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I guess be cognizant of the limits of the gear your using. Just keep it at home and slide it in before you hit the trail. It will always be in great condition because its out of the elements. I wouldn't wait until your stuck to install it. Otherwise your stuck with a winch on a truck that just sits year after year in the elements. You can mount a receiver front and rear, left or right side, and on multiple vehicles so you have one winch for multiple vehicles.
I've been wheeling the buggy 3x a week for the past year. Hadn't wheeled the 80 on anything other than access roads until Sunday. Breezed thru the Double Sammy trail in about 30 minutes, every obstacle, with a friend following.
Approach angles are terrible with a receiver-mount winch, and greatly increase the chances of damaging the winch because it sticks out so much. A winch tucked into a sturdy bumper is well protected.
Yeah but your an avid offroader it sounds like. For someome who goes and hits a mild trail once or twice a year or goes hunting it can be a fine option. I say this because the hunting fj60 we have has a receiver winch on the front and I have found it to be great. The receiver also doubles as part of a snowplow mount in the winter. While the cruiser is covered in mag chloride and salt spray, the winch is sitting at home. The body of the cruiser took its toll from that, but its built for getting work done.
took a closer look at it again last night, and on my ARB bumper with winch mounted feet forward would just water and dirt to blow in while driving, and possibly just sitting. it would keep UV off the line. But here in VA we get lots of rain and humidity.
Hunting rigs are about 99% opposite of what most offroaders do....lol That random stuck on a fire access road is usually a straight pull, and not very stuck. We used to hunt with a stripped Subaru Brat, two of us could actually pick the back up when it got hung in the ruts. That and a come-along got us everywhere in northern WI.
Wheeling a buggy 3 times a week sounds like you may qualify as a avid offroader haha. Nice benefit of having a successful forum. Hunting in the rocky mountains is similar to doing a rough forest service road you would need 4wd for in the summer such as yankee hill in colorado. Except it's in the winter with varying depths of snow. Usually chains are needed. Same rig will do poison spider or fins and things every couple years(nothing crazy), and is used as a daily driver.
IMG_0725 by Adam Tolman, on Flickr
ComeUp Solo by Adam Tolman, on Flickr
ComeUp Solo by Adam Tolman, on Flickr
ComeUp Solo by Adam Tolman, on Flickr
IMG_6968 by Adam Tolman, on Flickr
First picture looks like the wall, 2018 Cruise Moab I ran the trail with you, we were the only ones to make it up unassistedI'm late to the party but I have been running a ComeUp Seal Gen2 9500rs (9500lb winch with synthetic line) for nearly 6 years on my 80. I would say my 80 is heavier than the average 80 (fully loaded close to 8300lbs) and my winch has never had a problem the few times I've used it for self recovery. I've used it much more to recover other vehicles. During one Cruise Moab event on a trail I was leading we had an obstacle that myself and one other rig were able to drive. Several others in the group struggled and couldn't make it so I positioned to winch them up. The rest of the group elected to just winch the obstacle. I winched 18 rigs consecutively with a straight line pull. I expected the winch to possibly overheat and to need to take a break partway through for the winch to cool down. Wasn't necessary. The winch didn't seem to mind one bit.
So from my experience the 9500 winch has been more than up to the task. Different brand winches of that size may perform differently.
Recently ComeUp asked if I would do some testing on their new SOLO winch prototype. I had the option of testing the 9500 or the 12000 and I chose the 12000 so I could compare it to the 9500 I've been using for the past 6 years. I've only used it a few times so far and it's working as expected but up to this point I haven't noticed any significant differences from my 9500 with the actual winching pulls. The SOLO does have some cool features though with a magnetic wireless remote that you can stick to the bumper or other metal surface if you need your hands during a recovery. It's also got an overheat warning, displays battery condition. The control box is able to be remote mounted if you desire as well.
Bottom line for me is if you can afford the larger winch go ahead and get it (I've never heard of anyone regretting getting a larger winch unless it was a small comp rig). But if the budget is tight and you'd like to hang onto some cash for other things then my experience has shown that a quality brand 9500lb winch is adequate on an 80. However, I would recommend some kind of pulley block and tree strap etc to be able to set up double line pulls to increase the pulling power if necessary.
Winching with my 9500
ComeUp Solo 12.5
Do the math.. Frame deep in mud can double the extraction weight. Here is an example from a recovery calculation on a piece of farm equipment. Rock crawling recovery is very different from mud recovery.
The ComeUp was my first choice, but from everything I read, they are ALL a foot forward only design...looks like you are mounted foot down with no problems????I'm late to the party but I have been running a ComeUp Seal Gen2 9500rs (9500lb winch with synthetic line) for nearly 6 years on my 80. I would say my 80 is heavier than the average 80 (fully loaded close to 8300lbs) and my winch has never had a problem the few times I've used it for self recovery. I've used it much more to recover other vehicles. During one Cruise Moab event on a trail I was leading we had an obstacle that myself and one other rig were able to drive. Several others in the group struggled and couldn't make it so I positioned to winch them up. The rest of the group elected to just winch the obstacle. I winched 18 rigs consecutively with a straight line pull. I expected the winch to possibly overheat and to need to take a break partway through for the winch to cool down. Wasn't necessary. The winch didn't seem to mind one bit.
So from my experience the 9500 winch has been more than up to the task. Different brand winches of that size may perform differently.
Recently ComeUp asked if I would do some testing on their new SOLO winch prototype. I had the option of testing the 9500 or the 12000 and I chose the 12000 so I could compare it to the 9500 I've been using for the past 6 years. I've only used it a few times so far and it's working as expected but up to this point I haven't noticed any significant differences from my 9500 with the actual winching pulls. The SOLO does have some cool features though with a magnetic wireless remote that you can stick to the bumper or other metal surface if you need your hands during a recovery. It's also got an overheat warning, displays battery condition. The control box is able to be remote mounted if you desire as well.
Bottom line for me is if you can afford the larger winch go ahead and get it (I've never heard of anyone regretting getting a larger winch unless it was a small comp rig). But if the budget is tight and you'd like to hang onto some cash for other things then my experience has shown that a quality brand 9500lb winch is adequate on an 80. However, I would recommend some kind of pulley block and tree strap etc to be able to set up double line pulls to increase the pulling power if necessary.
Winching with my 9500
ComeUp Solo 12.5
It might have been that day, I'm not sure. I've led that trail so many times they all kinda blur together. But I remember when you and I were the only ones to drive it. Good times.
Not sure where you head that. They are all feet down design, but the motor/clutch can be rotated on most models to make them feet forward. They often recommend feet forward so that the forces on the mounting bolts is in line with the bolts rather than putting them in shear.
