Winch
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JK Newbie
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 22
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Winch
Hey everyone. I have a little bet going with my friend over something. Anyone ever heard of mounting a winch to the hood of your vehicle. Now I know. It's wild. I told him its not possible I just installed my own, it would tear it clean off the first time not to mention if you can figure out a way to mount that. Just wondering if anybody knew of ANY possible way that's not extreme. Thanks!
JK Jedi Master
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,800
Likes: 374
From: Midwest City, OK
Consider the hypothetical recovery of a vehicle mired in your choice of muck. Ideally you could pull it UP and FORWARD. You would want the winch below the anchor point. The farther below, the more you'll be pulling UP out of the muck. If you mount your pulling force too high, then you risk pulling DOWN into the muck. Get stuck as you're winching, and you may cause the vehicle to rotate some over its front wheels.
Winches mounted low provide optimal pulling (though get too low and you affect approach angle). Their pulling forces are through the frame rails, if mounted down within the bumper instead of on top of it. This is good. On top of the hood would just exacerbate these disadvantages, even if the hood were strong enough for the forces involved (it certainly is not).
Winches mounted low provide optimal pulling (though get too low and you affect approach angle). Their pulling forces are through the frame rails, if mounted down within the bumper instead of on top of it. This is good. On top of the hood would just exacerbate these disadvantages, even if the hood were strong enough for the forces involved (it certainly is not).
JK Super Freak
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 1,008
Likes: 64
From: Sweet Home, TX
TopGear BBC had a similar issue with one of their setups on the India special. They mounted a winch on a Mini Cooper, and then pulled all of the front body panels off because they ran the line through a snatch block connected to the bull bar that appears to be mounted to the top of the core support. I can't imagine the situation being any better if the actual winch were on the hood. On another note, the body panels in the JK are easily the thinnest I have ever seen. I think it is the biggest thing they should have done differently on the Jeep.
Last edited by tjkamp; Jan 14, 2015 at 02:44 PM.
