Winch - at front or rear of car?

[aussearcher]

All,
I'm collecting bits and pieces prior to commencing a Disco ute project. Intention is to have a road registered vehicle but one that is pretty much off road focussed - so 35' tyres, bob-tailed etc.
I've been thinking about installing the winch at the rear of the car. My experience with my current Disco with the winch on the bullbar is that winching it through whatever it is stuck in is generally harder than if I could winch out the way I drove in...
Any thoughts/experience/suggestions?

[Blknight.aus]

yep...

or since you can custom make it to suit...

build a drop in cradle and add andersons to it so you can put it on either side.

[Barefoot Dave]

Ditto what Dave said.
My Aldi winch is sitting in a receiver hitch cradle awaiting a mobile vehicle to be fitted to (once I get the hitch added between the front rails) Anderson connectors front and back.
Winch is out to save weight day to day, in when I'm going bush. Just stored in the came of the vehicle to balance the loads.

[D2lee]

front if you definitely need to get through what's in front of you and it's the only route.
But it can pull you deeper into the bad stuff

Rear if you are looking for recovery and have alternate routes, or don't need to go through the bad stuff. Good if you were just trying but got stuck. Usually a lot easier to pull yourself out the way you went in, instead of trying to get through.

Rear can usually be detachable and hooked onto the towbar in some way.


I use the latter detachable winch on my daily disco, but have a front and 2 smaller rears on my '81 patrol shorty

[Xtreme]

I agree that rear mounted makes a lot of sense however ................
With the specialist build as you suggest, have you thought about rear mounted with provision for appropriately positioned snatch block/cable guides to allow cable to be routed from the rear mounted winch and come out at the front?
Just a thought for the odd occasion when you need to PSA.

[aussearcher]

Thanks everyone. I've been thinking of a detachable cradle approach, but I'm generally pretty deep in the doo doo when I come to a stop. D2Lee's set up on his Patrol sounds ideal.

[crash]

I agree that rear mounted makes a lot of sense however ................
With the specialist build as you suggest, have you thought about rear mounted with provision for appropriately positioned snatch block/cable guides to allow cable to be routed from the rear mounted winch and come out at the front?
Just a thought for the odd occasion when you need to PSA.

I agree with extreme, that was my initial thoughts.
No matter what you do their will be pros and cons, you need to decide what compromises you are willing to live with.
Mobile cradles are good being able to move from front to back - but it is a hell of a lot easier to move with two of you - winches are not light. Usually when they are mounted to the front they stick a ways out in front.
Everybody seems to be on the mind set of getting stuck in mud - and yes going out backwards is usually the better option, but what about when you can not make it up a hill? Front mount would be handier.

[Aaron IIA]

Mid mounted winch, round rollers at the back, then out the front. A lot of military vehicles do it this way.

Aaron

[Mick_Marsh]

A number of years ago, I was in a party of off road vehicles driving through the bush. One fellow had a Suzuki ute with a winh at the front and a winch at the back.
With the Aldi winches being reasonably priced, why not put one each end?

Mid mounted winch, round rollers at the back, then out the front. A lot of military vehicles do it this way.

Aaron
Such as the 101.

And the Inter.

[Blknight.aus]

or...

make the cradle completely removable with a pair of torque reaction arms and chain hooks, a long pair of leads and then winch from any which way you feel like winching, make the arms the right shape and length and put a set of fairleads on them, hook them up on the winch line and they will also double to ensure the rope lays onto the drum evenly.

[Aaron IIA]

Such as the 101.

And the Inter.

And CMP (Blitz)

[flagg]

I think the rear winch idea is really a good one for most situations, and if you're bobtailing a disco you're going to be fabbing it up so .. while your there....

but I don't like the idea of a 'portable' winch that you use front and rear because you're going to be using other things in the back of your disco more so it will either be in your way all the time in the back, or it will end up packed far away under everything else that you get out more.

Which is fine until you're stuck in a river and need it then have to unpack everything in the back to get to it while you're trying to look out for crocks and not drop the food or the camera in the water.... This is what happened to me with a turfur. Was a total pain in the backside.

I recon you should just get a cheaper winch or rebuild a second hand one and make incorporate a rear cradle when you bobtail your disco. It will be there when you need it.

