Ive been thinking of a winch

[DJRockit69]

Hey Yall
Ive been thinking about buying a winch for my 96 4 dr ex now Ive done the v6 to v8 swap on it and put a 4406 in plus a 2 inch lift. Now I was wondering what the best lb rating I should get ex 10,000lb abd so on and the best way to mount it on my Ex is?? What do you yall think?

 

[colintrax]

Depends on your wants/needs/budget. My budget was next to nothing, and I wanted front and rear winches. So I installed a front hitch, and bought a HF 12K winch with a hitch mount. I can mount it front or rear, take it off when I don't need it, use the hitches for other stuff, and I saved alot of money. However side pulls aren't an option (there is something out there for side pulls with a hitch mount), it doesn't look cool, and honestly it's a royal PITA to hook the hitch up in the mud. It's ~100 lbs, that's a lot of weight to carry in deep mud, or on a steep incline.

 

[colintrax]

Also, the general rule is 1.5 to 2X the vehicle weight. So 9,000lb at a minimum.

 

[2TimingTom]

General rule of thumb is 2x the weight of the vehicle being pulled. And that weight includes the loaded weight.

I don't quite live up to that. I'm right around 5,000 lbs unloaded with me driving (weight scale at recycle yard). Loaded down for a trip I might be around 5,500 (guessing).

So my 9,500 lb winch is 1.72 times the vehicle weight. But I have a solid front axle, plate steel bumpers, sliders and storage drawers. 9,500 might be closer to 2x regular Explorers.

I have a Superwinch Tigershark 9.5. It's mounted behind the bumper between the frame rails.

I've used it 3 times. Once on a Jeep and twice to get myself out of the snow.

 

[2TimingTom]

I originally thought I wanted the option of front and rear winches with a winch like Colin described. My front bumper has a receiver just for that reason. But then I decided that carrying around ~100 lbs of winch and receiver tray inside wasn't an option. And installing it while buried in whatever might not be an option. Yes it could always be installed on the front and bounce around, but it takes away from front clearance.

 

[2TimingTom]

And the "not beng able to handle a side pull" is fine if you always get stuck with a tree or rig in front of you. I had to do a decent side pull in the snow the other day.

 

[DJRockit69]

ok I was thinking of a 10000lb one I can get off of a buddy for dirt cheap and it works well. I may have to put it hold tho I notice that I have a lifter tick developing on my drivers side head not surprising considering I have 220K on the engine but Im planning on rebuilding it this summer and i figured that would be the best time mount the winch when the engine isnt in my explorer. The over all plan for this summer is rebuilding the engine flat top pistions a rv towing cam a 3 inch body lift to go with my tt and Ive drawn up a plan for a custom roof rack that can hold two 31 inch tires and 44 gallons of extra gas and rebuilding my current brush guard again consider I hit a deer last fall doing 75 and bent it. the good news is that all it did was bend the guard and cracked the corner light. Ive also been throwing around the idea of a sas but Im cluesless on how to do it and what I would need

 

[2TimingTom]

A 3" body lift on 31s will look goofy. I had a 2" body lift on 30s for awhile.

And you don't need the engine out to mount the winch. You'll want it to sit in front of the AC condenser.

 

[DJRockit69]

I know they will look goofy but they are all I have right now. After all this is said and done I will have a lot of money into it by the end of the year bigger tires are low on the list. this is off topic but I just brought my 400 sbc to the machine shop on friday to get built its going in my 84 camaro So I have plenty of projects to keep me busy this summer luckily I have 3 cars lol

 

[rabbit91]

Loaded I push 6,000lbs often, wanted a 10k winch but got a 8500 for cheap. Going to smart with my pulls, use a snatch block.