Front Mounted Winch Recovery Techniques

[pinebaron]

Being a winch noob, and with fall and winter approaching, I want to educate myself on use of the 12500lb front mounted winch on my 2024 2500HD AT4X AEV.
One of my fears is getting front of the truck stuck in mud or snow in a ditch and figuring out how to extract the truck backwards with the front mounted winch.
This is what I found on the internet. I think I'll need several snatch blocks or wheels to make this happen, plus a whole lot of rope. The double line pull at the back will pull the vehicle backwards, despite winch pulling rope in from the front. The Comeup winch has 82' of synthetic rope on it; I need to pull it all out to actually measure it.
How much additional rope and equipment do I need for this?

Experts please chime in for ideas and/or real life experiences.

 

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[ironworker40]

The amount of winch line is depends on how far your rigging points are from the vehicle. This could vary considerable. The easiest and cheapest solution I can suggest is get 100-200 ft of 1'' or 1 1/4'' braided rope. This is easily carried and light. If you know someone in construction or someone who works with boats you may be able to get it free. Learn how to tie a clove hitch for around a tree and a bowline and a bowline on the bight. These knots are easily undone and you can use any length of the rope you need shortening as you go if needed.
When you pull that winch line out have a helper push the button and USE LEATHER GLOVES keeping tension on it and watching as you roll it back on the drum so it rolls up correctly.
Also leave 5-6 wraps on the drum. Mark this at the front bumper with paint on the cable. This is as far as you can pull it out or risk pulling it out of the drum. Good luck

 

[pinebaron]

The amount of winch line is depends on how far your rigging points are from the vehicle. This could vary considerable. The easiest and cheapest solution I can suggest is get 100-200 ft of 1'' or 1 1/4'' braided rope. This is easily carried and light. If you know someone in construction or someone who works with boats you may be able to get it free. Learn how to tie a clove hitch for around a tree and a bowline and a bowline on the bight. These knots are easily undone and you can use any length of the rope you need shortening as you go if needed.
When you pull that winch line out have a helper push the button and USE LEATHER GLOVES keeping tension on it and watching as you roll it back on the drum so it rolls up correctly.
Also leave 5-6 wraps on the drum. Mark this at the front bumper with paint on the cable. This is as far as you can pull it out or risk pulling it out of the drum. Good luck

Thats a great tip! Thanks.

 

[ironworker40]

 

[ironworker40]

The bottom pic is what a properly spooled winch should look like. I should know. I spent weeks on a 100,000 tugger winch 5 ft in dia. with a 4 lbs. beater keeping the drum looking like that rolling in 3000 ft of wire rope 29 years ago as an apprentice.

 

[pinebaron]

View attachment 19337
View attachment 19338

That's a lot of rope to carry for sure but makes sense if heading out for adventure. I was also looking at Kinetic Recovery Rope and they usually come in 20 or 30 foot lenghts, not cheap but light; having said that, I need regid rope for the recovery example I gave. Being an past boat owner back in Portsmouth UK, I can see how much a boat rope can withstand and will see where to get it from, a local marina for sure.

Point noted about winched rope on the spool

By the way I lived in Marlton NJ for almost 18 years before moving to WA state.

 

[ironworker40]

L2SFBC - Robert Pepper - auto journo

Automotive safety through education. 4X4s, sports cars, towing, car tech or whatever else I find interesting and feel like explaining. My videos tend to be long and detailed, so if you really want to understand something after not figuring it out with other videos then have a watch, if you want...

www.youtube.com

This guy has a lot of good knowledge he shares about getting stuck and winching. And its in metric!
I'm about 60 miles north of Marlton.
You can have two 75 ft ropes or any combo. Tie two bowlines and now u have 150ft. 75 ft will fit in a 5 gallon bucket I think.
Bet you miss the food here.

 

[Viking Truck]

There have been many discussions on the Jeep forums on winching backwards. Seems the general consensus is it doesn't really work that well and it's a shit ton of snatch blocks to keep with you all the time.

 

[pinebaron]

I'd need to fill a large holdall with recovery gear, buckets with ropes etc. like ironworker40 pointed out, before heading out for my next rough adventure.

Several decades ago, I drove almost 9000 miles from London UK to New Delhi India and I was least prepared for anything. Only had one flat I think the entire way, ran out of drinking water in the middle of the desert in Turkey, had an engine coolant cap blow off on top of hill somewhere in Afghanistan but as luck would have it, coasted the vehicle down the hill, right into a village car repair shop. Always had the devils luck, despite I'm trying to be better prepared for the worst.

 

[Island Dan]

Being a winch noob, and with fall and winter approaching, I want to educate myself on use of the 12500lb front mounted winch on my 2024 2500HD AT4X AEV.
One of my fears is getting front of the truck stuck in mud or snow in a ditch and figuring out how to extract the truck backwards with the front mounted winch.
This is what I found on the internet. I think I'll need several snatch blocks or wheels to make this happen, plus a whole lot of rope. The double line pull at the back will pull the vehicle backwards, despite winch pulling rope in from the front. The Comeup winch has 82' of synthetic rope on it; I need to pull it all out to actually measure it.
How much additional rope and equipment do I need for this?

Experts please chime in for ideas and/or real life experiences.

View attachment 19335

That dog don't hunt. Better to use the winch to pull you through it, turn around and then back across or drag the truck sideways perpendicular to the ditch and then reset to pull you forward and out.

