I'm going to Colorado in October to go Elk hunting for 10 days in the mountains.

The weather can be unpredictable during this time. I will be setting up a base camp with the jeep.

I am looking at getting an ARB bumper. But want to get a GOOD, DEPENDABLE winch that will last a long time...at some point.

If you were going to Colorado mountains in October and you had to choose between a good bumper or a good winch, which would you choose?

 

Problem as I see it is you'll need a winch bumper to mount the winch into/onto. So whilst it'd be good to have a winch I'd probably get the bumper first, then the winch. If one or more of the Jeeps you're wheeling with have winches then you should be ok for this trip, I'd have thought.

Otherwise, get both!!

 

you can mount a winch to the stock bumper... i'd get the winch first! bumper won't help pull you out of something. you can always sell the winch mounting plate once you get a bumper.

i bought my bumper first and hated the way it looked without the winch...i went and bought the winch the next week.

 

Thanks for your thoughts guys. I'll be alone....so no one to pull me out if I get in a jam.

That's kinda what I was thinking jkfanatic....if I can't get both, then I'll get the winch.

Will let ya know what I end up with and will post pics

 

you could always invite me to go hunting then we can use my winch!!!

 

Absolutely! Ya busy around the 8th of October?

 

I vote for the winch, too. I may skip the bumper altogether, myself. Who needs the extra weight? I'll keep my lightweight stock bumper, hack the ends off, pretty them up, and mount a winch on it.

 

man, i'd love to go hunting in CO but if i go this year it will be with my dad in Oregon... he's been elk hunting the last 2 years with a mussle loader and says its a blast.

you hunt with a rifle or bow?

 

If you're willing to do a little work to get unstuck, you could always get the bumper, then get a hi-lift jack and the winch kit for said jack.

It's slow, it's tedious, and it's a good bit of work to use, but it'll get you out of a jam.

 

I thought the same way for a while... "who needs all that extra weight"... Then when I finally got the bumpers on found out you really don't notice the extra weight, it's like "meh, so it's a little heavier, big deal....but it looks friggin awesome and it's a heck of a lot tougher!!" My gas mileage has not been affected, and the Jeep actually rides more stable at highway speeds the more weight I put on it. Before with the stock bumpers on and no winch, the Jeep was so underweighted, that any little gust on the highway would blow me all over the place. So putting some extra weight on, steel bumpers and a winch is not necessarily a bad thing. It is only going to make your Jeep better. If it were me doing it again, I would definitely buy the bumpers first, then just take along a good 4 ton comealong and some extra cable "just in case" and carry that around until I got my winch.