• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Looking for a winch

They have been made yes. I plan to have it on the truck before even hitting the trail. I just want to remove it when it's sitting in my driveway, me being at work all day long and to keep the weather off of it. I ordered some Anderson connectors like you'd see on a fork truck battery, they for #2 AWG wire and will work if I need to quickly remove the winch. I will shorten the leads if I see fit, the extra foot or so isn't going to make a huge difference, these are the cables that came with it, so they're 5' at most.

just for fun... take the amperage draw at full load and see how much resistance there is in 4awg wire over a given length. the calculations should be a simple google search away. you may be surprised.




its probably "alright." i dont think warn would put a length of cable in a given size that was inadequate for the winch to perform at full load. but i permanently mounted mine to my bumper and shortened the leads to almost 1.5' for best performance. you can also buy fairlead mounts that bolt under the winch. a simple neoprene cover keeps it safe when the jeep isnt in the garage.

you made mention of a trip in a week or two? where are you going?
 
just for fun... take the amperage draw at full load and see how much resistance there is in 4awg wire over a given length. the calculations should be a simple google search away. you may be surprised.




its probably "alright." i dont think warn would put a length of cable in a given size that was inadequate for the winch to perform at full load. but i permanently mounted mine to my bumper and shortened the leads to almost 1.5' for best performance. you can also buy fairlead mounts that bolt under the winch. a simple neoprene cover keeps it safe when the jeep isnt in the garage.

you made mention of a trip in a week or two? where are you going?

The cable that came with the winch is #2 not #4, just to clarify and yes I'm aware of the difference it would make. I've been playing with big cables for years, being a car audio nuts tends to teach you a lot about this kind of thing. I wouldn't think Warn would but a sub par cable on their product. I've found a few fairlead plates but I don't see the point in going that route, I'll just spend the money on a proper winch bumper first if I was going to make it permanent. I park it outside all day everyday, wish I had place for it inside.

I'm heading to Silver Lake next month on the 16th. I doubt I'll use a winch out there, a recovery rope is probably a better choice. Hopefully my bumper doesn't fly off ....

You're referring to this right? Just for those watching at home
EJgE1QS.jpg
 
Last edited:
close... my smittybilt pulls almost 450 amps at full load.

and ive used my winch more at the dunes than anywhere else. even made money rescuing kids out there with mamas brand new JK (never asked for a dime, but they like to stuff money in my center council).

stay out of the trees.
 
Warn, like all manufacturerset, supplies cables for the usual applications and average use. It's a cost benefit ratio calculation. That doesn't mean it's the best solution, just the best MOST COST EFFECTIVE solution. Larger fine strand cable will have lower resistance so it will deliver more amperage with less loss by conversion to heat. (remember energy is neither created or destroyed, just transforms from one type to another) The electrical energy that is changed due to resistance converts to heat. In a short run, battery to front bumper, can get by with small guage cable. The longer run will need larger cable to maintain efficency. Also winches power consumption is a vastly different profile than auto stereo amps.
 
I thought about bolting it on and off each time but then I lose the ability to put it on the back, which is part of the reason to do this in the first place.

I'd have to find a winch plate if I left it on the bumper, there's no where to mount the fairlead currently.

Winch plates can be had for $50 or less.
Mounting on the rear might sound like a great idea but you arent going to use that feature enough to warrant losing ground clearance in the front and smacking obstacles with the winch.
You know where you wheel better than i do. I got rid of my reciever setup because of the mentioned reasons.
Since you are setup for the reciever now go ahead and try it out it might work out for you.
 
Honestly, I have been surprised by how little I hit my cradle-mount winch on something, even though I'm only at about 3inches lift right now - maybe once or twice in the 5 years I've had it. Of course, I'm not running "hardcore" trails, so that's probably a factor.

Being able to store the winch indoors away from weather/sticky fingers when not needing it was what I was looking for, as well as keeping the 80lbs off the nose when just pounding pavement. I ratchet-strap it to the spare tire in back when going to the trailhead, mount it there, and then take it off once off the trails for the day. Never had a need to mount in back, but I did splice an Andersen plug into the power wires and feed the connector out through the grill, no need to open the hood to hook up.

JCR Offroad sells (or used to sell) a set of "reinforcement plates" for their older bumpers that tied the 3 OEM bolts to a 4th about a foot back (this gives the same bolt pattern as the OEM tow hook brackets), I have a set with my similar-vintage JCR bumper and it's been plenty stout. Might be worth checking to see if they still offer them to "upgrade your bumper to be "winch-ready".
 
