Winches, Dual Winches, & Associated Wiring
In my opinion, a winch is the next best offroad upgrade after lockers. It’s comforting knowing you can get yourself (or someone else) unstuck. And even better than a winch is two winches.
Why a winch matters (and why two is better)
I run one in the front and one in the rear of my 4Runner and I use them both equally. Bigger is better when it comes to winches because it doesn’t have to work as hard to get you out.
- Front in my 4runner: 8k warn winch
- Rear in my 4runner: 12k badlands winch
Synthetic rope vs cable
Synthetic rope is the common line to use today, but it wasn’t always so. It used to be cable, which is prone to snapping and can have lethal consequences. Winch rope on the other hand generally falls flat when it snaps and doesn’t recoil like cable does.
If you are going to use cable, be sure to put a towel or jacket over the middle of the line when pulling. This will disrupt the recoil energy when it snaps and can possibly save a life.
Whichever line you choose to use, dont forget to use a treesaver if connecting to a tree or a soft shackle to connect to a vehicle!!
Training & techniques
If you have never used a winch before, it would benefit you to take a winching recovery and techniques class or course. It will show how to winch at angles and how to utilize a snatch block to double your pulling power. It will also cover where to position yourself to be safely out of the danger zone in the event of line failure, among other topics.
Controllers: corded, in-cab, and wireless
Most winches come with a corded hand controller that plugs into the winch to operate it. Personally I’ve never liked these for various reasons. Then I read about wiring them up with controls in the cab. This made sense to me since I’m usually in the cab when winching anyway, and I don’t have to locate the controller.
So I wired up in-cab controls for both winches and ran with that for years. Worked fine. Then I learned about wireless winch controllers. Universal ones can be found on Amazon for cheap and are pretty basic to install. I installed one for each winch and keep the remotes in my glove box. These are nice because I can operate the winch from anywhere within about 100+ feet from my wheeler.
Wiring notes (size, heat, and protection)
Be sure and wire your winch with adequate size wire to prevent overheating and a possible fire hazard. It is also recommended to add a circuit breaker or fuse inline in case of overload, etc.
I will admit that most people I’ve seen don’t bother, and I’m guilty of this myself. I just have large wires run directly to the battery. I’ve only had one incident in all my years where a breaker/fuse would have been helpful.