Choose the Right Winch

Congratulations!

You’ve taken the first step into figuring out which winch is the best for you.  By arming yourself with education, you’ll be certain to end up a happy and safe winch owner.  Here’s what we think is important for a prospective winch customer:

Start Here

We work with some of the best winching instructors and encourage you to check out their thoughts, techniques and years of wisdom on how to operate your winch correctly.  We’ve provided their tips as downloads here:

Trust

“You should be able to trust your winch and your winch supplier.  Look for a company that has a proven track record, has a team of in-house engineers to solve winching problems, a laboratory for intense winch testing and a company that stands behind what they sell.  Obviously, we put Superwinch at the top of this list.”  - Ned Cunningham, CEO Superwinch 

Rated Load

“A rated load of the winch can be helpful information.  Most companies rate their winches at the pulling strength their winch stops working (stall).  Superwinch differs in this approach – we believe in a safety margin.  Our winches stall above their rating.  That means a 10,000lbs rated line pull from Superwinch is capable of more than any 10,000lbs rated competitor.”  - Scott Peterson, Superwinch Senior Engineer and Project Leader for the Talon Series winches. 

Synthetics

“Synthetics are one of the best things to happen to winches in the past 40 years – lighter, potentially stronger and much easier on the hands.  But only a tested, quality synthetic rope is worth your trust.  At Superwinch, our testing has shown many ropes our competitors use are untrustworthy.  That’s why we go to the added expense of sourcing our synthetic rope in the USA.  Your rope is critical to winching, we won’t cut corners.” Phil Lemiux, Superwinch Director, Engineering and Quality 

Drums

“We believe synthetic ropes have caught some winch manufacturers off guard.  The different stress a synthetic rope puts on a drum is busting drums in the field, just like our testing showed it would.  That’s why Superwinch engineered upgraded, synthetic ready drums on our winches.  This way, our customers can feel safe that their winch will perform as they expect, no matter what rope they choose today or next season.”  Zach Bohn, Superwinch VP, Sales and Marketing 

Testing

“Superwinch designs, engineers and tests every single product that goes out the door.  Our test lab can simulate a pull up to 50,000lbs in a controlled environment.  While you may never pull that much, we’re testing castings, mounts, drums, ropes and more to insure every part meets our design and your satisfaction.”  Scott Saccoccio, Senior Engineer and Project Lead for Terra ATV Winch Project Solenoids“Superwinch builds the best Solenoids in winching today.  Our latest VS4 solenoid is the pinnacle of technology – a vented, sealed, submersible and isolated from vibration work of art; you’ll find it as standard on our award-winning TALON line of winches.  All our solenoids are designed to one-up the markets they serve.” - Rich Murray, Superwinch Test Engineer. 

Special note for Trailer Winching

In most trailer applications, you're dealing with a rolling load rather than pulling a dead weight.  It is often said that one can probably push your vehicle but most can't lift it.  Therefore, you need to size the winch to the rolling load.  Then you should select those winch features that you find most beneficial and that allow you to load the trailer safely by yourself.  Superwinch has combined the experience of manufacturing over 3 million winches with feedback from racers and collectors alike over the last 40 years.

Install It Properly

First, choose an installation site accessible to you.  Align an unobstructed path to the car that you are loading.  Prevent any metal-to-metal contact with the wire rope.  Mount the winch close enough to the trailer's front to pull the vehicle completely on.  If it's mounted under something, such as a toolbox, leave enough space to access the winch.

Consider a Pulley Block

With a hook for mounting and a pulley for the wire rope, a pulley block lets you offset the winch but retain a straight shot.  A pulley block can also be used to nearly double the winch's capacity by simply attaching the pulley block's hook directly to the load and the winch's hook is a sturdy mount near the winch.

Wire It Right

A trailer wiring kit, like the kind available from Superwinch, makes it easy to get power for the winch from the tow vehicle's battery.  To maintain electrical performance from the battery to the winch, we recommend dropping 3 wire sizes for every doubling of the length of the standard wire harness.  A quick disconnect plug for the truck comes prewired with a negative lead.  Simply install the special terminal to the positive side of the quick disconnect and position the plug at the rear of the truck, perhaps under the bumper.  If your tow vehicle isn't equipped with a towing package that includes a dual-wire ground setup, Superwinch recommends installing the negative battery terminal strap provided with their winches.  Take care that your wiring has fully secured leads which are clear of hot or moving parts.