Vehicle for traveling sand roads

GermanG

Piney
Apr 2, 2005
1,111
434
Little Egg Harbor
Pancoast, that was my son, at Stafford Forge, as you well know, who I find myself more often referring (affectionately) to as “Dumbass”. Eighteen year olds and four wheel drive trucks are often a bad combo! As you said, he could have went around it but he wanted to show he could go through it.............NOT!!!!!!! :D
 

ZZ3GMC

Scout
Sep 19, 2003
88
1
Pemberton
Visit site
I drive my Chevy 2500 Express van all over in the pines. I have 31x10.50x15 tires on it with a LT type tread. It has a factory locking rear and have only gotten stuck once when my hitch got hung up. The posi makes a HUGE differance in traction! I try to avoid water unless I know for sure that its ok to cross. Keep momentum up in the sand!
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
950
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42
atco
opentrailsnj.org
Mudboy Dave....The rocket scientist of mudholes:)..dar4n good advice.i forgot to mention I also watch tire tracks and use em to my advantage but you have given me a few new pointers:)_
Al
lol thanks. whatever I can do to help.


German mentioned a come along. One thing to remember with a come along or winch is to use a tree saver. A tree saver is a strap that will not stretch that you can wrap around the tree and hook the chain to, causing minimum damage to the tree compared to a chain which will usually dig past the bark leaving a nasty scar. If you aren't stuck bad the chain probably wouldn't do too much damage. To everyone using "yank straps", keep in mind "tow" strap" are not intended to be "tugged" or "yanked" on. A true recovery strap will stretch and "bungee" usually popping the stucjk vehicle out of its holes. Saftey is also something alot of people look past. I have witnessed 2 people in my time get helicoptered out of the woods which could have been prevented with a little precaution. Pep bopys "tow ropes" with hooks should NEVER be used for anything other than flat towing a im-moblie vehicle. If the rope snaps the hook can fly at speeds beyond you could imagine due to the stored energy held within the wound rope. Ratchet straps and dog leashes are not recovery items, and if I see someone using them I will steal them for my dogs:). Always use recovery equipment that is rated well above what your vehicle weighs, for instance wen ordering as winch, it is reccomended to order one that is raterd for twice if niot more the weighjt of your vehicle. Evenb though your vehicle may weigh in at a total of 3500 lbs with you your dog, walking stick, and beer, the resistance of the earth when stuck quickly adds up top alot more. NEVER hook to a bumper unless you know that it is made with quality and tied into the frame properly and designed to get yanked on, flying bumpers can hurt. Never hook multiple straps together using d-rins/clevis's, if a strap breaks these will fly. Both people I know who almost died, had shackles fly through backwindows, cracking them in the head. NEVER hook to a tow ball, therse balls are meant to tow, not get yanked on. When using a winch or a come along, put something with weight in the center of the cable usually a shirt tied onto the cable will work just fine. Winch cable/come-a-long cable stores energy due to the wound design, if it where to break, this energy release can actually (with documented cases) cut a human body in half. Last but not least, as Boyd summed it up perfectly earlier within the post, please use common sense. Hope all my babbling helps and maybe even saves a life.
oh yeah one last thing. Discard any straps that have frays.
 

PancoastDrifter

Explorer
Dec 7, 2008
728
56
www.flickr.com
Pancoast, that was my son, at Stafford Forge, as you well know, who I find myself more often referring (affectionately) to as “Dumbass”. Eighteen year olds and four wheel drive trucks are often a bad combo! As you said, he could have went around it but he wanted to show he could go through it.............NOT!!!!!!! :D

LOL, small world. I think it had something to do with impressing the girls. I also got a pic of the pooch. Pass this on... > http://www.flickr.com/photos/38729492@N02/5173190541/in/set-72157620897051908/
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
950
19
42
atco
opentrailsnj.org
Transversing the unique terrain the Pine Barrens has to offer in a vehicle.

