Okay, so I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. I'm planning on getting a Shrockworks front stubby bumper with a Ramsey 9500 UT winch (eventually). But one question keeps popping up - how do I winch myself backwards?

Last spring I was driving up a graded road and I hit a patch of snow that turned out to be a LOT deeper than I thought. After my 3rd try to get through it, I got really stuck. Even with front/rear lockers, I couldn't get my Jeep to budge backwards or forwards. It took me almost 2 hours to dig myself out with some logs I found nearby.

Thinking back on that experience, even if I had a front winch, it wouldn't have helped at all. There weren't any trees or rocks in the right place to help me winch myself out.



So, onto my deep dark thoughts. I'm trying to come up with an easy way to use my front winch to winch myself backwards w/o needing trees/rocks up front or uninstalling my winch and using a trailer hitch plate with it.

Here is what I'm thinking - Designing something that will let me run the cable from the winch straight down, loop under the Jeep and then come out through a fairlead attached to my trailer hitch.

The one place I'm not sure what to use is there up front. I would need either a grooved channel of some type, a mounted pulley or some kind of roller up front under the bumper to help route the cable to the back safely. I don't want to sacrifice any approach angle or ground clearance, so whatever I come up with would need to be easily installed/removed.

As for the back, I'm not exactly sure how to mount a fairlead to a trailer hitch. But assuming I can find a good welder, I don't think that would be a problem.




Has anyone else thought of something like this? Or better yet, have they tried something like this? Do you think it is possible? Or is there some major problem I haven't thought of yet??

 

A front and rear mounted receiver with some snatch block attachments hanging low enough to allow the cable to run under the Jeep. Solved.

 

check it out..... http://www.pullpal.com/ .....i have used these before. i carried one in the Corps in my HMMWV just incase. works like magic. attach a snatch block and problem solved. dont even need to really you can use it to pull you forward and no worries about the rest of the JK belly.


07 JK Unlimited
3 inch BDS suspension lift
33x11.5x16
JKS Quicker Disconnects
Warrior Products Tube Doors
Mopar Off Road Rear Bumper
Oil Pan Tranny Skid Plate by SkidRow
Custom Front Winch Bumper by RoundStar OffRoad
Skyjacker Adjustable Rear Track Bar
Skyjacker Brake Line Extenders
Rock Krawler Adjustable Front Lower Control Arms
And Plenty of "CHARACTER" From rocks and Trees
“A bad day on the trail, is better than good day in Prison!”
^ YCP 4X4 motto ^

 

Not so fast - who wants a front mounted receiver? Have you seen how far those stick out?

Now, a snatch block could work up front if I could find a way to mount it securely to the undercarriage. If it is flopping around, the line will probably come off or the line would rub on something.

 

Interesting idea. However, sometimes you can't go forward. In my case, the snow kept getting deeper, thats why I couldn't go forward. (where I got suck only about 2" of my front tires were above the snow, and the front bumper was covered)

EDIT: And WOW are those things pricey! Although I can definitely see where they could come in handy....

 

i have also thought about this on several occasions. the best thing i have come up with so far is to have a piece of C-channel running along the bottom of the jeep to keep it straight (or something to that effect), then have a fairlead of some kind that is hitch mounted. obviously like you im still working on the details.

 

If you were burried, how would you run it from the front to the rear?

 

I've had simliar thoughts on this idea. Found this diagram though it looks to require ALOT of cable and several snatch blocks.



Something to think about.....

I also recall seeing (years ago) a setup on military cargo trucks that used a series of pulleys attached along the undercarriage/framerails that routed the cable from the front mounted winch back to a fairlead mounted in the rear bumper. Very slick!

 

My recomendation? Carry a Hi-Lift Jack with you, so when you need to pull at an odd angle, you still can. My winch is my primary means of recovering myself if I am alone. It's the rest of the gear that backs it up. Which is why I carry all my straps/shackles/shovel/hi-lift jack.

The Hi-Lift may not be as easy as a winch, but you can use it for those odd angles.

 

When I was young, my Dad did a lot of expiditions in the Amazons. Out there you will incounter some of the deepest/stickiest mud and ruts you will ever see. To winch backwards they would actully just toss the winch line under the axles and hook up to the vechical behind them or a tree, it had to be a strait pull though. I belive this worked well for them because they were in a LandRover which has both diff.'s offset to one side, they are also 3rd member axles so the housings are fairly smooth. Next time I go over to visit I have him dig up some old pictures and scan them, I know I have seen a few that show them winching backwards.