Winch & battery question

Venter wrote: I also drive alone a lot. I've found that most of my recoveries are out backwards (in the direction you were coming from),.

This is very true. Remember that up until the very moment you got stuck, the ground was driveable (because you were driving it!). Therefore recovering backwards is taking you to known good surface.

Recovering forward is taken more into unknown territory and can make things worse

I often go out with discoverys... we all have winches.. Yes you get stuck and are pulled out backwards, meaning your winch most the time ends up pulling others out.. When you get stuck they pull you out..
If the disco had gone through first and you then get stuck following you know its ok to be winched forward.
I fitted a 13,000lb winch because it was so cheap and should never really struggle !
I have pulled so many landrovers out now so it was worth doing i guess, as many have been so thankfull.
I have a 2nd 90cca battery under the bonnet as not keen of frying my alternator as they can get extremely hot under full load.
A 13,000 lb winch needs 400 amps !

Martin, with that in mind for a lone driver I'd go so far as to say a rear winch is more important than a front winch (if the one I posted is not an option). Doesn't look as cool though

In a perfect world, I'd have a front and back winch with a huge yellow-top, but my wife would divorce me!

Thanks for helping, guys!

I guess I'll take the 9.5k one, seems strong enough and is not that heavy being short drum and all. Probably overkill for now but better to buy stronger now than having to buy new one if I start driving with Land Rovers

I know it's a bit more than the cheapest of winches. But the goodwinch 9.5c is without a doubt the best budget winch available. Excellent winch and support and good options for upgrading.

Also, don't worry about the alternator. It's good quality as built to work. So just keep the standard one. Also better with one good quality battery than two cheap ones.

Almost all full size winch motors draw 400-450 amps at full load. That's normal. Which is why good leads is very important. Also consider a good battery cut-off switch.

The winch topic comes up a bit here. I checked the Wiki and there is a place holder for winch installation info but nothing in it. I would take a crack at it myself if it wasn't for the fact that I am probably one of the farthest away from being a winch expert on this forum.

If anyone is up to the task (TomDK?) it would probably be beneficial to have a place here that people could go to understand installation specifics as well as some product guidance. Even though I likely will never have a winch, I would still review it.