Posted in Defensive Driving, Safety

Hand winch vs Electric winch

If you only use a winch once or twice a year this may be worth looking at, buying a hand winch ($300.00) is a cheaper option to a bull bar ($3000.00) mounted electric winch ($2500.00). You will still need a full recovery kit, straps, shackles.

Some of the upside to a hand winch is you don’t need a bull bar fitted to your vehicle, you can remove the hand winch from your vehicle when it’s not required, very little maintenance required, you can attach it to the front or rear of your vehicle, it will work under water and you can remove trees of the road without driving your vehicle off the road.

The downside to the hand winch is, it takes a bit more work in setting it up and a few muscles required to recover your vehicle.  You do need to stand next to the winch to operate it, this does put you in the danger zone but the sheer pin in the handle should break before the cable, but for your protection always use your cable dampener should the cable break.  Looking at a course

The downside to an electric winch is that many people fail to appreciate that their winch and its internal workings are not completely sealed from the elements. Even rain or washing your 4X4 can lead to moisture inside your winch. Drive along a beach and you get corrosive salt inside your winch. Cross a creek and you get mud in the same place, so they do need to be serviced at least every 2 years. The electric winch needs power so it won’t work under water and you need to keep the vehicle running in order to keep the battery charged while operating the electric winch.  Doing a 4WD course will help you

Overall the hand winch is more flexible and cheaper but you have to do all the hard work.  For people that like testing their vehicle in tough conditions I would recommend a hand winch.