Do You Need a Winch?

You need a winch on the front bumper of your Jeep if you might find yourself stuck in a slippery spot with no one around to help you. You might want a winch if you are in a Jeep club and very few members have a winch. It is always good to have a winch when off-roading, but winches are expensive and just a little dangerous to use. Not everyone has one, not everyone who owns a Jeep needs one.

Let's just assume you are waving your hands saying "Shut up, shut up, shut up, already! I want a winch. My manhood cries out for a winch!" So you want a winch? Here's how to pick one out, find a good one, get everything you need for the install, and stick it on your Jeep's front bumper.

Selecting a Winch

Winches come in as many varieties as there are flavors of ice cream. When you open the Quadratec catalog, they have pages dedicated to winches with all sorts of equipment you can get in addition to your winch, and they have a bunch of winches for sale. What the heck should you get?

There are basically three decisions you need to make to buy a winch, and these are not very tough decisions.

Strength. To pull a Jeep out of trouble you need at least 1.5 times the pulling power of the weight of the Jeep. A stock Jeep TJ weighs in at 3,500 lb. If you have upgraded yours signficantly, it might weigh as much as 4,000 or 4,500 pounds. Aftermarket bumpers front and back can add as much as 125 pounds. Skid plates are heavy, as are upgraded axles. Bigger tires from better brands are much heavier than the stock Goodyear GSA tires. Hard tops add weight too. If you want to know how much your Jeep weighs, you could take it to a weigh station and ask them to let you weigh it, but I don't think that is necessary. You should be able to do the math in your head.

If your Jeep is mostly stock, then it will weigh less than 4,000 pounds. If it is upgraded with huge tires and everything, then about 4,500.

Most people suggest that an 8,000 pound pulling power winch is plenty for pulling a TJ out of the mud and then some. Less than 8,000 pounds is really not enough, considering that you might get really stuck and need extra pulling power, or you might try to pull someone else out of a jam with your winch who has a bigger, heavier vehicle.

8,000 pound winches are perfect. Some monster Jeeps might want 9,000 pound winches. Some guys go even further. If price is a concern, 8,000 ought to do it.

Style. There are two kinds of winches, generally. There are exposed solenoid winches and integrated solenoid winches. The exposed solenoid winches have a little solenoid box that you will have to mount somewhere. The integrated solenoid winches give a cleaner look, and might hold up better long term. Maybe not. I cannot say - mine has not seen enough action. I chose integrated solenoid because I thought it might be a little tougher. Most winches have an outboard solenoid. Integrated solenoids are more expensive.

I'd think that strength is more important than the style of solenoid on your winch. If you have a choice between a 9,000 pound winch with an outboard solenoid and an integrated solenoid winch with only 8,000 pounds of pull, get the outboard solenoid, unless you are pretty sure your Jeep will never have 35" tires and huge axle and other upgrades.

Brand. There are a few brands of winch. Warn is the most popular, most expensive, and best known. This company, I can say from experience, provides excellent support for customers after the sale. They are responsive to phone calls, and are great to deal with. And you pay for it. Ramsey is the other major brand of winch out there. These are pretty expensive as well. Mile Marker winches are a little less expensive. There are some other, less-well-known winch companies out there that produce winches as well. See the Reading Assignments below for links to these company's products. Decide for yourself. I liked Warn's well-known reliability and excellent customer service.

Selecting a winch can be agonizing, as there is very little information available about the reliability of various brands and the customer service they provide should it arrive with parts missing. Mine arrived with parts missing, so I was feeling pretty smart for having ordered from Warn. If you have questions, search JeepForum.com and hunt for brand and winch. You will find a ton of information there to help you with your purchase. You can also post a question to The Guys asking them for advice on which to get and what their experience has been with any particular brand.

The best advice I can give is to shop slowly and patiently. Spend a few months digging around for information on winches before you purchase one. $500 or more can be a huge ticket to pay for something that you won't like once you have it.