If they don't have those plates anymore, C-ROK does. I can vouch for them, they've been on my 90 since they came out, and will soon be going on my son's 97.
 
If they don't have those plates anymore, C-ROK does. I can vouch for them, they've been on my 90 since they came out, and will soon be going on my son's 97.

Interesting, I'll check these out. I was looking at there steering gear box spacer, I think it comes with sleeves for the unibody and new bolts. Need to get the used oem box I have in there and get a brace to finish it off for now.
 
I have just installed that very item on my son's 97. I've had the same piece on my 90 since the early 00s. I think I may have been one of the testers, it's been a while.

It does come with new spacers to weld in, but not bolts. They are available for just a bit additional. They also have a version with the additional space needed for the Durango box upgrade. I went ahead and just installed an OEM fitment box (had to replace his because of a sector shaft seal failure) and spacer. You can pretty much count on the stock spacer coming out in pieces and being unsuitable for reuse
 
I have just installed that very item on my son's 97. I've had the same piece on my 90 since the early 00s. I think I may have been one of the testers, it's been a while.

It does come with new spacers to weld in, but not bolts. They are available for just a bit additional. They also have a version with the additional space needed for the Durango box upgrade. I went ahead and just installed an OEM fitment box (had to replace his because of a sector shaft seal failure) and spacer. You can pretty much count on the stock spacer coming out in pieces and being unsuitable for reuse

Are you referring to this: http://www.c-rok4x4.com/c-rok-online-store/C-ROK-Cherokee-XJ-Front-Frame-Stiffiners-p38115469

This wouldn't really work with the bumper, I think I'd be better off making my own mount extensions out of 1/4" plate and welding them on, essentially creating a similar bolt pattern to these brackets linked above. I'm just not sure of the limitations associated with this bumper since it's home built. I'll get some pics this evening so you guys can beat me up a little more lol.
 
Yes, that was what I was referring to.

IMHO, I would just go with the C-ROK stiffeners if you can swing it. $170, including the through-tubes, steering box spacer, and a proven design with wrap-under wings is pretty hard to say no to unless you have access to a brake and fabrication experience.

I know you have a homemade bumper that won't work with them- seems to me it would be less work to reengineer the bumper mount surfaces than to fab your own braces. I had a similar problem way back when, and just cut the mounts off my bumper and welded new.
 
Yes, that was what I was referring to.

IMHO, I would just go with the C-ROK stiffeners if you can swing it. $170, including the through-tubes, steering box spacer, and a proven design with wrap-under wings is pretty hard to say no to unless you have access to a brake and fabrication experience.

I know you have a homemade bumper that won't work with them- seems to me it would be less work to reengineer the bumper mount surfaces than to fab your own braces. I had a similar problem way back when, and just cut the mounts off my bumper and welded new.

Well this escalated quickly. Got on the horn with Nates 4x4 which is local to me here in MI and he's whipping me up a winch bumper. I'm still going to make the winch removable, just bolt it on or off when I need it or buy a cover.

Here's a link to the bumper: http://www.nates4x4.com/XJ_Cherokee_Slimline_p/sl_long.htm

I ordered it without the brush guard which is bolt on anyhow. He's including a steering box spacer for free, so that's a small savings. Couldn't say no for $300.
 
I see the price is at $575. Who did you threaten to get that price?
 
I see the price is at $575. Who did you threaten to get that price?

Nobody, I actually found a post on craigslist for $375 and asked what it would be without the brush guard because I don't like the way it looks, just personal preference. I think I have mine sold to a guy locally already too.
 
Murphy is a good friend of mine, luck strikes again! STAY AWAY FROM NATES 4X4!

I've been waiting for 2 weeks for the hardware to mount the bumper. I told him before the Labor Day weekend, I had this trip planned this coming weekend. The Sunday before the holiday I drove to pick up the bumper over an hour away and paid cash, big big mistake. I figured I could trust the guy and wanted to support local folks. After the wild goose chase I've had between phone calls and texts, I don't wish anyone this terrible experience. I finally got the frame plates mounted yesterday and put the bumper in place. It looks like dog shit slapped on the front my jeep, huge gaps between the bumper and header panel, the fitment is terrible. The craftsmanship and welding aesthetics is awful, nothing is symmetrical or even. The bolts he ordered me were wrong so I had run back to Mid-state to exchange them for the correct size. The shackles are from China as well so I don't trust using them. Very disappointed and hopefully you guys learn from my mistakes. Lesson learned!
 
Sorry to hear about the issues with your bumper. Few thing more aggregating then getting something that doesn't live up to expectations. Hope you get things straight.
 
Back
Top