(Unconventional) Portable Winch

A winch is something I have often thought about since I got my Jimny. I'd decided I didn't want to go the full on winch behind the bumper method, as it is my daily driver and didn't want the extra weight all the time. I really liked the front and rear receiver hitch method of mounting like what  lookonimages did, here . But that would mean having to have a hitch towbar fitted on the back and making something up for the front hitch.

So, I went for the lazy and easy option of a portable winch in a box. Two options I found on the market, one by  Warrior  which I had seen before, and one from  Rugcel . After weighing them up I opted for the Rugcel, the reasons being:

• It is slightly smaller
• Cheaper (got it for £280 with Amazon Prime)
• 4,500lb capacity (500lb more pulling capacity than the Warrior)
• Better reviews on Amazon

It comes with 2 remotes, one wired and a wireless one. 50 feet (15 meters) of synthetic rope. Weighs 18.6kg (the winch tray from Jimnybits to go with my front recovery points weighs 15kg alone!)

So here it is fresh out of the box.


First fault, mounting it as shown, the battery cables were not long enough.


Second issue, I didn't like how the battery cables fix to the box. A bit too fiddly if you are having to use it out on a lane.


So I bought some longer cable, some Anderson connectors and covers and managed to fit them on the side of the box. Here the dust cover is in place.


New battery lead plugs in nicely.


It still all packs away (just) with the the 500mm longer cables.


Now I can mount it and have plenty long enough battery cables.


I just need to go and test it out properly under load now.

This is a great solution. It's rare that pulling the car straight forwards  is the best recovery solution, and this gives you the option to pull the car in any direction. I had a very similar setup, but on a towbar bracket and utilising a homemade detachable front towbar. It worked well the few times I used it, but it also taught me that I rarely needed to use a winch. There are many advantages of not having the winch permanently attached to the front of a car, but one I never expected was that when I came to sell it, it still looked brand new!

Yes, i do also have the Jimnybits rear recovery points as well. So can use it on them if need be. With even longer battery cables (damn!).
An Anderson extension lead might be on the cards 

What a fantastic solution. I take it you got the connectors, cables etc from Amazon too? Do the battery connectors still fit if you lower the bonnet?

Really impressed.

I got the cable and connectors from  Altec Automotive

I'm sure if the clamps were positioned better to bonnet could be lowered. 

I'm curious as to how well this "solution" will work, the battery clamps are designed for short term use (jump starting) and may not stand up to the continuous high current draw of winching.

I also noticed that the rugcel (didn't look at the warrior) spec does not mention an amp draw figure.