The Pine Barrens Preserve of New Jersey has alot to offer from its extremeley rare eco-system to historical monuments to aweing views of scenery. There are many ways to observe all of this being hiking, canoeing, horseback, mountain biking or the most popular by vehicle. Using a vehicle to travel the hundreds if not thousands of miles of trails that the "pines" has to offer, can be handled by vehicles from stock cars to trucks to specially equipped vehicles built just for the unique terrain. This can be done with a little insight along with the most important role of common sense. The terrain for the most part consists of hard packed unimproved dirt/gravel roads that can be handled by pretty much any vehicle as long as the driver is aware of a few bumps here and there. However sometimes to get to the unique spots out there you will encounter poor road conditions ranging from sugar sand similar to beach, water crossings and mud puddles. This write up is for those who may be less experieneced in pushing their vehicles to their limits and making your exploration alot more safer and enjoyable without the help of a recovery truck from getting stuck. Those who are more experienced may also find this to be a useful reminder or even point out a few things that you didn't know. So sit back put on your reading glasses and prepare yourself to enjoy the back roads of the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

Respect your surroundings!!! We all want our children to witness the beauty of the pines just as we do. driving over plants and blazing your own trails will not preserve the land and will get you a pretty hefty fine. In short just stay on the trails that exist and pay attention to all signage that is out there. There are some spots that are specifically off limits to motor vehicle use and those spots are posted as so. Tread Lightly. Don't go into a puddle and purposley rut it out sdo the next guy can't make it through. Not everyone has Thousands of dollars to specially equip their vehicle for deep ruts, nor is this an off road park. The trails are their for transportation from point A to point B however sometimes you may end up getting stuck, this is expected. take out what you take in, if you want to see trash or enjoy throwing trash please explore the trails of Camden City. If you see a spot that you really like and would like to come back, spray painting trees is not the way to due it. Todays space age technology offers GPS with way points just for this. If you are not a techy type person there's always the old paper and pen method as well. Now that you have been reminded on respect, lets start moving onto different types of terrain.

Sand: "Sugar Sand" is the most common difficult terrain that you will find. Some areas are probably worse than driving on the beach. You should be able to pick out a sandy area before getting to it, because it will look like a beach that has had a bunch of people driving on it. The more people drive through it the deeper the ruts will get. This is where you "straddle the ruts" by putting on side of your vehicle off to the side and the other between the two ruts. I prefer to put my passenger side inbetween the ruts and the drivers side close to the road side. This will allow you to hang your head out the window and observe whats going on with your tires.
With a 4x4 vehicle , put the vehicle in 4x4 low range (if applicable) and second gear BEFORE you get into the sand. If you go in 2 wheel drive chances are you are just going to rut it up for the next guy. Being in 4lo and second gear should give you the momentum to keep going but the grunt to keep your RPMs high. This should take you to the other side. Rememebr to keep your momentum up, don't stop, and stay steady on the throttle. If for some reason you do go in using two wheel drive and your vehicle does come to a stop, you will then engage 4x4 Low range, but do not go forward, go backwards. The only time I have seen 4x4s stuck in the sand is because of this move. if your back end gets stuck and you put it in 4x4 and try to go forwards, most of the time your front end will start to sink as well. If you put it in reverse and back up a foot, it will usually get you out with no problem. At this point you should be able to start forward progression again with a small bump from the ruts you created with your back tires. If you are straddling ruts and fall into them keep your momentum up. Do not stop, you may not start going forwards again, you may start going down. try to get yourself back out of the ryts but only for a split second. If you continue to steer trying to get out of the ruts, you may start a plowing effect causing your vehicle to get stuck.
In a 2wd vehicle, please keep in mind front wheel drive is better at pulling your vehicle through sand than rear wheel drive is at pushing your car through the sand. Once you come to a snady spot. Stop and evaluate the area before your tires get into the soft spot. Are you looking at a 50 foot section of road or are you looking at a 1/4 mile of road that is sandy? Are you comfortable trying to get across the whole 1/4 mile? If you get stuck an 1/8 of a mile into the 1/4 mile will you be able to get yourself out of what you already made it through? Alright, you decide, "hey my minivan can make this". First thing to do, is pick a line that you want to transverse. Ideally you want to be out of the ruts and the smoothest avaible line. Take out your air gauge and get your tires down to about 15 PSI, this will widen the foot print of the tires and keep your vehicle more afloat rather than skinny hard tires cutting down into the sand. At this point you will want to get some running room. You do not want to go slow in the sand. You have to keep your momentum up if you want to make it through. Keep in mind though that sand can take your vehicle places you don't intend for it to go, so be prepared to correct for this and keep saftey in mind. If all goes well you will be on the other side of your sandy obstacle probably with a little adrenalin. If all does not go well it may take some work to get through there. DO NOT STOP!!!!!. If you stop in the sand chances are you won't get out of your obstacle. If you are to fall into the ruts that you were straddling, try real quickly to steer back out of them. Don't do this to long nor oversteer, this can cause a plowing effect that will get you stuck. One thing to try if you are in a front wheel drive vehicle is to quickly turn your steering wheel from side to side while staying on the gas. What this does, is sometimes the sides of the tires will start riding up the walls of the ruts lifting your vehicle up so the undercarrige doesn't high center. Hopefully at this point you will be coming out the other side of your obstacle and your adreneline will be alot higher than usual. Now if you didn't make it and you became bogged down, STOP don't dig yourself in by excessive wheel spin. Refer to recovery section.