Winch Shopping

Once you have chosen the strength level, style, and brand you want, you are pretty much done picking a winch. I picked the Warn x8000i. It has 8,000 pounds of pulling power, an integrated solenoid, and it's a warn. They sell for as much as $1000. I got mine for $661.00 with free shipping.

Internet shopping for winches is definitely the way to go. How will you install it? Yourself! That's right! Anyone can install a winch. All you need are a few mechanic's tools - not many - and a little elbow grease. You can have it together in a couple of hours, even if you can't change a flat tire. Jeep TJ's are very easy to install winches on. Don't be scared. This is going to save you a lot of money, and the instructions that come with the winch are so easy you'll laugh that you ever doubted you could do this.

To shop for a winch, you can use the Froogle function on Google. Just type in the brand and model you are looking for, and page through the results thoroughly, taking notes of the URL's of the web sites that sell that winch and the prices.

Now that you have a list of web sites, go to each one and find their customer service phone number. Now call the number. This is very important. If they do not answer the phone number, or especially if the phone number goes to another company, TAKE THESE GUYS OFF YOUR LIST. Your winch might come with damaged cables (mine did) or missing parts (mine did), and you don't want to find out that the company you ordered it from won't take your calls after you gave them $500 or more. Call all of the companies. When you find a good one with a low price, order from them.

I recommend GoWarn.com. They answer email quickly, they answer their phone, and if they aren't in to take the call, they return it. I have gotten results from them every time I have contacted them. I ended up buying my winch plate from them. I wish I had purchased the winch from them as well. Luckily, since it was a Warn winch, the Warn company supported me after the sale, sent me all the missing parts Next Day Air at their expense, and for free, too!

Once you are secure that the company you picked is safe and trustworthy, then order away. Your winch will arrive, if you are smart, with shipping free and at your doorstep in a week or less.

Winch Parts

You need more than a winch to perform installing on your TJ. You also need a winch plate, which is basically a heavy, metal seat for your winch to bolt to that fits it to the bolt locations on the top of your front bumper. Warn makes an excellent winch plate. Many people prefer the Tomken winch plate, because it has a little bull bar to protect the winch. Harbor Freight supposedly has a TJ winch plate which is extremely inexpensive and does a great job.

Bolt Measurements Made Easy. In order to understand your parts list, you need to know how to read bolt measurements, something I didn't know before I started my winch project and did not get all of the right parts. Bolts, washers, and nuts are measured with the width of the screw part of the bolt first, then the number of threads in an inch of length, and then finally the total length of the bolt itself. So, a bolt with measurements of 1/2x16x1 1/2 is one half inch wide on the threaded part, 16 screw threads per inch, and 1.5 inches long.

SAE bolts are graded 2, 5, and 8, where 2 is typically unmarked low or medium carbon steel, 5 has 3 radial slashes on the head and is tempered medium carbon steel, and 8 has 6 radial slashes and is tempered alloy steel. In fact, Metric bolts have similar markings which tell us about the relative strengths of the bolts. The Metric equivalents of Grades 2, 5 and 8, are Class 5.8, Class 8.8, and Class 10.9, with 8.8 (or 8,8), and 10.9 (or 10,9) on the bolt's head. Metric bolts without markings are assumed to be 5.8. Take a look at this for more information:

Let's review the parts you will need to complete this exercise:

• Winch
  
  
• Winch Hook
  
  
• Fairlead - usually a roller type
  
  
• Winch remote control
  
  
• Winch rope - usually already on the winch.
  
  
• Power cables to connect to battery - usually attached to the battery.
  
  
• Tow Hook Bumper Bolts. Four bolts to connect plate to tow hook location on top of front bumper.
  Mine were 1/2x13x1.5". Get grade 8 if at all possible. Grade 5 is OK, though. Grade 5 bolts are your minimum for this application. I reused the ones from my tow hooks. Don't worry about nuts. There are nuts welded to the underside of the frame that are permanently mounted.
  
