Whinch or lockers

[Hunter-LynchburgVa]

a winch is great, but like TC said your friends will use it more than you will. you can buy lunchbox lockers all day long for 200 bucks give or take 40 bucks. you can sell them used all day long for 75% of the initial investment if you ever wish to upgarde axles. a winch you only buy once. given the two choices at hand i say lock em up, provided we arent talking stock rear axle(unless its a 44) and you plan to run oversized rubber, then learn some econo recovery techniques and talk your buddys into a winch.

Hunter

 

[JnJ]

I'm with the Lock it first crowd. I was amazed how the guys with lockers where doing things I could only watch! A lunchbox locker was one of my first upgrades.

 

[sidriptide]

lots of good opinions and advice given here.. i agree other significant mods SHOULD be done first... but i'll limit myself to the initial question other wise i'd just repeat what everyone else has said... i say lockers before a winch.. my trail rig is going to a spool in the D44 and a lock-right in the D30 this winter along with a better lift and 32's... a hi-lift is a no-brainer and it will get you out if there isnt a winch in your group.. with all that being said i say do what YOU are comfortable with, taking into account who you wheel with, where you wheel, and what you want to accomplish.. and how well you know your own skill.. it's hard to decide whether to have your skill excced the capabilities of the rig or have a rig you can grow your skills to fit.. my personal preference is to over-build and grow into it..keeping in perspective my own skill...
mike

 

[LBEXJ]

Talk about appreciation, I learned to drive off road with a 2WD vehicle as well as in the snow. Was stuck a lot. Dug snow out from underneath my truck working out of snow drifts ; one time for about 200 feet which took about 2 hours of digging and moving 10 feet or so ... then dig some more!

Also learned to always carry a shovel. One time I forgot to put the shovel back in the truck. Had to use a bent steel fence post to dig snow from under the vehicle (at 2am) one time.

Now I'm driving a 4WD with open diffs. I can really appreciate it. Will work my skills up with it before getting lockers.

Oh ... by the way ... I still carry a shovel!

Les

 

[basalt51]

A winch will get you out of the worst stucks you can imagine.

Lockers will get you into them.

If you wheel alone or with friends with little experience get a winch. It can be a life saver.

If you wheel with a bunch of experienced guys then I wouldn't buy either until you NEED one. Put the $800 into skidplates, a good lift, and tires.

The real question is how much money do you have to spend at once?

You're looking at $2000 for the lift and $1000 for tires and wheels plus the price of the XJ which will likely be between $1500-$10k depending on year and condition. Skidplates and rockers, if you can't weld, will run you another $600 or so.

I'ld go with the RE lift, but that's only because I really like mine.

 

[Luke]

Wow, awesome responses. planning on spending 2000 on the XJ, moving from the rice rockets to this yes, I did'nt drive a rice rocket... ok it was but it was a 92 AWD Eclipse, Big turbo blah blah, no big rims, they were stock no body kit, and no coffee can exhaust... I just liked going out and whooping on punks Ricey Civics, and and rich dudes in Vettes, And yes it got me in way to much trouble. I too learned to drive in Snow, from MN learned in the winter Now live in San Diego. My off roading experice is last winter me and 4 of my buddies all got little 400 dollar hondas and took to a place where lots of people go to wheel, we got pretty good and went thru alot of crap the guys were going thru in 4 wheel drive. Its pretty much what got me wanting to do this. So hopefully I will have Jeep by the end of this week if I can find the right one. get a lift and some tires ordered and install them after christmas. And yes some day the Rice Burner may come back out, a straight six is a great engine to turbo charge :laugh3:

 

[MGrobe]

I purchased my winch first as I knew what particular model I wanted. At that time I wasn't certain what gear ratio, tire size and locker type I would be getting so buying the winch first made sense.

Since getting lockers and taller tires I have managed to get myself into more interesting predicaments than before, which it really has been nice to be able to use my own winch for extraction. I of course have winched some open and locked vehicles that didn't have one as well.

Just another perspective.