You’ve seen me push my tough little jigger of a D-MAX up some incredible tracks over the years. For a ute with just a couple of inches of lift and some good boots on it, it does so well to keep up with  various big rigs, especially on the seriously tough tracks. In fact, I’m constantly blown away by just how far I’ve been able to get the mighty extra-cab Isuzu, but I’ve always got one fact in mind. It’s better to make the call to use the winch early and safely get yourself through a particular obstacle, than it is to continually keep flooring it back and forwards. All that does is chew up the tracks, and risk denting your pride and joy. That’s why I’ve never been afraid to use my Kings Domin8r X winch to get the D-MAX through, up or over something. Here are some tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way that’ll help next time you’re running your 4×4 winch line, whether it’s recovering yourself, or your mates!

First things first. When you’re winching, it’s good practice to ensure that the 4WD winch controller wiring doesn’t hang loose between the control box and the inside of the vehicle. To make sure this doesn’t happen is easy! Connect the controller to your 12v winch control box, and wrap the lead around the upper cross-tube of the bullbar twice. While keeping tension on the lead, feed it back and around the driver’s side wing mirror and wrap it twice around. Now it’s in place to be passed through an open window, and there’s no way it’ll hang loose and risk getting caught by a turning wheel.

Plenty of times I’ve used the D-MAX as a recovery point for one of the other boys when there isn’t a suitable tree around. The easiest way to do this is grab a tree-trunk protector and feed it into the towbar, securing it with the towbar pin or a rated recovery point. Now you’ve got the perfect option for securing the 4×4 winch hook to the other end of the tree-trunk protector. Before winching starts I always ensure I’m in the vehicle with the engine on, the handbrake on and my foot firmly on the brake pedal.

Sometimes it’s not about simply winching forwards – you may need to use your electric 12,000lb winch to winch off to the side, away from a tree or a dirt bank. I actually could have kept driving in many of these situations, but all that’d do is jam the passenger-side panels hard into the dirt and stuff them all. Winching at anything up to a 45ׄ° angle is perfectly acceptable, but you’ll need to unspool the winch rope when you’re back on flat ground and re-spool it in, because it’ll have bunched up on that side you were winching towards.

Rated recovery points are the single most important thing you need to take away from this yarn, because people still use tie-down points to connect their winch hook to, and people die every year because of it. The simple rule of thumb is this. If it is welded to the chassis with a couple of small spot welds, it’s a tie-down point for securing the vehicle on a towtruck. If it’s bolted to the chassis with massive fat high-tensile bolts, or it’s an eyelet on the front of a bullbar that’s one single piece with the bullbar, it’s okay to use as a recovery point.

Selecting a tree to hang your 4WD winch off isn’t rocket surgery, but I’ve still seen trees pull out of the ground that otherwise looked like they’d be the go. Generally speaking it needs to be at least a foot in diameter, and it’s preferable if the tree is alive as that means the roots will have spread deep. Always, always use a tree-trunk protector (even with synthetic rope) and generally speaking, always keep the tree-trunk protector as close to the ground as possible

The exception to the rule of placement of tree-trunk protector as close to the ground as possible is when you’re doing a 4WD winch recovery up and over a rise with synthetic rope. It’s great stuff and almost perfectly suited to winch recoveries, but it can easily cop abrasive damage from rocks and tree roots. In this case, it’s better to position the tree-trunk protector up the tree. The rough equation I use for finding a suitable tree is that for every two feet up the tree the tree-trunk protector is positioned, the tree should be one foot thicker in diameter than what you’d normally consider okay connect your 12v winch to.

In really tricky terrain, a favourite trick I’m a big fan of is pre-spooling out your 4WD winch line and wrapping it around your bullbar or lights. What this does is save you from having to dig your way through festy mud to get to your 4×4 winch when you need it most!

A quality 4WD recovery kit doesn’t have to cost the earth these days, and in fact it’s almost better if they don’t. You can now pick up one for around $100, which is good because 4×4 recovery gear should be replaced regularly if it’s been used heavily. Mud and grit does get into recovery straps and can weaken them to the point that they will lose strength. It’s a much easier pill to swallow if you have to replace a $100 kit every year or two compared to one that costs four times that amount!

Always, always use a winch dampener when performing a winch recovery. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter whether you follow all the right steps or not, things go wrong and something will let go in the recovery process. A dampener is a failsafe that prevents a failed shackle or recovery point from turning into a deadly missile aimed straight at your head. Never use a 12v winch without one!