  
• Sway Bar Bolts. Two bolts to connect plate to the front bolts on the sway bar clamps (behind the tow hook bolts). These are Metric, so you won't find them in grades like grade 5 or grade 8. Just take what you can get. 10x1.50x35mm are these bolts. It's interesting the way the Jeep has some metric parts on it from Europe or Asia and some American parts on it right next to each other. To keep the winch level on the uneven surface you get 8 washers that are M10 as well (same size as the 10mm bolts, obviously)
  
  
• Fairlead BoltsTwo bolts to connect fairlead to the winch plate. These were 7/16x14x1 hex bolts with 7/16x14 nuts and 7/16 lockwashers. Lockwasher are split so that they put pressure on the bolt when it is tightened down. This helps hold it together.
  
  
• Four bolts to connect the winch to the plate. These come with square nuts 3/8x16 which go int he feet of the winch. 3/x16x1.25 hex bolts were what I got. Grade 8 if possible, grade 5 is OK. 3/8 lockwashers for each bolt would be appropriate.
  
  
• Two bolts to connect the solenoid mount to plate and solenoid to the mount (if not integrated). Mine had none.
  
  
• Winch Plate
  
  

You can't just use any old bolts from Home Depot or Lowe's to mount your winch. My winch first arrived without all necessary hardware, so I shopped around and learned that there are grades of bolts. Regular zinc-covered bolts will snap in half under 8,000 pounds of strain. You need grade 5 bolts or grade 8, which are the best. Unfortunately, some of the bolts you will need cannot be found in "grades". I have no idea why, but the metric bolts on the sway bar clamps do not come in grades. Only American measurements come grade 5 or grade 8. Always prefer grade 8, but grade 5 will do if you can't get grade 8.

When your winch arrives, the first thing you should do is unpack it immediately and check for damaged parts. Then check it for missing parts. Make sure everything that comes with your winch is in the box. If it isn't, immediately call customer service at the place you ordered it.

My winch didn't come with a list of parts that should have shipped with it. I didn't get the "you should have received these parts" list until I received the winch plate. Once I had that, I was surprised how many things didn't come with my winch and my winch plate. Make sure you have all the parts when it arrives.

Also, don't put pressure on yourself by ordering the winch for an upcoming event. You don't want to be in that position of being all excited to get your winch and then find out that it is missing parts. Take your time. Go slow.

Tools You Need

Breaker Bar. Basically a long handled driver with a 1/2" or 3/8" head on it for sockets used to undo tight bolts that are hard to unscrew. The longer and heavier, the more power! YEAH!

Ratchet Wrench. These make screwing and unscrewing work fast. Many prefer a power tool. I like these fine. 3/8" is the most popular size for this.

Torque Wrench. Get two. Get one that is heavy duty for your tire lug nuts that goes up to 150 ft-lbs. Get a lighter one that only goes up to 70 or so for smaller jobs. Get one that knows the torque instead of one with a gauge, because often you can't read the gauge in tight places.

T-55 Torx Bits for your ratchet wrench, torque wrench, and breaker bar.

Socket set. Always have a socket set on hand. If you don't want to invest, get a little $15 kit at Walmart that comes with the ratchet wrench. Later, upgrade to Craftsman and Snap-On if you enjoy this sort of work.

Open Ended Wrenches A standard set of open ended wrenches also comes in the little $15 kit from Walmart. They'll be useful for holding the nut still while you drive in the bolt with the ratchet and torque wrenches.

Zip Ties. Get some plastic zip ties to keep the cables nice and tidy under the hood.

Winch Installation

This is a snap. Anyone who has some sockets, a torque wrench, a ratchet wrench, and a t-55 torx bit for their ratchet wrench can install a winch. It's very heavy, but easy. I mean heavy when I say heavy. The plate might weigh between 20 and 40 pounds. The winch will weigh at least 70 pounds.

1. Bolt the fairlead onto the front of the winch plate. This isn't too difficult. Usually it just requires a bolt on each side. Get out your torque wrench after all of them in OK, and torque them to 50 ft-lbs.
   
   
2. Lay a towel down in front of your Jeep. I did not do this, so when I turned my winch upside down on the concrete, it got all scratched up while I fought the winch plate trying to bolt them together.
   
