Winch Options

I was looking at winch options and wondered whether the handwinch / pullers were any use as an alternative? It would avoid the extra weight (and possibly suspension considerations) of a permanent front winch, and could be used front or back, as well as any other vehicle. I imagine that they are not going to get you out of the trickier places, and would be much slower than an electric winch, but just gives that extra piece of mind if you get stuck on your own, or just beached and need more than a hand push.

Or are they just an accident waiting to happen?

As an aside, just before Christmas, we were trying to recover a CR-V from some mud using a winch-equipped Jimny. To stop it simply winching itself towards the Honda, we ended up with it strapped to a Defender and then had to add a Discovery 3, before we finally gave up and called for the Manitou telehandler that the 4x4 site had!! That took seconds to yank it out!

Hand winch are ok but, hard work and normally only pull a short distance.
I have a small portable electric winch that's only rated at 2000lbs. It wont do full on recovery but
if just stuck on a very slippery section or in a set of ruts it works well. Less than £100, keep it in
the boot and as its portable can be rigged front or back.

That sounds ideal, 1066Boy! Do you have more details of the winch and what you need?

Nick

Look on ebay. Just search "portable winch" Mine is the same as the Longhorne one.
Listed at £50-£60. Sorry I cant do a link. Not that computer savvy.

Here are a couple portable ones I noticed while browsing the Electricwinchshop site. A bit more pricey than 1066boy's, but might be worthwhile:

Superwinch: Winch-in-a-Bag

Superwinch: Winch-to-go

Superwinch stuff is good but more than I would pay for something I would only use
once or twice a year. The winch in a bag is the same spec as mine apart from mine only
powers in not out.