We’ve all killed time on a lazy weekend watching those semi-cheesy yet still interesting Saturday afternoon 4WD themed shows, where a bunch of blokes and sheilas head out on a pretty well-travelled track on their way to tourist destinations and to also do some pretty easy 4WDing.

Inevitably in these shows someone takes a bum line through an obstacle and gets bogged. Instantly the winch line is run out, they push the button and pull their vehicle free and everyone pats each other on the back about how great the recovery went.

However, the “straight line pull” method so commonly employed by those on the silver screen isn’t your only option for a winching recovery, and more often than not is not even the most ideal way to recover your 4WD.

If your anchor is not directly in front of your vehicle, you can end up binding your winch cable overheating your winch, bending vehicle components and even ripping off your bull bar or winch and ceasing any further recoveries – also if you are in seriously deep terrain, the tv crews often miss the first step with a recovery that is pulling out the shovel and digging your 4WD a clear path to massively reduce the amount of force required to recover your 4WD.

Even though many people know what a winch is, and many people may also 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 and reliable 4WD recoveries.

There are a handful of simple and effective recovery techniques that over the years have become mystified in hammy TV shows and are made to seem far too complex for many average punters to attempt to undertake, regardless of how easily a sturdy winch coupled with a recovery kit and a little know how, can quickly and easily get you safely out of a tricky situation on the tracks.

So we are going to demystify some crucial winching techniques to you choose a 4WD winch, and show you some tips on how to use it correctly and safely no matter where you are!

CHOOSING YOUR WINCH!

There are thousands of excellent winches available on the market, offering everything from included wiring kits, different options of winch cables and even options for wired/wireless controllers. Many brands offer units with different line pull speeds and maximum weight ratings to suit everything from quad bikes to fully loaded 4WD tourers with packed up campers in tow.

There is almost a winch for every application, but with all features considered an Adventure Kings Domin8r X 12,000lb Winch is one of the best value 4WD winches. It is packed full of top quality features and functions that are not even found on some of the most expensive 4WD winches available on the market and are priced 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 Rated Snatch Block can be doubled to nearly 11000kg of pulling power, this is one of the highest ratings available on a standard 4WD winch and anything more would require a specially made custom fabricated winch cradle.

The Domin8r X winch takes advantage of an efficient 7.2HP Series Wound motor, which offers tonnes of puling power on demand, coupled up to a hugely reduced 218:1 automatically braked planetary gearbox, which gives absolute control and easy to handle winching speed for smooth and steady 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, with a Domin8r X Winch 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

A single line pull is useful when you have a sturdy anchor that is in a direct line with the axis of the vehicle. This type of recovery will get you out of trouble on short obstacles where your winch cable + winch extension can reach either another vehicle’s anchor point or even a stable tree.

• 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 a suitable 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.

SINGLE LINE REDIRECT

A single line redirect is used for short recoveries where you cannot reach an anchor in a direct line with the axis of the vehicle.

Your setup is much the same as a single line pull however using a Snatch block pulley you can take advantage of 2 separate anchor points perpendicular to the direction of pull and ensure the winch is constantly pulling in one direction to prevent winch cable binding.

The snatch should be rigged using a tree trunk protector (and winch extension strap if required) to locate the pulley on axis with the winch cable, and a secondary anchor using a tree trunk protector on the side of the track around a stable tree. Care should be taken to ensure that winch dampeners are used on all metal components of the winch recovery.

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.