   
3. Turn the winch upside down on the towel.
   
   
4. Using the correct bolts, bolt the winch to the winch plate. The bolts will probably go from underneath the plate up into the feet of the winch. I panicked a little during this step because the last hole wouldn't line up. I loosened the other bolts, got the last one in, and then torqued them all down. Use your torque wrench to do this right.
   
   
5. Torque the bolts to 31 ft-lbs.
   
   
6. Unbolt the four big bolts on the top of your bumper. They might be holding on tow hooks. Pull them on out. If this is the first time anyone has ever unbolted these bolts, they might be held in with lock-tite, which is a kind of glue they put on the side of the threads of the bolt to make it lock into place and not come loose. If you cannot undo these bolts, get yourself a 1/2" breaker bar to get more leverage. Sometimes a little 3/8" ratchet wrench won't have a long enough handle.
   
   
7. Undo the little screws that hold on the plastic Jeep logo thing (sway bar shroud) in front of your grill. Remove it, and save it. You will need this later when your Jeep nears death and you remove the winch to put on the next Jeep you buy. You will want this shroud to go back on the Jeep and make it look stock again. Save the screws. Put them in a sandwich bag with a card that says what they are screws for. Store them away.
   
   
8. Sit the winch plate on top of the bumper. OMG IT IS HEAVY! Don't pull any muscles. Have I ever mentioned that lifting weights for strength is very helpful to those of us who are do-it-yourself guys? The more strength you have, the less of a challenge this is.
   
   
9. Put as many washers as needed on top of the sway bar clamp bolt holes and under the winch plate holes until flush. I used two washers on each side. The goal is to keep the winch plate flush against the bumper and the washers. You don't want it to rock. Stick in the bolts and tighten them to 32 ft-lbs.
   
   

   

   Here are the bolts from above. You can see the two black bolts in the tow hook. Those are the T-55 torx bolts that are 1/2x13x1 1/2 that you torque to 75 ft-lbs. The big silver bolt behind them on the frame rail is holding the sway bar clamp onto the frame rail. It is the 10x1.5x35mm bolt with the washers under the plate.

10. Bolt up the front bumper bolts. If you have tow hooks, go ahead and put these in too. If you have big fog lights, they might be in your way and the factory tow hooks might need to go. No big deal. Order some of those $10 and 10,000 pound tow hooks that are long and skinny from a catalog or from a hardware store and install them later. Sometimes factory tow hooks and fog lights don't work well together when the factory hooks are reversed. Torque to 75 ft-lbs.
    
    
11. Torque everything down to specs.
    
    

    

    Here's what it looks like when you have it mounted up. You can see where I snuck the fog light wiring and the cables for the winch into the grill on the left.

12. Shove the red and black cables through the grill past the radiator on the lower left of your grill. This required a little work and difficult reaching. It'll go - there's a spot for it. Just don't let the cables touch the fan.
    
    
13. Put on some gloves and disconnect the negative cable from your battery. Turn the little nut until it is loose, and then pull the cable connector off of the battery post. Do this for the positive cable ONLY AFTER YOU HAVE DONE THE NEGATIVE CABLE. This is very important, as we do not want a 660 amp current traveling to our heart and turning it off, cooking our brains, and making our eyeballs shoot out of the sockets to make room for the flames coming out behind them.
    
    

    DO NOT ALLOW ANYTHING TO TOUCH BOTH BATTERY POSTS.

    WEAR EYE PROTECTION

    WEAR THICK, RUBBER GLOVES

    STAND AT AN ANGLE WHERE IF THE BATTERY EXPLODES, SPLASH WILL BE MINIMAL. HIDE BEHIND THE HOOD BY THE PASSENGER DOOR AS YOU DO THIS

    MAKE SURE BOTH CONNECTORS ARE WELL AWAY FROM THE BATTERY AND WILL NOT SLOWLY BEND BACK AND TOUCH IT

14. Pull the nut off of the battery connector, slide the winch power cable end over the screw, and then fasten the nut behind it. Do the red cable to the positive terminal connector first. Then do the negative cable to the black winch cable.
    
