Top 10 Editors Picks: 2014 Heavy-Duty Pickup Winches
Winches are one of the most important, if not the most important, accessory that can be added to a pickup relegated to work in the field.
A winch saves both time and money as because it provides self-recovery when there’re no other vehicles around to lend aid when the truck it’s mounted on is immobilized by being stuck.
There are literally dozens of winch brands on the market today with a wide range of sizes capacities and applications split among electric and hydraulic operating systems.
That makes selecting the right winch for the job difficult for those who don’t have the background and/or experience related to their use.
A winch being tasked with work in the commercial, contracting, and construction trades has to be built with the highest quality components – and its internal workings sealed from the elements.
Not all winches are created equal in that regard. A growing number of winches on the market are being imported from China and other sources overseas where quality control and quality of components aren’t always held to as high of standards as some of the U.S.-made products.
A pickup equipped with a quality winch is a valuable tool around off-pavement jobsites.
To make matters more confusing, imported and US.-made winches sit on the same shelves.
Even well-known brand names such as Warn and Pierce have tiers within them that separate winches designed for every day use from the less expensive “consumer” winches that may be spooled out but once a year.
Taking all that into consideration, our HWT staff selected winches we feel are good choices in 2014. Our choices are based on decades of hands-on experience in the use and installation of winches.
These are the 10 we think are ideally suited for hard working pickup trucks, be they ½-tons or heavy-duty, gas or diesel, two-wheel-drive or four.
We’ve listed them in alphabetical order with a gallery of images below:
A pickup equipped with a quality winch is a valuable tool around off-pavement jobsites.