[THE 109]

The following applies to winches with steel cable from my experience.
A single centre mount winch works great for self recovery but can be slow if recovering lots of other people, ideally two centre mounted winches are best.
One dedicated front and one dedicated rear, no mucking around with double line pulls(pulley blocks and extra cable) and better speed.
No problems with side pulls when centre mounted, winch all day if needed and your cable will last much longer.
Winches are a major compromise when fitted to any end of a vehicle if you're winching from that same end, a rear mounted winch that only pulls the vehicle forward is fine so long as your fleet angles are good(Vice versa for front mounted).

Eric

[POD]

My 130 had a winch at the front when I bought it, I had to do some rear bar work for double spare wheel carrier etc and I had a winch in the shed from a previous vehicle....the inevitable result was that I ended up with a winch at each end. I have to say that a winch at the rear of a vehicle is a super useful thing to have. I have pulled a huge number of things onto and off trailers with no effort at all, for example a big load of railway sleepers unloaded into a stack by placing a snatch block on a tree. If the trailer happens to be in a difficult spot to hook up, it just gets pulled into place. Used it yesterday to lower my camper trailer into a difficult spot and will use it again to pull it out and hook up. It gets used like this at least 20 times for every 1 actual recovery operation.

[MLD]

My 130 had a winch at the front when I bought it, I had to do some rear bar work for double spare wheel carrier etc and I had a winch in the shed from a previous vehicle....the inevitable result was that I ended up with a winch at each end. I have to say that a winch at the rear of a vehicle is a super useful thing to have. I have pulled a huge number of things onto and off trailers with no effort at all, for example a big load of railway sleepers unloaded into a stack by placing a snatch block on a tree. If the trailer happens to be in a difficult spot to hook up, it just gets pulled into place. Used it yesterday to lower my camper trailer into a difficult spot and will use it again to pull it out and hook up. It gets used like this at least 20 times for every 1 actual recovery operation.

How is your controller configured? I can see a plug at the rear convenient for your non recovery events but an in car controller would be convenient for recoveries. MLD

[Crocodile Dundee]

My 130 had a winch at the front when I bought it, I had to do some rear bar work for double spare wheel carrier etc and I had a winch in the shed from a previous vehicle....the inevitable result was that I ended up with a winch at each end. I have to say that a winch at the rear of a vehicle is a super useful thing to have. I have pulled a huge number of things onto and off trailers with no effort at all, for example a big load of railway sleepers unloaded into a stack by placing a snatch block on a tree. If the trailer happens to be in a difficult spot to hook up, it just gets pulled into place. Used it yesterday to lower my camper trailer into a difficult spot and will use it again to pull it out and hook up. It gets used like this at least 20 times for every 1 actual recovery operation.

Hello Wizard l have been looking at doing this to my 130 rear winch , would it be possible if you could take some photos and post them really interested how the set up looks please as my Mechanic has been talking about centre mounting my winch so l could go forward and backwards but unsure still, he keeps on saying rear mounted winches are not a good idea l am a bit confused as l like the idea of the rear mount as l am a beginner looking for practical options
:):):)

[squizzyhunter]

I was planning on front mounted winch and hand winch for rear. I know it's horses for courses but can never tell what course you may be on in a months time. Have never tried using block to winch backwards from front mount and I always hear mixed reports on this so still unsure of amount of strain and safety doing it.

[cuppabillytea]

Ditto what Dave said.
My Aldi winch is sitting in a receiver hitch cradle awaiting a mobile vehicle to be fitted to (once I get the hitch added between the front rails) Anderson connectors front and back.
Winch is out to save weight day to day, in when I'm going bush. Just stored in the came of the vehicle to balance the loads.
I like it

yep...

or since you can custom make it to suit...

build a drop in cradle and add andersons to it so you can put it on either side.
I like this too. With this system and a longish lead, your winch could be put to myriad uses. Mind you!! It could get you into a lot of trouble as well.

I agree that rear mounted makes a lot of sense however ................
With the specialist build as you suggest, have you thought about rear mounted with provision for appropriately positioned snatch block/cable guides to allow cable to be routed from the rear mounted winch and come out at the front?
Just a thought for the odd occasion when you need to PSA.
Best solution for ease of set up and practicality. Downside could be if vehicle is in too deep to rout rope underneath.

I didn't think I needed a winch. Turned out I did. Luckily the Missus bought me one before the moment arose. Had I had a winch that was remote from the vehicle the task wound have been easier and the result better but lugging 40Kg about doesn't appeal to me much. There are pros and cons to everything but can I suggest that the Farther you stray from the norm the more educated you should be.