 

[NHAT4SFD]

I'm a long standing jeeper and have done numerous recoveries, either myself of fellow off-roaders, For the rear, 3 options...
1. As Dan mentioned, pull / winch thru and turn around.
2. Rear mounted recovery bumper and winch.
3. Cradle mounted winch and power leads. This has always been my approach, due to flexibility and cost. A cradle mounted winch with QC leads. On my Dmax, I had quick connect leads from the batt to the rear bumper installed. On the jeep, I use quick connect leads and alligator battery clips and just ran the leads over the mirror or roof. The added flexibility allows the winch to be moved from vehicle to vehicle and even mount on my trailer where I welded a 2" receiver. Also even on a truck with out a front receiver I could run a strap thru the tow eyes and into the winch cradle hitch pin and do an emergency recovery free floating the winch. ( was a last ditch resort due to access) . This technique can also be used to assist in a side recovery to a vehicle frame...

I also carry 2 lengths (50 and 100') of similar rated synthetic winch rope with eyes spliced in both end for "long pulls" when a recovery point isn't near by..

Good luck..

 

[pinebaron]

That dog don't hunt. Better to use the winch to pull you through it, turn around and then back across or drag the truck sideways perpendicular to the ditch and then reset to pull you forward and out.

This is for a lone wolf one man show with a vehicle stuck with one or both front wheels in a ditch.

 

[Kboeh34]

Being a winch noob, and with fall and winter approaching, I want to educate myself on use of the 12500lb front mounted winch on my 2024 2500HD AT4X AEV.
One of my fears is getting front of the truck stuck in mud or snow in a ditch and figuring out how to extract the truck backwards with the front mounted winch.
This is what I found on the internet. I think I'll need several snatch blocks or wheels to make this happen, plus a whole lot of rope. The double line pull at the back will pull the vehicle backwards, despite winch pulling rope in from the front. The Comeup winch has 82' of synthetic rope on it; I need to pull it all out to actually measure it.
How much additional rope and equipment do I need for this?

Experts please chime in for ideas and/or real life experiences.

View attachment 19335

Whoa the 2500 only gets a 12.5K lb winch... Idk if I'd personally use that low of a power winch on that heavy of a truck.

I come from the jeep world (well still am there with my Rubicon), typically the rule of thumb for winch power ratings is 1.5x to 2x the GVWR of the truck, even using only the weight of the truck, 12.5k is pushing it at 1.5x. This 1.5x accounts for all the additional factors of the resistance of things like going up hill, the resistance of being stuck in mud, etc.

You'll probably ok, but I'd highly suggest getting a weighted bag to put over the line in winching scenarios (usually called a winch damper), this will make the line fall straight down if it snaps instead of coming and flying back towards you. Even with synthetic line, this is a cheap added safety measure. As for winching backwards, any time I've been in a situation that winching backwards would work, traction boards work to get the job done, or snatch blocking to turn the truck around has been successful.

 

[pinebaron]

Whoa the 2500 only gets a 12.5K lb winch... Idk if I'd personally use that low of a power winch on that heavy of a truck.

I come from the jeep world (well still am there with my Rubicon), typically the rule of thumb for winch power ratings is 1.5x to 2x the GVWR of the truck, even using only the weight of the truck, 12.5k is pushing it at 1.5x. This 1.5x accounts for all the additional factors of the resistance of things like going up hill, the resistance of being stuck in mud, etc.

You'll probably ok, but I'd highly suggest getting a weighted bag to put over the line in winching scenarios (usually called a winch damper), this will make the line fall straight down if it snaps instead of coming and flying back towards you. Even with synthetic line, this is a cheap added safety measure. As for winching backwards, any time I've been in a situation that winching backwards would work, traction boards work to get the job done, or snatch blocking to turn the truck around has been successful.

One of these days I need to put the winch to a solid test. Since my AEV edition front bumper was designed for the 12.5k lb Comeup winch, it was a no-brainer having one installed; I just want to be prepared for scenarious I may be in. Good suggestion about the weighted bag; I'll check what I have and order a couple if I don't.

 

[Viking Truck]

Whoa the 2500 only gets a 12.5K lb winch... Idk if I'd personally use that low of a power winch on that heavy of a truck.

I come from the jeep world (well still am there with my Rubicon), typically the rule of thumb for winch power ratings is 1.5x to 2x the GVWR of the truck, even using only the weight of the truck, 12.5k is pushing it at 1.5x. This 1.5x accounts for all the additional factors of the resistance of things like going up hill, the resistance of being stuck in mud, etc.

You'll probably ok, but I'd highly suggest getting a weighted bag to put over the line in winching scenarios (usually called a winch damper), this will make the line fall straight down if it snaps instead of coming and flying back towards you. Even with synthetic line, this is a cheap added safety measure. As for winching backwards, any time I've been in a situation that winching backwards would work, traction boards work to get the job done, or snatch blocking to turn the truck around has been successful.

12.5 is about the strongest winch I have seen from reputable manufacturers. I have seen a 13k winch on Amazon from China but wouldn't use it. I feel like 12.5 is fine. Jeep even sells a 8K factory option winch on a 5k+ lb vehicle. Not that I agree with that, I will get a 10K for my Jeep and have a 10K on the other Jeep.

Synthetic line is superior in almost all respects and no rope dampener is really needed, it just drops if it breaks.