I am interested in installing a winch on my J/K and was wondering if there is previous discussion boards or info about what people actually use in the real world of offroading. I currently have a 9500i series warn and wanted to know
a) what is a good length of cable to have
b) run synthetic rope instead- if so what length

 

I have the same winch and run 100' of synthetic rope, which has worked out great for me. You reduce the weight on the front bumper, and it is so much safer and comfortable to work with than wire rope. The new synthetic's have moisture/mildew preventatives and I for one think that wire should go the way of the dinosaur. Unfortunately, Warn does not agree, and when I wrote them about offering either synthetic or no rope on a new winch, they said it was not financially feasible. In other words, the winch giant makes to much profit from wire rope.

 

Go out to Warns website and look at the specs for that specific winch. It will tell you the line length and thickness to use. Don't guess, and don't take other peoples 'guesses' as fact. Go look...

 

Look at smittybilt too. Its cheaper and hasn't let me down. I have the 10k comp with synthetic line for like $500 or so