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Recovery Winch

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Booting up
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Sep 1, 2017
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8
Anybody into off-roading here? I was told to get a recovery winch for my 2015 Ford F-150 XLT. I have read good reviews on Smittybilt Winch. Should I go for it? or should I consider another brand? Any other suggestions?
 

BGreen

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Dec 5, 2016
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Paging @nay

Depends how much you're going to use it and whether you travel alone or with other vehicles. To me, a winch is something that if you need it, things have already gone poorly, so it's better to buy a top end product. For a ful size truck, you're probably looking at a 12,000 lb. winch, maybe 10,000 lb. if you travel light and don't mind rigging a double pull. Warn and Superwinch are generally safe choices. Perhaps Smittybuilt quality has improved, I don't know. A lot of winches come out of China, but QC is not equal on all.
 

mikel

Making fresh tracks
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Jul 3, 2016
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I am a huge Warn fan. All I have ever used so I'm biased. I have a 9.5ti. I decided remove the cable and go with synthetic rope to keep the weight down on the front end and safety. Superwinch is another safe bet. I have friends that have never had issues with theirs. For all the others? Ramsey? Then there is the electric vs hydro. The whole China thing? Go to the thread on here about skis and made in China. Same thing applies to winches, including Warn, only on some 4x4 sites it can get much more "passionate".

My suggestion would be to read the reviews related to warranty issues. Who stands by their product? Of course based on my biased opinion I would then say get a Warn ogsmile

Rule of thumb for sizing: gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and multiply it by 1.5

Winch safety: I recommend working with your winch before actually needing to use it. Understand all of the safety concerns. Consider getting a blanket for the wire.
 

nay

dirt heel pusher
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Dec 1, 2015
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I'm not a winch expert, but I'll offer some thoughts. The first is that off-roading alone is risky since any major mechanical issue would leave you stranded.

I don't know the F-150, but you'd need a winch bumper or at least winch plate to handle the frame load when pulling.

So I would find a group to go four wheeling with instead of buying a winch. That enables you to learn about your truck's limitations and how to do vehicle to vehicle extractions.

There's no doubt they are great to have and something like the Warn M12000 would be good for a full size, but I've wheeled for 20 years without a winch so if it were me I'd probably get my feet wet with a group before I shelled out a lot of money. If you truly love wheeling, you might find the F150 does better duty as a tow rig, and then your choices would shift on the built rig for wheeling.
 

KingGrump

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Nov 12, 2015
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Just wondering why. I purchased my tile wet saw at HF and it works great.

A lot of their stuff exhibits lots of build consistency. Not something I like to bet my life on.
 

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