Hand Puller Winch

Hi Greg, are you refering to hand winches such as the Tirfor, or magnum and many other various brands?

If so, they can be a great assett. Hand winches are a much more versatile tool than a winch mounted on the front of a vehicle. Mind you, they are a lot of work too. You can winch forward, backwards, sideways. can't do that with front mounted winch.

They come in sorts of prices, quality and load ratings. If you get one, make sure you get some training in how to use it correctly. I would recommend one.
regards

What vehicle are you going to use in on?
I had one for many years and used it very successfully whilst driving Niva's. But anything bigger i dont think i would bother (read it would be totally useless).They are not designed for recovery but used correctly are ok. Do not use them on a full size 4wd.

Not worth the effort to open the wallet any were near a 4WD. Barnray

I've got a Bushranger and never used it for the 4WD.
Usefull for other stuff though.

I have used a winch extention cable,highlift jack & a snatch block to pull 4WD side ways off edge of cliff onto road (track) There was nothing else to use & no other way of recovering vehicle. Layed H/lift on it's side secured by drag chain to tree. Small cheap chinese hand winch has limited useage.

I can pull in ANY direction with our Warn 16.5TI..........



Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Yep got a couple ... 2tonne & 4tonne.

Very versatile little things.

Great for sideways pulls/taking up strain in tricky winching spots where you dont want your vehicle to look like a yoyo down in the gully dangling by the main winch cable.

Not a lot of use as a main recovery tool tho unless you have a small vehicle.

Tirfor or similiar is the way to go in that case .... and they have a reverse winching action unlike the cheapies.

Front & rear towhitches with a removable electric winch as in the photo above is a good way to go.

Since most times you need to winch back out of a situation ... a dedicated front winch has always seemed like a waste to me .... Havent found a good reason yet to flatten a battery dragging myself further into - and through a boghole.

Two Hilift/JackAll Jacks and some accessories will get you out of a lot of trouble spots but .....

An electric winch on the front takes up a lot less space .... and lets face it ...

If you dont have winch mounted on ya bullbar .... one cant be a serious 4x4er ..... LOL

I would suggest you have second thoughts on the small $50 to $100 winches.
They are light in weight and strength, and the rating on ours was for pulling on flat unobstructed ground, whereas the rating on Tirfors and the like are lifting weights.
I had a small cheapie winch bend out of shape to the extent that the spool fell out. That was winching a ride on mower into a box trailer.
Imagine the cost if you had a winch failure dragging a 4x4 out of a bog?