer.

 
Great find. 2AWG seems a bit on the light-duty side, but I guess for bursts of power once a year or what not it would be adequate.
With the short duration intermittent use, its definitely not a heat problem, hell the winch manufactures supply undersized cables fro what can be 250 amps continuous and 450 amp start up spikes. However voltage drop on undersized cables on such a long run is always an issue.

I ran power to the back to pull into my car trailer winch, went with 1/0 as a compromise between needs and weight. I calculate an additional VD of 3/4 volt on a 250 Amp draw, it is through 2/0 at 35 ft length round trip to starter battery. To put that into perspective my Warn 12S Platinum with 12 ft of factory 2 AWG cable (pos plus negative has a 1 volt drop. I guess the winches are just designed to run at 11 or 12 volts.
 
Bloggart, before doing anything please contact overland experts in NH, and take the 101 and winch recovery classes..(the rest are great as well)

It will give you hands on answers to your questions from experts. Before you start buying anything.
Always good to add to education, but not sure that a class changes the physics of a winches power consumption and voltage drop.
 
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It does not....
Education is better than throwing parts against the wall IMHO.... which is what the rear winch is...

I would seriously question the need for it in 99% of "stuck" situations.
There are better options almost all the time, which is why I council hands on eduction from professionals rather than the internet
 
It does not....
Education is better than throwing parts against the wall IMHO.... which is what the rear winch is...

I would seriously question the need for it in 99% of "stuck" situations.
There are better options almost all the time, which is why I council hands on eduction from professionals rather than the internet

Care to recommend a better extraction method for the situation in post #8?

I agree rear winches are seldom used, but on solo trips in remote and rural settings, they can make the difference between a quick self recovery, or an extended walk out for help.
 
More of a what caused that situation question from me... from what I can see (which is not much really..)..... was it avoidable?
But I was not there nor know the circumstances..

So good you got out unassisted.

looks like you got it handled using the spare tire as an anchor which looks to be the only option in the moment, and works fine. I use a pull-pal or a deadman anchor, working on the same concept.

That and a Hi-lift and length of transport chain also works, it is slower of course... and sucks while you are doing it but does work and does not require any extra gear if you already carry a hi-lift.

Normally you are not in a hurry if you are alone, or shouldn't be anyway.,

From a cost, weight, complexity standpoint I still don't see the value in a rear winch for anything under the GVM of say a Unimog.. then I would absolutely have one.
 
More of a what caused that situation question from me... from what I can see (which is not much really..)..... was it avoidable?
But I was not there nor know the circumstances..

So good you got out unassisted.

looks like you got it handled using the spare tire as an anchor which looks to be the only option in the moment, and works fine. I use a pull-pal or a deadman anchor, working on the same concept.

That and a Hi-lift and length of transport chain also works, it is slower of course... and sucks while you are doing it but does work and does not require any extra gear if you already carry a hi-lift.

Normally you are not in a hurry if you are alone, or shouldn't be anyway.,

From a cost, weight, complexity standpoint I still don't see the value in a rear winch for anything under the GVM of say a Unimog.. then I would absolutely have one.

Avoidable is a bit subjective. It was eventually with a 1 hour detour. The wash looked firm and I even dug 6-8" into the dirt before attempting to cross. Problem was the top 1' or so was fairly dry, but the 2-3' below that was not.

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What the OP has in mind (a removable winch mounted to a receiver hitch) is a pretty good compromise in that you can set one up at under 100# and around $400. HF Badlands 9000 with synthetic line weighs in at 65#, then figure another 25# for the mount/hitch. And it does not permanently take up space under your truck. If you typically wheel with others, then it will likely never be used. But I have used mine on more than once occasion on solo trips (the above example was last weekend).
 
Yeah… he is in the NE.. so mud, is going to be a big issue… carrying the removable winch mounted will definitely serve as a plow on the back.. and usually when your that stuck just mounting it is a challenge plus you have to store it somewhere secure and tied down..

Just my thoughts - not right or wrong..

On your recovery did you try hi-lifting the passenger side wheel with a tree strap around the wheel? Possibly could have got the front end up enough.. and if there was a second person you could drive off the jack.
It may have also put enough pressure on the rears for some traction.. as unloaded they were probably just spinning.
Interesting situation for sure.
 
Care to recommend a better extraction method for the situation in post #8?

I agree rear winches are seldom used, but on solo trips in remote and rural settings, they can make the difference between a quick self recovery, or an extended walk out for help.
Exhaust jack could have worked. Farm jack may have helped. I'm not sure either are "better" though, just different. Work with what you've got!
 
Just to add some more context since this discussion has expanded beyond the original question, I got a lot of learnings after getting stuck in the mud that changed how I felt about many recovery strategies that I had previously derived solely from reading.

1) Mud gets on everything really fast. I was on a work trip, but it could just as well have been a recreational trip, and I learned that even a small glop of mud could ruin clothes, gear, your schedule, and create a secondary cleaning task that is hard to handle in the middle of the wilderness. Avoiding the mud really slows down all recovery activities, from where you step to what you touch to finding little baggies and sheets of plastic for things to wiping down your door handles, etc, etc, etc. Once things are set up, it's important that stuff works fast, because a lot of time may have already gone by, and a lot of energy already expended, and more time and energy will be needed to put things away in a clean and secure manner to allow the trip to go on productively or pleasantly.

2) Accessing recovery gear and the vehicle itself can get complicated. For example, I would not have easily been able to remove my spare tire from under the vehicle based on how I was stuck. That would have been a big and likely very messy task in itself.

3) Hi-Lift would have been useless to raise the vehicle in the mud I was in without a large platform to support it. But inflatable jack did work. Exhaust method of inflation too slow. I tried that first, and the sun would have gone down below the horizon long before inflation. Onboard air did work, but even that took over 20 minutes, because the lack of hard ground required it to be inflated to its maximum.

4) The soft shackles got cluttered with mud and added to the cleaning. The metal one was much quicker and more pleasant to use.

5) All gear stored in textile bags created a secondary cleaning nightmare upon returning home.

Based on all these learnings and my own personal needs and priorities, I've decided that for solo trips into heavy mud areas, having a rear winch either preconnected to the hitch-mount or stored on my rear bumper somewhere, along with a Pull-pal-type device also stored externally on the vehicle, is something that will help me best on the rare future occasions, if any, that I get stuck in a similar away and need to go out backwards. I'm also relocating my inflatable jack to the rear bumper or maybe a rooftop hardcase if possible. I'm keeping some soft shackles as lightweight extras, but my quick-grab core recovery kit will consist of metal items that can be instantly wiped down. I will also have a couple vinyl tarps that can be thrown down on the ground, wet wipes that can be accessed without dirtying a bunch of other items in the way of the wipes, plastic bags for sullied textile items, etc, etc.

Back to the winch power line, I love both the routing ideas offered here and the idea of a cable that can be connected on demand. Trying to decide which approach would be best in my case.
 
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