How to size a winch?

Choosing the right winch size (capacity) is the first step in getting the right winch for your rig. Let’s look at the various options and break them down.

SUMMARY – It’s important to understand the following terms, but to summarize the general rule of thumb for selecting a winch is: Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) x  1.5. Example; a Jeep with 4,400 lb GVW would need a 6,600 lb rated winch minimum.  But since you won’t find a 6,600 lb winch you would round up to 8,000 lbs. Don’t be temped into rounding down and getting the lower capacity winch. It will fail you when you need it the most, which defeats the whole purpose of a 4×4 winch!

LINE PULL RATING – Each manufacturer will give a line pull rating for their winches. This is not only the actual mechanical capacity of the winch, but also factors in the tensile strength of the line. Just be aware that the line pull rating is based on the first layer of cable on the winch drum, which is the strongest. (smaller diameter = lowest gear)

LINE LENGTH – As the old adage goes, bigger is better, right? Not necessarily true for winch line length. Obviously the longer the line the more options you have when you get stuck as your range to find a suitable anchor point increases. But remember about the multiple layers of cable on the winch drum affecting pulling power. The longer the line, the more layers of cable when it’s all spooled up on the winch. That means to get your maximum pulling capacity you’ll have to spool it all out. This is not only time consuming, but awkward as you deal with all the extra line laying around. A good rule of thumb is 100 ft of line on the drum. Then you can carry an extension line that you can splice in if needed. You need to also consider your particular type of wheeling. If you often go out in the desert with few anchor points, then a longer line might be appropriate. If you mostly wheel in forests then keep it short and carry an extension line.