winches

[Bounty__Hunter]

Hydraulics don't run when the engine's off, and they're painfully slow compared to even slow electric winches.

 

[83-cj-7=383-stroker]

there is allso the option of going electric over hydrolic i had one on an old tow truck it had a 12volt motor that ran the hydrolic motor for not olny the winch but allso ran the wheel lift had plenty of power and stayed cool dureing winching

 

[jfrabat]

I have to say I am a bit surprised that no one has mentioned superwinch... I have run mine HARD (probably some of you have seen the videos whre the Jeep is winch deep in mud, and it gets me out!) for over 3 years without issues. I decided on my suprrwinch after reading the "winches in hell" article on the web (I think it is still online, bybthe way), and have had no regreats. I have their ePI 9.0, and now that version comes with synthetic rope, which makes it even lighter (a point mentioned in the OP).

Oh, and I also recommend to stay away from hydraulic winches... a couple of wheelers run them here, and they alsomhave problems with excess heat building up (keep in mind I wheel in mud, and radiators are a LITTLE less effective when covered in mud).