Mud/Water: Navigating through mud within the pines is different compared to a buddies property. Care for the terrain has to be taken into consideration. A mjority of the mud within the pines is nothing more than wet sand. If you found some ofd the real gooey stuff, chances are you are in an area you shouldn't be with a vehicle. 4x4 or 2wd you have to approach mud very similar to sand. Usually there is a set of ruts in most puddles that are the size of a vehicle. Object is to straddle these. To find them all you have to do is look at the shape of the puddle, if there are two sections of the puddle that stick out longer,then chances are these are your ruts. you want to place one of your two sides of your vehicle inbetween(preferrably passenger side). Always try to keep an eye on your front drivers side while inching into the puddle to keep an eye on depth. Another way is to probe around with a stick. Feel where the deep spots are and keep your tires out of them. Also feel the bottom. Is it mushy/slippery or is it pretty hard packed?Two things to keep in mind. Know your lowest level of clearance on your vehicle and know where your air intake is for your motor. Water does not compress (Hydrolocking). This can kill your motor. As for knowing minimal ground clearance, keep it away from the ground. Placing your tires on higher places will lift that low area of your vehicle up and over higher parts of terrain. Now you know your line of progression, it is time to know how you will hit the puddle. Going too fast may push water into your intake since when a vehicle hits water it forms a wall of water. You still want to keep momentum going though. If you are dealing with a soft sand bottom, you don't want to spin your tires at all, because your ground (which equals traction) will go away and you'll quickly be high centered. If there is a slipperry mud it may cause the voids of your tires to clog up. in order to get the mud off of the tires you usually have to spin them to clean the tread. Try not to spin too much for you will just dig ruts. A tire gets most traction just after a fresh spin of cleaning the tread and when you back off the throttle. Anotyher thing to keep in mind with water crossings is even if you can see the bottom and it ap[pears to be hard sand, sometimes there's 3 feet of the thick gooey stuff underneath of that. Now lets say you have came across a puddle where you think you'd be able to make it through but the water level is just too high and youre afraid of a hydrolock however you really want to get to the other side. This is where most people will look at me funny. Do it in reverse, this will push the water with the rear of your vehicle clearing the water for the fron t of your vehicle to get through, therefore lessoning the chance of hydrolocking your motor. The only thing I can specifically say about 4x4s and mud, is that obviously with more tires pulling and pushing the greater the ability will be and also if you do go into it in 2 wheel drive then put it in 4x4 back up, don't go forwards. You will dig your front end down.

