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What Size Winch for Jeep

Winches are tools that you would need to invest on. This means they are not cheap. Hence, before purchasing one for your jeep, you have to ensure that the one that you are purchasing is the right one.

When choosing a winch, you would need to consider a lot of factors. You will have to consider durability, protection from water, dust, sand, etc. Another factor that you will need to consider which is very important factor is the size of the winch.

In the winch industry, you would need to understand that size does not mean the measurement of your winch is but rather it refers to the strength and/or pulling capacity. Hence, in this article, we shall define which winch size is the best for a Jeep. This means, we shall dive deeper and learn which is the best winch strength for a Jeep.

The 1.5X Rule and GVWR

There is one main universal rule when you are dealing with your winch and your winch’s size and that is whatever winch you will be getting, check the pulling capacity and the gross weight of your vehicle. As a rule of thumb, the pulling capacity is 1.5 times of the gross weight of your vehicle.

To check the GVWR of Jeep, check the dorrjamb of your jeep or if you cannot find it there, you could check your Jeep’s manual or on a sticker which is under the hood of your Jeep.

With all the information provided above, we could surmise that for you to be able to purchase and choose the correct winch, ensure that you get one that has a rated pulling capacity of at least 1.5X of the GVWR of your Jeep or better yet, get one that is more powerful which is generally better. Also, keep in mind that your Jeep could get heavier than it is especially when it gets stuck in a mud.

Why Rated Line Pull is Not Always Reliable

Rated line pulls of winch is always determined by manufacturers which they have defined through quite a number of testing. However, they usually test them in a favorable circumstances and situations and not when your vehicle gets stuck or gets into a difficult situations. In fact, manufacturers often test their winches to get the rated line pull through the following conditions:

  • Straight Pull
  • Perfect Power
  • Single Wrap of Cable on Drum

Straight Pull

When the winch is tested in a perfect straight pull, this is when your winch is a lot stronger. This is the reason why it is highly recommended for you to use your winch as a straight as possible. Unfortunately, this is not always possible as you could get stuck in the wild and in a terrain where you cannot pull your vehicle in a straight pull method. Hence, keep in mind that when you cannot do a perfect straight pull, your winch loses a little bit of its power.

Perfect Power

This another situation wherein the rated line pull of a winch is what your winch receives – the optimum power. In short, you are in a situation when you have a perfect wiring, good battery and a stable alternator.

Your alternator would switch your battery when it does not provides the needed power for your winch. Hence, if you have a bad alternator, you would not have enough power for your winch to perform at its optimum best. Keep in mind that your battery should be in perfect condition and enough charge. It should not be damaged nor should it be corroded.

Single Wrap of Cable

Another situation where your winch would be powerful is when there is only one layer of cable that is wrapped around the winch drum. Though this is not usually ideal and usual situation. Hence, if you cannot use only single wrap, then, you would lose about 10 percent of power. To solve this problem, you could use an anchor point and be as far away from your winch as possible.

What Size Winch for Jeep

Whenever we get this question, this would mean that it is better if the power is greater. Though this is the normal conception, this does not mean you should always go for the winch that comes with a rated line pull of 25000 lbs for your Jeep. There are other options which you could get such as 8000 lbs winches and the like.

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