Finding a winch that met the first requirement of 8000lbs or more was easy. Most if not all winch manufacturers offer something in this weight category. To determine what weight rating you would need take the weight of your vehicle and double it. That means that generally an open topped Jeep will need a winch rated some where between 6000 and 8000lbs. If you are not sure of the weight of your Jeep err on the side of caution and go for a heavier rating. One of the important variables that had to be studied was whether we wanted an electric winch, hydraulic winch or PTO driven winch. With the PTO ports on the side of our NV4500 or with the Spicer 18 transfer case that we used there was a possibility to use a PTO winch however this type of winch has been all but abandoned for recreational off road use and as such the choices in this category are limited. Hydraulic winches are available that plum in to the power steering system on a Jeep but with the thoughts that we may eventually add a hydraulic steering assist and/or hydro boost brakes our power steering system might eventually lack the power needed to operate three different components even with a pump upgrade. It seemed the obvious choice was an electric winch.

There are many brands of winch available. They range from no name or some times brand name "economy" winches that are made in China and lack the quality or durability for long term use to the high dollar "competition" winches that have come on to the market. One name that always means quality is Warn. Warn Industries has been building winches and drive train components since 1948 and is arguably the premier name in off road recovery. Warn offers many options in the 8000lbs and up weight range so all that was left to do was narrow it down to one particular model.

After looking at the winches that Warn produces it was decided that the Warn 9.5XP winch would be the perfect match for our vehicle. First the winch has a new high output parallel series wound 6 horse power Bosch motor that when combined with the 3 stage planetary gear reduction and continuous duty control pack give the 9.5XP the longest duty cycle and fastest line speed of any Warn winch while under load. The 9.5XP has an unloaded line speed is a respectable 38 feet per minute. The weight rating of 9500lbs meant that there would be power to spare. Features such as full face contact drum seals, motor and end housing gaskets and a high gloss powder coat over chromate coated alloys mean that the winch will stand up to the demands of water and corrosion. This winch seemed to be the best fit for two of our requirements and with the exception of the brand new Warn 9.0Rc competition winch none of the Warn models come with a synthetic line installed from the factory so the last requirement would have to be purchased separate from the winch.

As Warn is a large scale manufacturer they do not sell directly to the public. That means that to purchase a Warn winch you must find a retailer to purchase it from. We sourced our 9.5XP from GoWarn.com. GoWarn is an online retailer who specializes in the Warn line of winches and accessories. In addition to the 9.5XP we had a few accessories we wanted to add to our order. Rather than hard wiring our winch to the battery we ordered a set of quick disconnects which you can see pictured. These red plastic disconnects allow you to unplug the winch and plug in other devices. In our case we ordered a set of jumper cables that have the standard jaws on one end and the quick disconnect plug on the other. Our order from GoWarn.com arrived promptly and the order was perfect. If you are looking for a Warn item give GoWarn.com a try. They have quick and friendly service and their prices are very competitive.

After the winch was ordered the search started for the right winch rope for our application. This market has gotten very competitive in the past couple of years and there are now many suppliers. The boom is mostly due to the extremely attractive benefits of synthetic rope. Safety is the number one reason many four wheelers are making the switch to synthetic. While there is a misconception that if a synthetic rope under load snaps it will just drop to the ground it is true that it will be much less dangerous. While getting hit with a snapped rope might hurt or even give you permanent injuries it would be much less likely to kill or maim you. Another safety benefit is that if synthetic rope has a fray in it and the fray passes through your hands it is not going to injure you. Other benefits to winch rope are that they are lighter than steel cable and that they are actually stronger than steel cable. The only real draw backs to rope is that they are not as durable when being rubbed against an abrasive surface and they are affected by heat so the inner layers of rope on a winch that gets hot during use can weaken.

