Winch substitution question

New to Tacoma, new to needing to self-recover ...

I have read about winching and watched videos on the types of jacks. I see how hi-lift can be a substitute winch (desperately slow, but ...) and how hi-lift jack allows lifting the truck enough out of the "environment" to "walk" it out of trouble.

But for pure pull is this come-along ( ) that has approx 1.5x weight of the truck a reasonable substitute for the winch? Assuming I may likely need for now to just get a few feet to find traction, it seems it might be good. Real winch can be later.

 

That would be a come-along. Any recovery with one of those is automatically a bad bad day.

 

Agreed that I do not want to be there, but some of the territory I want to cover in the near future is sandy wash. I have no specific facts but according to reports winching using a high-lift jack is slow ... how slow I do not know.

Would it be wiser to just get a good hi-lift and live with the time required to move the truck enough?

 

Bite the bullet. Get a real winch. Although. It’s always easier to get a friend to give you a tug.

 

it’s a very slow process and you can only get a foot or two before you have to rerig the setup and start over.

https://youtu.be/xldBPnzohtI

If you are worried about sand, I’d invest in a compressor and maybe some maxtrax or similar

 

A 8000lb come-along will not be enough. Typically you want something 3 to 4 times the weight of truck. Specially if you are solo, only pull with it, no one in truck.

 

More than a come-along, less than a winch...Wyeth Scott More Power Puller: 3-tons pull with double-line hookup
https://www.forestry-suppliers.com/...MIi_uSnqrN_QIViDatBh2OJAsIEAQYCCABEgLCEfD_BwE

https://youtu.be/HKjh8kbLRRQ

 

Yeah no to that death trap come along.
1/4” cable is at best rated to 8000lb Breaking Strength!

Also probably cannot get much leverage to apply more than about 1-2000lb force (not going to add a pulley on a 10ft cable) but if something shifts on a slope it could all go.

 

Solo, no one else in the truck ... good point

That would disqualify the 7000 lb hi-lift as well. Useful for "lift up and tip" but not pulling.

A real winch would need to be 3-4 times truck weight or just 2x like 10000? (Warn winch, I assume, as has been recommended)?

The sand I am thinking of is probably only a few inches deep (I have walked through it before) and some combination of 4L/MTS/Crawl would get me through if slowly.

 

The real issue here is that you want whatever is pulling you out, to be rated at twice the weight of your vehicle or more. Anything less, and it's known widely in the offroad community, that it's capable of breaking under the pressures. There is a reason you do not see those things widely shared on social media, in YouTube Videos, and I have never once witnessed anyone being pulled out by something like that in my 25 years of wheeling. If you think there may be a chance you would get stuck, look more into things like, learning to drive your truck in the sand, researching the tips and tricks to keep your vehicle moving or airing down your tires to float on top of the sand as much as possible, to keep from getting stuck.

Besides those things, a winch is really your best option here. If you cannot afford one, try to travel with someone who has one.

 

In sand twice weight is fine, mud 3 to 4times weight because of suction of the mud.

 

Learning first ... as in RTFM. But I am an engineer!

Seriously, I have been trying to learn, and am starting on "green" (vs "blue" or "red") trails. As to "afford", I have $1000 for a winch, but I also just spent $430 on Viair/deflator (air-down and back up), limited-recovery-gear (no snatch block yet), and would need a TRD skid plate ($400), tire kit ($50). Maxtrax ($180) and a highlift ($100) to try to lift out are in order. I have the cash, but was trying to do enough for now on a budget.

I do sincerely appreciate the bluntness of your answers (to ALL) because soft-peddling advice that could get someone into a world of hurt does NOT help at all.

I think a tire-puncture kit and the TRD plate are next, and stick to the "kiddie rides" for now.

 

I'm trying to help the best I can here. Why do you need a $400 skid plate? I'm not sure I understand the $430 for this air up/air down kit, I use a $30 Home Depot plug in air compressor and some $25 cheap deflators that have been fantastic for years. I feel like you're spending money on the things that are not as necessary. Are you going to be traveling alone or with another vehicle? If you have another vehicle, a good kinetic rope will do more for getting out of sand than anything else. I would skip the Hi-Lift Jack, and just go with a nice bottle jack, low cost, smaller in size, and more useful if you need to change a tire. We are just trying to help, the tone that our messages are read in, or the way our messages are interpreted is all on your end.

I don't mean to be blunt, or to come across as a know it all, I've just seen so many people get stuck, and then hurt, by trying to go cheap, or do things the old school way.

 

Get some traction boards and a shovel, most of the time that's all you will need to get unstuck.

I carry a hi lift as a last ditch effort tool. Just in case I ever need to lift higher than the bottle jack can go or use it as a come along.

But if I went off roading more than a couple times a year I'd invest in a winch.
If you don't want to get a steel bumper you can get a front tow hitch and mount the winch on a cradle so it can be stored away when not in use.

 

Sounds like you are on the right path, but as others have stated if you are alone your best best is a winch, anchor strap and snatch blocks to reverse onto itself to create more pulling power.

 

Blunt is good. My thick skull does not alway allow for less.

I could go with a

$102 Viair 88P Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88P ($90) or use my old "Slime brand" 100 PSI plug-in tire compressor (worked for the Corolla) at least until it proves insufficient. The $40 deflator can be kept possibly. The recovery kit has an ARB 30 ft recovery strap, but the kit may be too under-equipped to be useful and waiting to learn what is really needed makes more sense.

I have kept the three initial purchases in "not used" condition in case I decided it was unnecessary. Had the suspicion that maybe they saw a sucker coming (I said it, no need to feel guilty for agreeing).

 

Retired engineer here. Go big or go home. Buy once cry once. Yada, yada, yada. However, have you taken the truck out? Where are you going? What are your requirements?

For sand, get a real shovel (4 foot handle minimum), tow strap, several hard or soft shackles (I have both), some place to attach the shackles/tow strap. Tire pressure gauge. Tire deflator’s are nice, one for each valve stem saves the back. Get an experienced buddy and or find a group willing to take out a noob. They aren’t that hard to find we all wheeled for the first time.

 

2 front hooks, one closed already on. AZ has several sandy washes. I have been out enough ("runaway" like Brave Sir Robin) to see moguls. Those make me nervous enough about approaching with an unprotected nose.

I think reset my plans, return a few items, then: an 88P for air ($90), deflator ($45), maxtrax ($180), shovel ($20). $330 to get me over light sand and mud, and useful enough onroad as well.

 

also recommended a piece of plywood 3/4 x 12 x12 for support of jack in sand.

 

I have more than enough wood in-house to make a base for the bottle jack that came with the truck. Thanks for the reminder.