A 4WD winch has always been considered one of the pinnacle identifiers of having a kitted out 4WD vehicle and if you have a 4WD winch (or two) fitted to your vehicle the uninitiated could easily consider you a gnarly 4WDer and someone who hits unbelievably tough tracks, and lived to tell the tale!

However even though many people know what a winch is, and many people have a 4WD Winch fitted to their vehicle, not many people understand the mechanics of a winch recovery and how to  safely operate an off road winch for an easy 4WD solo recovery.

There are a handful of simple and effective techniques that over the years have become mystified and seem too complex for many people to attempt to undertake, regardless of how easily a sturdy winch can quickly and easily enable you to escape a tricky situation on the tracks.

So we are going to demystify these techniques and help you choose a 4WD winch, and show you some tips on how to use it correctly and safely!

CHOOSING A WINCH!

There are thousands of excellent winches available on the market, offering everything from included wiring kits, winch cables and even options for wireless controllers. Many brands offer units with different line pull speeds and weight ratings to suit everything from quad bikes to fully loaded tourers with campers in tow.

There is almost a winch for every application, but with all features considered an Adventure Kings Domin8r X 12,000lb Winch offers 4WDers an excellent value-packed winch that is full of features and utilities not found on even some of the most expensive winches on the market, and for way less than you’d imagine.

Starting with its load pull rating, the Domin8r X 12,000lb winch offers nearly 5500kg of pull, coupled with an Adventure Kings Snatch block can be doubled to nearly 11000kg of pulling power, this is one of the highest ratings available on a winch, and anything more would require a custom fabricated winch cradle.

The Domin8r X winch empowers an efficient 7.2HP motor, which offers power on demand, coupled with a hugely reduced 218:1 automatically braked gearbox, which gives an absolutely controlled faster winching speed, for push button recoveries!

The control box of the Domin8r X winch offers wireless control, for easy control but with the option of connecting a control cable to manually operate making tricky recoveries much simpler.

With included 9.5mm X 26m Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene winch rope, and an included Hawse fairlead, and included winch hook, there is little needed to get your 4WD winching!

RECOVERY TIPS

No matter what situation you get into, you will require a Recovery Kit that includes at least a tree trunk protector, a winch dampener and a set of gloves to protect your hands. Something like the Hercules Complete Recovery Kit, offers just about anything you could need to get your vehicle out of trouble, and without these accessories a winch can become next to useless and potentially dangerous and by not preparing you are not giving yourself the best possible opportunity to get your vehicle free.

Before attempting to try a winch recovery, it is good to familiarize yourself with the operation of your winch, work out how to operate the manual clutch for unspooling cable. This disengages the spool from the gearbox. It is also a good idea to work out how to spool your winch cable back in using the controller, in both wireless mode and wired in, this will ensure that when the pressure is on you know how your winch works.

SINGLE LINE PULL

• Disengage your winch clutch and pull out enough winch line to reach your anchor point if there is not enough length, employ a winch extension strap to reach a suitable anchor, for example; a large tree, another vehicle or even a ground anchor like a spare tyre buried underneath sand.
• Cover metal components of the anchor using the winch dampener, this will prevent components becoming projectiles in case of critical failure of components.
• Re-engage the clutch mechanism on the winch drum, connect the remote and spool in some winch line to get it under tension.
• Begin winching using 30 seconds of winching followed by 30 seconds of letting your winch rest, make sure your engine is running making sure you don’t drain your battery, it is also a good idea to have your vehicle in low range, in first gear to assist the winch in getting your vehicle free.

DOUBLE LINE PULL

This mechanism will double your winches effective pulling power, however, will slow down your pull speed by half, it is highly effective at extracting your vehicle from the suction of thick mud.

• Disengage your winch clutch and pull out enough winch line to reach your anchor point and return to your vehicle, if there is not enough length, employ a winch extension strap to reach a suitable anchor, for example; a large tree, another vehicle or even a ground anchor like a spare tyre buried underneath sand.
• Connect your snatch block to the anchor, using a shackle to fasten the snatch block to your anchor whilst running the
• Cover metal components of your vehicles anchor system using the winch dampener, this will prevent components becoming projectiles in case of critical failure of components.
• Re-engage the clutch mechanism on the winch drum, connect the remote and spool in some winch line to get it under tension.
• Begin winching using 30 seconds of winching followed by 30 seconds of letting your winch rest, make sure your engine is running making sure you don’t drain your battery, it is also a good idea to have your vehicle in low range, in first gear to assist the winch in getting your vehicle free.