Your truck is your best companion on and off the road and as such, it deserves all the top accessories that can help it be at its highest of standards. It’s what carries all your tools from point A to B, so risking to get stuck and lose a whole day of work due to this problem is not an option. That’s where a winch comes useful, helping you both get out of tricky situations and allowing you to improve your truck’s working capability.
Get out of any mud puddles in a second and lift, tow and pull anything you like easily and quickly. A winch can become your new best bud for your truck, allowing you to pull trees or lift any heavy objects. Whether you simply enjoy driving off-road and need it to avoid any rough situations or want it to improve your day to day work, a truck winch is the best addition for you.
How does a winch work?
If you’re interested in spending your hard earned money on this, you probably want to know what it’s all about. The way the winch works is divided within each component and the role they all play.
The cable on the winch will make it possible to pull your car out of any ditches and other tricky places and get back to the surface. The motor in an electric winch uses a magnet to get a charge out of the two poles of it repulsing each other, eventually using this force to even turn the winch. While the drum is where you can find all the wires wrapped around and where the cable winds back to when pulling objects.
The power that gets the winch working can either be AC (Alternating Current) or DC (Direct Current), with ATV Winches usually using the latter. The AC is limited in use and normally requires a wall outlet to get power while the DC uses batteries. Most trucks use DC as it gives the best-suited amount of power and allows you to easily hook up your winch to your truck’s battery.
Some winches also include gears, which allow for it to pull heavier loads and operate similarly to bike gears.
What is the best winch for your vehicle?
If you’ve made up your mind and are ready to invest on a truck winch, you have to start by considering all factors related to your truck. How big and strong your winch needs to be depends on what you intend to use it for and the dimensions of your vehicle. Most of all, you need one that can get you out of any difficult situations, as you got to be able to rely on it if things get rough.
A good formula to start choosing one is by selecting your favorite from the ones that are rated at least 1.5 times the truck operating weight rating.
Best Winches in 2019
If you want to go straight to the best in the business, then a Warn winch is one of the best options you got. You are ensured that what you buy is worth your money, providing you top quality winches you can trust for every journey. With a Warn winch accessory kit, you could go straight to the Sahara desert and come back home with no bumps. Those who live and breathe to drive Off-road will especially enjoy the Warn ZEON 12 winches, they are so robust and look so sleek that you won’t be disappointed.
Another leader in high-quality winches is Smittyblit, a more affordable option that still provides you excellent products. I the drive on locations that often encounter rain and extremely cold weather conditions, then the Smittybilt Gen2 winch that is waterproof is what’s going to keep you safe even under the worst storms.
How do you install a winch?
So, you finally chose the best truck winch and are ready to get this bad boy on your truck and enjoy its advantages. Doing so is a piece of cake if you follow the steps below:
- Check out if your winch has a stock winch line or if you need something tougher. If so, then get a nylon cable or a different spool of wire rope. Make sure to switch out that line only once you have mounted the winch.
- Choose whether you want your truck winch at the front or back and grab the best hardware for either. When you buy your winch you will usually get the winch mounts you need but that might not be right depending on where you want to place it.
- Follow the instructions you get from the kit as they will apply to your specific truck and requirements.
- Connect the positive lead right to the battery with a heavy gauge cable. While you ground the negative lead to either the battery or the truck’s chassis.
- Now, you should be done, if you are using the stock winch line. Otherwise, connect the different winch line to the winch’ spool and turn the winch on to spool the line in slowly.
Is your bumper ready for a winch?
Not every bumper will allow you to use a winch as the loads that the winch will pull have to be well distributed across it. Plus, not all of them have the space to add a winch. As such, you need to make sure that you get a truck winch bumper ready for this job.
Get yourself an Aftermarket Bumper that will allow you to improve your truck easily and quickly. Ranch Hand Bumpers are leaders in this sector and offer ones that are made exactly to allow you to add a winch to your truck. Their Superduty Winch Front Bumper allows up to 15k lbs to be pulled with a winch and already includes a winch mount so that you can buy both with ease and no extra purchases needed.
Iron Cross Bumpers are another option for those looking to get bumpers suited for this use. Their winch ready series ensures that you can count on them to get your winch mounted with no problems. Hammerhead Bumpers also provide types that are winch capable and accept up to 10K lbs, and that can stand up to any rough off-road driving.
In the higher end of prices, Warn Truck Bumpers are winch ready and accept up to 12K lbs and will allow any Warn winches to be added to the vehicle.
Looking for something cheaper but still good? Smittyblit, which also offers a variety of high quality and well-priced winches, has some excellent bumpers that are similarly affordable and just as good. One like the Smittybilt Toyota Tundra Winch Bumper provides an exceptional 17.5K lbs winch mount system.
At BumperOnly.com you can find both great winches and winch ready bumpers, allowing you to buy every component you need in one place. Have a browse within the site and find everything you need to turn your truck to its best today.
