Front vs. Rear Winch – What Should You Go For

Installing a winch on a truck is one sure way to make it even more versatile than it already is – you will be able to pull yourself out of a sticky situation, if there’s ever a need for it, your friends, other people, you get the gist of it.

It may also be a plain requirement for you to get if you think of doing some serious off-roading – whatever is the reason, choosing where to mount the actual winch can seem problematic.

Front mounted ones are clearly more popular, but does that make them actually better? This is the question i will be answering today on this blog post.

Different positions for different purposes

Having the winch in the rear simply enables you to do things you couldn’t with a front, and one of them is obviously winching backwards.

Now you can still actually do the same thing using the front mounted kind, but the process will require more trees, more cable and snatch blocks to do properly, so i wouldn’t really consider it feasible for a common owner, considering it’s so much easier with just a winch in the back.

For me at least, it makes more sense to pull yourself back than front when you’re stuck in the mud when, let’s say, you’re getting back home or whatever. For somebody who’s out there for the thrill of the adventure, pulling themselves in, that is, forwards is probably the goal, therefore having the winch in the front is likely a better idea.

I also think that a winch in the back is better for those who will use their pickups, more or less at least, for work. By that i mean pulling out other vehicles out of ditches, towing them onto trailers and so forth.

Use the winch inside a hitch

Instead of contemplating whether the front or rear winch makes more sense to you, consider getting a hitch mount instead. It will allow you to alternate between both of the spots without needing to buy two separate winches!

Mind you, using a single winch in this manner comes with its own good and bad aspects, but more often than not, this is actually a great way to go about it.

In my opinion, if 4×4’ing is not really your cup of tea, this is really the best way to mount a winch, regardless of whether you prefer one or the other.