What first, Lock-Right locker or Runva winch? POLL

[Denby]

The best thing I ever brought was my Tirfor Hand winch. Slow to use but has got me out of some serious self induced shit while exploring..
Normally by pulling myself out backwards.

I am of the same line of thought... back in the (bad) old days we went off-road with a Mitre10 one tonne ratchet wire rope winch, 20m of two tonne rope and some clever knot work to do minor recoveries (including putting a FJ40 back on it's wheels on the Stadia) as Tirfor style winches were beyond our budgets (including the "cheap and nasty" Japanese ones).
We would never been able to do a serious recovery with those toys but it was enough to reverse us out of the holes that we got into (and then we would look at alternative routes).

When it came time to set up my Jimny I went for a Lock-right in the rear to solve the lack of traction issue and a Tirfor style Chinese hand winch from Supercheap tucked in a drawer in the back.
That way, if the Locker gets me further along a track before I get stuck then the hand winch can be used to get me back to the point of traction (to reverse out). The other advantage of a hand winch is that I am not limited to only moving forward (and getting myself further into trouble) but I can go backwards or even sideways if needed... and I don't need the engine running or deep cycle batteries to do the recovery.

I am still considering a front electric winch but I can't justify the dollars for results at the moment when the hand winch was less than a third the cost and hasn't been used in anger yet.

[rokhound]

Exactly right there Denby, but the newer generation of 4wder's want all the shizzle straight away now days.
If you knew a seriously laborious recovery was ahead, it made you think really hard about lines to take and how to attack different hazards.
Any ways, as an aside to the elcheapo come-along winch, you can also use an endless chain type block and tackle. Yes it is heavy and cumbersome to take with you, but with a bit ingenuity and some swaged wire rope, you can get yourself out of all sorts of bother.

[flyingbrick]

If you are going electric in the winch, I would suggest that you make it removable, so it can live inside the truck. I have never seen an electric winch that I would consider to be 100% reliable as they all seem to fill up with muddy silt and shit. And guess when your electric winch is going to let you down .
I realise that winch challenge guys might have some cool pressurised tricks up their sleeves, but for the average joe (who isn't going to spend 2-3k on a winch) it is not really an option. If the winch is removable, then rearward pulls are more of an option as well. Think about it, if you drove to where you are stuck, there is a pretty good chance that you can back out of there as well.

Thats a good idea tbh.

I do not agree with the other oldschool bloke up there who basically said that winches are for people who cant drive (may have taken it the wrong way.. who knows). How can you find your limits or your trucks limits without getting stuck lots first? Knowing you can get yourself out of poop if needed means you can have a whole lot more fun imo.

but Its a bit confusing really.. locker or winch really depends on who you go out with.

My safari has the factory warn winch and the factory rear LSD which works well.
I'm a novice and spent my first day up thompsons last weekend with two others. I learnt a shitload!. Lost count of the number of times I used my winch up for dragging the two others out and we even used it for ripping a boulder out of one bog.

HOWEVER the two times which i got stuck due to traction issues winch use was not possible.once we used a high lift with winch kit as there was no room to get another truck in behind and once i got snatched out backwards.






One of the trucks which came along (vitara) struggled primarily because of its open front and rear diffs. If he was to ask me winch vs lockright i'd confidently say locker because with one he simply wouldn't have gotten stuck as often.

I'd go hand winch + lockrite

[Heath]

One of the bonuses of using a manual winch (of whatever type) when you have busted your ass using it a few times because you made a mistake it reinforces a better driving style because you dont want to get stuck...

[rokhound]

One of the bonuses of using a manual winch (of whatever type) when you have busted your ass using it a few times because you made a mistake it reinforces a better driving style because you dont want to get stuck...

Exactly

[mfrsr]

A lot of of that "I can't be bothered to buy a winch" mindset comes from the way certain guys act on trips too - if you come across as someone who's out there doing it on a low budget, and doing things to your truck as you can afford them, you'll get on a whole lot better with other who will be towing you out, than you would be if you rocked up in a flash truck with big tyres,lockers, no winch, and went and made a dick of yourself.

This is speaking form experience and watching others - i've always been the guy who's making bits for his truck on his apprenticeship wage, then turning up and getting stuck and needing to rely on others to be towed. my first major purchase was a big rope. But that said, i always went out of my way to show appreciation for them. And i knew that if i went and got properly stuck, if i were acting like a dick i'd get left there

As has been said many times, it all depends on what you do. How often do you go exploring by yourself? I never do, i only ever go out on club runs, and there's always either winches or other vehicles. Granted, i've had to self-recover on the farm with tiedown straps (3 hrs to go 3 meters ), but that's not a problem anymore - i bought one of those supercheap eletric boat winches, that works ok. I wouldn't have the balls to pull it out on a club trip, but for more small shit it's ok.


In my situation, i'd choose grip first. But if you go out by yourself, get a winch. I've always been told by the older guys to work on my driving before i got lockers/LSD. Basically so you get all the basic skills sorted before you get yourself in the shit. And lockers just increase the distance you can go before you get stuck.

[Bulletproof]

I have very simple rules. Many people say to me can I come on one of your trips.

I say to them do you have a winch ? If their answer is no ,I say my answer is no as well.

On our easter trip 2 winches broke down and they had to turn back while we carried on ,Diff locks wouldn't have helped either.

Cheers Richard

[DaveM]

If you are going electric in the winch, I would suggest that you make it removable, so it can live inside the truck. I have never seen an electric winch that I would consider to be 100% reliable as they all seem to fill up with muddy silt and shit. And guess when your electric winch is going to let you down .

I have been thinking of this for some time, who has done it, and how did you make the mounts? I'm thinking of a modded hayman reese style towbar up front to match the rear.

The problem I see is winching out of holes etc as the approach/departure angles would suffer greatly on the safari, but interested in seeing the mounting systems anyone uses, as it may be a good temporary setup for me


Cheers,
Dave

[vvega]

I have very simple rules. Many people say to me can I come on one of your trips.

I say to them do you have a winch ? If their answer is no ,I say my answer is no as well.

On our easter trip 2 winches broke down and they had to turn back while we carried on ,Diff locks wouldn't have helped either.

Cheers Richard

agreed
end of the day ... a winch will get you far further than any locker will ... it will also get you home ... provding you have it setup right and keep it maintained

in the weekend just been there was a open diff'd ifs suzy going places that even a winch truck couldnt drive
and really when your doing a trip with other people .. the idea is to get there ... not give up because your getting towed everywhere

just my observations