If you are to get stuck: If you get stuck, always try backing out of the area you are stuck in, gradually get into the throttle to try to reduce abrupt spinning of the tires to avoid digging deeper. Some times you'll move backwards a few feet, then go forwards again without spinning the tires, keep doing this and you might get out. Another option, is to take floor mats or a peice of carpet or wood and put it where your tires are stopping when progressing forwards. This will give added traction. Once ontop of your tractyion device, take your other set of floormats or traction devices and place them directly in front of the tires. Hopefully at this point you can get moving again.
Now lets say your vehicle is not moving at all,or maybe not enough to add any traction gaining devices. At this point it is time to find the sweet spot within your vehicle,. What you do is leave your vehicle in drive and start blurping the throttle a little bit, just enough to get the vehicle to move but not really spoinning the tires. If you find the squence you can keep doing this and actually maybe get 6" further than what you where. At this point try backing up 7" without spinning the tires, then do the same throttle action that you just did in a foward gear. if you keep doing this you might have cleared enough area to get a ruinning start or to add traction adding devices.
Alright all else has failed and you are not moving no matter what. It is now time to explore your strategic alternatives:). Hopefully you have a cell phone. Verizon gets service in most areas of the pines, I can't speak for others. If you have a phone, hopefully you have a list of people that will come pull you out Now if you are not one to bother your freinds or you are one to go out at odd times of the day, you should probably carry a few tools to help yourself get unstuck. First the most common is a good jack to jack your vehicle up. Not the stupid one that came with your vehicle, it will just get in your way. You will also need a 1" thick peice of ply wood, this will spread the weight of the vehicle when jacking, if you don't have something to spread the weight, your jack will just sink. Once you jack your vehicle up, fill in the ruts with either small logs or any other solid hunks of whatever you may find. smooth out the surface infront and behind your tires so it will be easy to get out. let your vehicle down on your traction proving devices and wahlah!!!! you are no longer stuck. However if you just decide to drive off your manmade solid ground you will soon be stuck again. What I suggest is to pick out your route again. Are you going forwards? If so, take your floor mats or spare peice of carpet and put them infront of your powered tires, these will give you traction along with your manmade solid ground and hopefully givwe you enough running room to get started again. Be careful not to be too abusive on the gas pedal or you will spit the stuff out that you just put under your tires. Second tool would be a come a long. this is a hand winch that can be bought at most tool carrying stores. Buy the heaviest rated one that is available. Also get a 20 foot length of 3/8 good quality chain with hooks on both ends. and a strap with loops at the end about 1/4" thick 3" wide and 8' long. Make sure this is not a "snatch strap". What you do is find a tree in front of you that is pretty wide and will take quite a pull. wrap your strap around the tree and take the hook of the come along (stationary) and hook it to the two loops. Next you extend the cable out to reach a solid hooking point on your vehicle, if you can't reach your vehicle, this is where the length oif chain comes in handy as a cable lengthener. Take an old shirt or shoe and put it on the center of the cable to put some weight on it. While ratcheting in the cable it will become super tight, to wear you will be fighting the handle. At this point get into your vehicle, put in a forward gear and proceed with the gas pedal, only giving enough gas to allow the vehicle to move forwards. DON'T LET THE TIRES SPIN. At this point do it again, and keep doing this tioll you get to a solid area. You can also use your floor mats once again for traction. It is also handy to have a "snatch strap" with you. They are usually 20-30 feet long three inches wide and about a 1/4" inch or more thick. They have the ability to stretch causing a bungee effect when another vehicle tugs on you, usually resulting you coming out of your ruts and back on your way. If you have your own strap most people will try to give you a tug that you encounter. (I will go over saftey of "snatch straps" later on). Also a elecric winch is a great addition but I will get into that under the "modifications" section.
Part II for tommorrow.
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
950
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SAFTEY: The most important out of all the above and further subjects is saftey. If you bypass it, there is a chance that you may not be able to enjoy the pines in the future. Common Sense is the most valuable trait. Get to learn the limits of your vehicle and yourself over a gradual period. Pushing them limits could cause you or someone else to be harmed.
If you get stuck and decide to use your jack make sure it is level and that you are jacking the vehicle from a sturdy location. Keep all limbs and head out of harms reach when the vehicle is in the air. If placing wood under the tires, lower the vehicle slowly, dropping it quick can cause a peice of wood to fly.
If you get stuck and you decide to use your come a long, make sure you are familiar with it. Knowing the weight of your vehicle and the weight limit of the come along could prevent serious injury. Make sure you are hooking to a solid mount on your vehicle. (BUMPERS ARE NOT SOLID MOUNTS). Use gloves, if there is a fray in the cable, they hurt. Gloves should just be used with any recovery. Keep an eye on the tree that you are anchored to. I have seen decent size trees come down that werent expected. Place something of weight being a t-shirt or boot at about mid-length of the cable. With the way winch cable is braided together, it will store energy when being used. If the cable is to snap it can get really ugly, forming a whip thaty will do more damage than anything you have ever seen on Indiana Jones.
Dont drive like a douche. There are blind bends out there. If you are going 60 you will not be able to correct around a oncoming vehicle. Be prepared when encountering a blind curve, for someone going 60. (yes there are people out there like that). Soft sand can guide your vehicle places you don't want it to go, into swamps, trees, deer, people etc. Main thing is to keep it slow unless you are specially speeding up for a sandy section of road. Do not fly into puddles, you'd be suprised how masny large items may be in that mud hole that other stuck people may have left behind.
Use the right tools for the job. dog chain and ratchet sraps are NOT the proper tool for recovery. Fire extinguishers are always handy to have, going off highway stresses a vehicle beyond highway driving so expect the worst.
Strap recovery: If you end up getting recovered by someone by use of yank strap, make sure by all means you have the right equipment. Chains are not meant to be tugged on and are a direct hit to the mount you hook it to, this causes fatigue which could eventually tear that section of your vehicle off. 2" straps are small to be yanking on, unless it is specially designed for the purpose, I would turn away any 2"ers. Make sure the other vehicle is hooked to a solid mounting point. Never hook multiple straps together using a shackle/d-ring. the energy stored in the straps when the stretch could turn the shackle into a bullet if the strap breaks.
Winching: Pretty much all of the same precautins as a come along, but if you are hooked to the front of the vehicle, or have the winch on the front of your vehicle, open your hood and support it up while your in the vehicle. This will protect you if the cable were to snap.
To sum it up, bring the right equipment and use it correctly all while using common sense.