    
15. Reconnect the postive battery cable.
    
    
16. Reconnect the negative battery cable connector after the postive connector.
    
    
17. You can use zip ties from the home improvement store to tie the cables to that rail that runs over your engine to keep them from ending up melted from contact with hot engine parts.
    
    

    

In the picture above, you can see the red and black cables zip tied to the rail on the passenger side to keep them from touching hot components that might eat through the insulation. All done!

WARNINGS

No pun intended.

My Experience

Lucky for you, my experience didn't go so smoothly, so I was able to provide what would have been some good advice for me to have before I started! I started out by picking the winch I wanted and shopping online for the cheapest price I could get. I found it at a particular winch vendor. I ordered from them, and the winch arrived. However, it was missing the hook, bolts, and other stuff. I didn't know that, however, because it was also missing a parts list.

So, I called the guys I ordered it from, and someone answered the phone, but not with that company's name. Instead, it was another company. They said that they get calls for these guys I ordered from all the time. I said, "Well, this number is on their web site for customer service." They guy on the other end of the phone said, "Really? They need to stop it. Give me the address."

I figured the winch plate must come with the stuff to mount everything, so I ordered one of those as well when I ordered the winch. When it arrived, it was a CJ5 winch plate, not a TJ winch plate. The web page I ordered from got hung up and I had picked the wrong thing.

The winch plate arrived, and I was so very disappointed - like a kid who gets a toy on Christmas that requires batteries but no stores are open that sell batteries. I sent it back to them, and I called the company up (GoWarn.com). They sent me a new winch plate out and began processing my return. They emailed me back when I asked how things were going, and they answered their phones.

The winch plate arrived, but it didn't have everything in it that I needed. It did, however, have a parts list, which told me my winch should have come with a hook and some more bolts. Oh no! I finally called up Warn directly, after a friend on JeepForum.com pointed out their excellent after-sale support. Warn sent me everything I asked for next day air at their expense for free. OMG! What a fantastic company.

Two days later, I finally had everything together and put it on my Jeep in 2 hours 30 minutes. It installed correctly on the first try.

All told, if I had read this page I just wrote for you before I did this, and if I had done as I was advised to do, I would have saved a lot of time and effort. I spent a lot of time with the winch sitting in my garage without opening the box. That was a mistake. I ordered a winch plate wrongly. I picked a bad company for the winch, even though I got it, and I shopped in hardware stores for bolts before I finally swallowed my pride and called Warn for help.

You can do better than this. Yes you can. So do some research and order yourself a winch and load up that front bumper.

Consequences

After installing the winch, I found that my front bumper was about 1/4" lower than it had been before the install. I measured before putting it on and after. After about a month, it was almost 3/4" lower than it was stock, so I needed to do something to level my Jeep back out.

After following advice in JeepForum.com, I ordered Daystar coil spring spacers. These are red polyeurthane circles that you put on top of your coil springs to make the vehicle sit a little higher. They are harmless, do not affect drive line, do not affect ride, do not rot, and are usually all you need to offset winch droop.

However, they were more difficult to install than the winch, so I'll save that write up for another day. But yes, I did it, so any guy can if he has some basic mechanics tools.

Reading Assignments

Read several write ups before you begin. You should have the process pretty much memorized before you start any job because you read so much about it. If you don't like reading instructions, then auto maintenance and upgrading is not for you. Go play with tinkertoys if you feel that way. Otherwise, drink from the fountains of knowledge below, become wise, and make it happen!

JeepSpeak.com has a great article on installing a winch on a Jeep TJ. Check this out before you start!

JeepWeb.com has another excellent write up on installing a winch on your TJ.

4x4xplor.com is an awesome site with a ton of write ups. This guy deserves a medal! The link takes you to his winch install. He's right, too. This is a little expensive, but installing a winch makes your Jeep look strong and mean, and it is always useful even if you almost never off-road. In fact, the less you off-road, the more likely you will need one! LOL!

Recovery Bible. Simply the most awesome site for instructions on how to use a winch in the field. Read this and live it!