Was out side by side riding this past weekend. Going through a rough area when we came across a couple stuck in a rut in their small SUV. Their vehicle wasn’t made for what they were trying to drive through but who cares? Adventures lead to adventures and we’ve all done something we shouldn’t have. I have a 3500 lb winch on my RZR. Looking at their plight I decided to ask them if they wanted me to try winching them out. I told them there was a good chance it wouldn’t work because my winch was only a 3500 lb winch and the RZR was a lot lighter than their small SUV. They said they would love it if I tried. I told the guy I wouldn’t hook it to his vehicle but if he did, I’d give it a try. He crawled under the vehicle and hooked it up. I then told him to get in and give it gas in reverse as I pulled. That 3500 lb winch was grunting hard and started pulling the RZR (with brakes applied) but then a little gas on his part and the SUV popped right out.

They were super grateful and told us they had been there stuck for 3 hrs and no one had come by. It was several hours walk to the nearest main road.

The winch is just a Harbor Freight Badlands winch. Originally came with cable but I replaced it with rope (also from HF). Kinda impressed with it. It wouldn’t have pulled it out if he didn’t give it some gas but it was just enough extra pull to get them unstuck. Fun day.

Good on you, the satisfaction of helping somebody in the woods always makes the day better.
One thing you might want to keep in your storage area is a snatch block.  With the mechanical advantage you can cut down on your winch straining so much.

I’ve thought about it but normally, we ride pretty mild places. The area this happened was an area any high clearance vehicle can pass without issue…even 4x4 isn’t needed. The vehicle we helped out wasn’t a high clearance vehicle which is why they got stuck. A Jeep winch would have pulled it out without even straining but it was at the top end of my little 3500 lb unit. Still impressed with it though!

It was nice to see the looks of relief on their faces. It was a cool day and ended up being a chilly night so it would have been a bit miserable for them if we hadn’t come along when we did. We actually were going to end our ride earlier but it was such a nice riding day we decided to stay out a little longer and take that route.

I'd love a winch for both a 700 CC Grizzly 4x4 ATV and my 1000 Polaris Ranger SxS...

Last summer, some friends and I went to a State Park called St. Joe, it has 1000s of acres of sand flats off road trails through the woods.  Its not unusual to encounter large water holes and 100' long sloughs where other off roaders have really rutted them out, then they filled with water making some pretty fun and some not so fun.

My buddy took his brand new 4 Seater SxS out for the maiden voyage. He would up stuck in one of those waterholes.
My other buddy tried pulling him out with his Grizzly and it was no dice.  The grizz really did not have enough weight and threw mud and water into the air.  When I caught up to them, I was like Uhh Oh.  I'll try but I don't know if I can do any better.  They hooked me up and I spun some, but it wasn't too bad, pulled them out pretty well.

I would have liked to had a 50-100' Strap, I could have tied me off to a tree or anchored it, then ran a winch fairlead out to the stuck SxS and winched it out like that, but had to use what we had.

I left an hour later as my wife was feeling pretty sick.
The next day, I got a call from my buddy with the other Grizzly, the biddy with the new SxS had found a hole that drop off and had his new SxS sitting about nose deep for the kids in the back seat. Lucky it wasn't deeper.

It pretty much killed the rest of their trip, they had to find someone with a big mud truck to pull them out.
The SxS wasn't ruined beleive it or not.
They drained all the fluids, changed them about 10 times to get all the milky moisture out, then changed again for luck, let a shop fan blow on all the wiring for a few days, fired it up and after a few mins of sputtering, it cleared up.

Been running fine since.

This is why I let others check out how deep a water trap is before I send it.
I paid too much for my SxS to sink it and have to rebuild it.  PLus I'm still making payments on it.

AH, oh... I thought you said a WENCH is a handy thing...  

OK.  Carry on...

 They make winch extensions that are 50’ long.  It is made of synthetic rope just like the winches use.  Very easy to unpack and store in an ammo box in your sxs.

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Yes they are.

Also, have a good snatch strap.

A winch on a buggy is a truly handy tool. We have used ours for stretching fences to pulling stuck cattle out of the mud. Pulling stuck feed lines to helping nudge split dozer tracks together. Not to mention pulling dead trees off the road. I went with a 4500# on my last buggy with the synthetic rope and it is sweet.

I used mine a bit in Alaska but it was never really off road which I found funny. Lots of scenarios like in the OP ditch snow etc. Then after a while you find all kids of uses and are using snatch blocks and pallets to stand an engine through the auto shop

Have them on both my Jeeps…wouldn’t off road without them anymore…

I have been tempted a few times to load up my Honda Pioneer 500 and go to either St Joe or Finger Lake state parks to go play but haven't done it yet. St Joe is a bit of a drive for me but Finger Lake is about 50 minutes away.

I bought a combo kit a couple of years ago that came with a Tusk 60" snow plow and a Tusk 3500 lbs winch. The winch sure has came in handy around the house and around town. About the heaviest thing I have pulled with it was small car that slid off into a ditch during the winter. I have also pulled a few riding own mowers out of ditches around town with it. Town is pretty flat and the city maintenance thinks they have to dig the Grand Canyon for drainage ditches. People don't pay attention and try mowing the ditches with their riding mowers which generally doesn't work so well. I have also used the winch for stretching chain link fence and pulling small trees and bushes out of the ground. I use a synthetic rope on the winch and change it out to a flat strap for plowing. The Pioneer 500 and the Tusk winch are little work horses.


Here is a photo of my Pioneer before I got the flat strap for plowing.

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Do yourself a favor when you despoil the line….for every time you go across the winch nice and neat run 1 rap intentionally across the entire spool. The reason is your synthetic line will start to pull in on itself while winching hard and make it tight. This will make free spoiling it damn near impossible because the line has gotten sucked in so much in itself.



So do nice neat lines, then one or two wraps with a Z pattern, then some more pretty wraps.

I noticed the synthetic line pull in on itself when using the snow plow. That is why I went with a flat strap for plowing use.

I was planning to put a winch on my Jeep TJ eventually but wasn’t in a rush. This incident motivated me to buy and install the winch. Have a 10k on the TJ now. It would have pulled that car out without a second thought if I had it there that day. I’ve used the RZR winch to move trees and have used my ATV winch to get myself and friends unstuck (mild)  but this is the first time I’ve used it to get a car out. Definitely pleased with its performance even if it was at the top end of its capability.