Modifications to make transversing the pines easier:
I'll start off with tires. A wide non agressive (all-terrain) tire will help alot in the sand. Agressive mud tires do not work well in sand, as a matter of fact they are worse in the sand than a street tire. If the trail is muddy an all terrain may give you some traction problems due to the voids are small causing them to fill with mud turning your tire into a racing slick.
Locking differentials: On a stock 2 wheel drive vehicle, only one tire usually spins, on a 4x4 usually one front tire and one rear tire spin. a locking differential puts the power to both tires on a common axle. This enhaces traction beyond what you could imagine. Places where you once had to use 4x4, you will now be able to do in 2wd without breaking the tires loose. A poor mans way of doing this which only should be done to a vehicle specifically for woods use, is to weld the spider gears together. If you do not know what spider gears are, this modification should be left to someone else. Alot of your locking differentials that are available are for 4x4 vehicles or rear wheel drive. There are some upgrade differentials available for front wheel drive vehicles, hoever they are alot more rare and alot more pricer.
Snorkle: What a snorkle does is raise the air intake of your vehicle. This benefits in deep water conditions. It will prevent costly repairs of a hydrolocked motor. You can buy aftermarket kits for most 4x4 vehicles or make your own out of PVC tubing for any vehicle. making your own will save you hundreds of dollars but will not look as professional. You may get some funny looks if you own a Prius or a Minivan with a snorkle.
Winch: A winch is a wise investment but costly as well. Passenger vehicle winches can range from $300 up to $2000. After buying the winch you need a solid mounting point, usually being the frame rails of a vehicle. There are specially built "winch bumpers" available for most 4x4 vehicles.
Lift Kit/ Larger Diameter Tires:
A lift kit usually replaces your stock suspension with new components that will lift your vehicle higher so you can fit larger tires. Larger tires lift your differential by 50%. So if your stock tires measure in at 29" and you put 35" tires on your vehicle will lift 3" higher than what it was. Aftermarket suspensions also provide more than just lift. Some provide more travel in the suspension, providing more traction. Some provide a smoother ride. Most consist of parts that are designed to handle the abuse that off highway travels put on your vehicle. Keep in mind that in NJ you are only allowed to legally lift your vehicle so high before a specialty inspection is required. Wider tires also need to be covered, they can not extend past your fenders. Mud flaps also become a legal requirement. If more info is need for exact specs of different vehicle legally, please send me a PM.

I believe I have pretty much covered the basics of travelling the backroads of the Pine Barrens. Please keep in mind if you are driving a vehicle that was not engineered from the factory to be off of the highway, the pine barrens present a terrain that mnay too difficult for your vehicle to handle. The roads of the pines have been damaged in spots by disrespectful individuals but at the same time, if you are looking for smooth roads that youre car was designed for, then maybe a vehicle would not be your best means of exploring. Even without the disrectful people, the pines consist of roads that are 4x4 mandatory.
Hope this helps.
Have fun and stay unstuck,
Mudboy Dave
 

wis bang

Explorer
Jun 24, 2004
235
2
East Windsor
straps...

One item that Mudboy didn't cover about recovery straps.

Avoid the straps that come w/ metal hooks! The hooks are known to break and become bullet-like.

There are stories and pictures on 4X4 boards with the hook end sticking thru the window of the stuck vehicle after the hook attached to the recovery vehicle broke and the end flew back.

There have been deaths due to the straps w/ hooks!
 

gipsie

Explorer
Sep 14, 2008
547
67
55
atlantic county
One item that Mudboy didn't cover about recovery straps.