After looking at the many choices available we found the product that was perfect for us. Winchline.com offers winch ropes in a host of sizes, lengths and colors as well as offering every accessory imaginable to ensure that you have everything needed for any recovery operation. Their Viking series of winch lines are available in two main types. There is the Viking Trail line that is made from Samson's 12 Strand AmSteel synthetic material. The other main type is the Viking Fire line that is made from Samson's Tec-12 temperature resistant material. You can buy winch lines made of either material or a combo of the two. We went with the combo. This meant that the first 25 feet of material was the Viking Fire line so that the heat of the winch drum would not affect the rope. The remaining 75 feet of line was the standard trail line and silver in color. This meant that the synthetic rope looked very much like the steel cable we were replacing.

With the colors and materials chosen we considered the other options available. We went with the upgraded Excel hook. The Excel is a cast iron hook that looks like it belongs on a much larger winch. The added strength gives good piece of mind that you have a winch hook that will not fail you. To secure the Excel hook to our new winch line we opted for the crush proof thimbled eye to ensure that the hook did not wear on our rope. To ensure that rocks, ledges and trees do not hurt our rope we selected the 10 foot rope protector. This protector is the yellow weave that you see wrapped around the bumper in the pictures. This protector can be moved to what ever point on the rope needs additional protection. It is important to note that we opted for 100 feet of 3/8ths rope. The 5/16ths rope is already stronger than steel but we decided that 3/8ths would give us the ultimate in strength. We knew that we would have to get less 3/8ths rope than the 125 feet of 5/16ths steel cable that came with the 9.5XP to get it all to fit on the drum. We gambled and ordered 100 feet of the 3/8ths rope. With the protector in place we cannot get it all to fit on the drum. Our solution for now is to wrap it around the front bumper. This is alright for a temporary fix but we will either need to shorten the rope or remove the protector to get the rest of it on the drum of the winch.

To round out our order with Winchline.com we turned our attention to the accessories that would be needed. First and fore most the galvanized steel rollers on the roller fairlead that came with the 9.5XP were not smooth enough for use with the winch rope. Rather than order an aluminum Hawse fairlead which is the common solution we opted for the Delrin replacement rollers. Delrin is a very hard very durable plastic that shares many characteristics with Aluminum. These rollers are smooth enough to be used with the rope yet are hard enough that they will stand up to the load that could be put on the rollers in a side pull. Because it is important to protect any trees that we might have to use as our anchor point we ordered one of their tree savers and to ensure that any odd angle pulls are no problem we ordered up one of their rope friendly snatch blocks. The last item we put on our list was one of their 30 foot Kinetic Yanker lines. These tow ropes are maid from 100% premium DuPont Nylon Double Braid. These lines will stretch up to 30% before breaking and will store and then release kinetic energy on a pull to help make any extraction easier. For tow ropes the rating should be 5 to 7 times the weight of the vehicle so we opted for the 7/8ths inch thick rope which has a rating of 28,300 lbs.

With our Winchline.com order on its way we moved on to installing our in cab winch controls. In some cases it is a lot easier to control the winch yourself from inside the cab rather than having some one in harms way out side of the Jeep trying to use the wired control that is supplied with a winch. The 12 Volt Guy offered the perfect solution for our application at a very reasonable price. In the pictures you can see how the panel was put together when we received it. Normally the backing plate is made out of aluminum but we dislike all things shiny so we had it mounted on a black backing plate. After looking at how we were going to build our under dash switch panel it was decided that this backing plate was going to be a hair too big. Since our switch panel was made from angle iron and some stout sheet metal we opted just to mount the two switches and light that made up the kit in our panel but used the original backing plate as a template to mark the wholes in our panel in the same configuration as the kit from the 12 Volt Guy. The wiring was an easy process. The 12 Volt Guy's kit comes with detailed instructions that clearly explain how to have your self winching from within the cab in no time.

Once the order from Winchline.com showed up we removed the steel cable from our 9.5XP and ran the synthetic line onto the drum. Since these installation pictures were taken we have had the chance to use our winch to free a stuck TJ and were amazed at the speed with which the 9.5XP operated. The added safety of the synthetic rope helped make us feel a little safer in the process. A few weeks later we put the quick connect jumper cables to the test and they made the job of helping out that Hyundai a lot easier. While we realize that everyone has different needs and that each budget is different this current configuration should meet the needs of almost any trail rig. So start saving your pennies and begin contemplating which winch will give you that extra level of insurance you need.

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