Picking the Right Winch for Your Truck
If you’re an avid off-roader, one of the most important pieces of equipment that you can have in your arsenal is a good winch. Getting the right 12V electric winch for your truck can be the difference between a great day and being stuck in the mud miles from home. There are two things you need to consider winch you’re looking for your winch, the line pull rating and the way it fits on your winch plate.
The most important thing for you to keep in mind when you’re looking at 12V winches is the line pull rating of the winch. You need to find a winch with a rating of at least one and a half times the gross weight of your truck. This is because as the winch reels in, every wrap of the winch will reduce the winch’s total power by about 12%, meaning after about the fourth wrap, you’ll have significantly less power. Don’t forget that your vehicle’s gross weight is the weight of your vehicle plus all the gear you plan on brining with you. So make sure you fill up your gas tank and pack your truck with water, equipment and everything else you plan on bringing and then go to have it weighed.
The next thing you need to look at is how the winch fits onto your winch plate. Every winch can fit on a little bit differently, but if you can, try to find a winch that lets you stick it into the existing hole in your plate. You can drill new holes, but for every hole that you drill, the plate gets weaker. Too many holes, and the winch plate won’t be able to hold the winch anymore.
Choosing a winch is fairly simple, but you need to get it right or you might end up stuck miles from the nearest help. Always have a winch that has a line pull capacity of 1.5 times your vehicle’s gross weight and can fit on your existing winch plate.