Avoid the straps that come w/ metal hooks! The hooks are known to break and become bullet-like.

There are stories and pictures on 4X4 boards with the hook end sticking thru the window of the stuck vehicle after the hook attached to the recovery vehicle broke and the end flew back.

There have been deaths due to the straps w/ hooks!

Always drape something over the tow strap. A coat, blanket...something. This will help prevent the "bullet" effect. I carry a large heavy blanket in the Jeep and when I pull someone out, I attach the strap and drape the blanket over the middle.

I just bought a new type of strap. I went to Advance Auto to pick up a new strap (they run about $30) and saw they had a retractable strap on sale for $20. It looks like a giant tape measure with the tow strap coming out both sides. The idea is that it will help prevent the strap from touching the ground, cutting down on wear and tear. It has a 3000 lb. working load and a 9000 lb. breaking point. We shall see.
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
950
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42
atco
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One item that Mudboy didn't cover about recovery straps.

Avoid the straps that come w/ metal hooks! The hooks are known to break and become bullet-like.

There are stories and pictures on 4X4 boards with the hook end sticking thru the window of the stuck vehicle after the hook attached to the recovery vehicle broke and the end flew back.

There have been deaths due to the straps w/ hooks!


Thanks for noticing that. I actually did bring it up in one of my previous posts but forgot to include it in my summary. I will be sure to add it in.
 

woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,338
326
Near Mt. Misery
Just wanted to add...I've had come-a-longs (the chinese made variety) shear their sprockets on me, rendering them useless. I finally bought an old american made engine hoist (3 or 4 ton) and it is great! I also got it pretty cheap. It is old, but very well made. I now use the chinese made come-a-long to maintain tension on the chain when re-setting the engine hoist. This really helps save time. It also helps when there is a great deal of pressure on the chain and re-setting is difficult (it can take some of the tesion off. also, tree saver straps are a must. they distribute the tension around the tree instead of forcing it into one spot.

I always make sure, when getting into a questionable area, that there is a tree large enough to get me out within reach. Also, if Dave didn't already mention it, if you start to spin a little, in 4x4 turning your tires right to left gently can often give you that little bit of extra grab you need.

Jeff
 

NJSnakeMan

Explorer
Jun 3, 2004
332
0
33
Atlantic County
Sorry all for the late reply. Hope everyone had a great and safe holiday.

I'd like to thank everybody for your responses. I feel a lot more confident about traveling through the pines with 2WD (IDK about all of that snow though, lol)

It sounds like I will need to invest in some equipment. Those electric winches are pretty expensive, has anyone ever used hand-winches to pull out stuck vehicles? Thank you guys for including the safety precautions when using this equipment.. If I am going to purchase a winch, I will probably need to install recovery points as well.

The locking differential sounds like a pretty good idea for 2WD. Yesterday night I took the Jeepster out in the snow and it did end up getting stuck a couple of times, where one tire had traction and the other just spun. I'm thinking it may be a good idea to carry a few spare tires in the trunk for some added weight. Also, I never considered airing down and now that I think about it, it makes sense and is essential!

Al - Erica is growing up fast and in her own words, is getting "bigger and bigger everyday!" She is a trooper and you may see her out there "herping" with me ;) Do you go out looking for scaley and slimey stuff anymore?

Again guys Thank you for all the advice.
 

mudboy dave

Explorer
Oct 15, 2008
950
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Recovery points are never a bad thing. They will allow someone else to pull you out easier or to hook up a hand winch (come-a-long) alot easier. Tow points are installed on areas of your vehicle that are alot less likely to damage your vehicle. An electric winch can be cheap. Warn, being the best is the most expensive. Harbor Freight winches can be bought for $300 and I have seen them last for years, esap if you aren't going to be doing any hardcore bogging. I saw you mention "jeepster". Is this a nickname for your two wheel drive jeep? Or do you actually have a 60s/70s Jeepster? Either way both of the vehixcle have locking differentials readily avaible. Cheapest and easiest to install would be an Aussie, second being Lock-Rite. Both are strong enough to handle stock sized tires without a single worry. Alsop Tow Points and Wich bumpers are readily avaible for both. The cheapest way to mount a winch is by tow hitch receiver. Run the cables to the rear of the vehicle, install hitch, keep electric winch tied down in trunk, and Wah-Lah. Winch is ready to pull.Need any help, let me know, I get discounts from many suppliers all over the US.
 
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