wanhanlu

Well I spent 30 days in Utah running through all the backroads to see the sights because the Natl Parks were closed. The only access was through backroads. I discovered I hate gravel.. Give me a good dirt road. I love dirt! Gravel gets lodged in the disk brake pads and makes a racket. The Subbie went through every road as long as there was clearance enough. Streams were not a big problem (most were under 15" deep) but a lot of cleaning resulted from the crossings. A few dirt roads were deeply rutted, so deep that the front bumper guard scraped and in some others I could not proceed for lack of clearance. Had to back off and out of a few trails. Crossed quite a few rivers and because of that spent many hours at the car wash getting red gook off the motor and underside of Subbie. A couple of times it took over 2 hours to get the red crud off the vehicle. The gravel roads were a pain in the petunias. Because the gravel was packed by continuous track (tank thread) there were bumps about 3" high every 12" in some gravel roads. (Apparently they are starting to pave all the off road or OHV trails so tourists can drive their mustangs and corvettes on them. They still have to cross streams, But bridges are springing up over them, some of the streams were about 12" to 16" deep. The only way to go accross these gravel roads that were smooth in some places for no more than 20' was at 50 mph so the Tires were riding on tops of the gravel created tractor track bumps. The flying gravel tore up the plastic rocker panels. Plastic rocker panels do not belong on a vehicle that you advertize as able to transverse unpaved roads. That includes that Aussie Outback. Any way we had a grand time and took close to 7000 pictures. Hit all the places Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, Arches, Zion, Hells backbone bridge n trail, Canyonlands (including all the oerlooks), Burr trail, Dixie NF, Capitol Reef, Escalante and even Valley of Fire in AZ, The last 3 days we drove to Silverton in CO and drove through Mesa Verde. We met a lot of European tourists and practiced a lil French and a lil German. All spoke pretty good English (The did no want to hear us kill their language?) Did not need the winch. It just left a few scraped on rocks on the way up.. The all wheel drive got us throught muck, mud, water and gook. Good thing those plastic rocker panel parts are cheap.. Next time they get taped over with blue tape and two coats of duct tape. That oughta handle the flying gravel. I did lose a tire to a cut on the side. Ya can't fry an egg without breaking the shell.. Next on schedule is Wyoming, Colorado, etc. The Subbie no longer smells like new.. No longer a virgin..

Outback is about 14' long. Silverado 2500hd LB is 23' long. I think I can use 4ga wire and ground conduit to use as ground wire. Something to think about in the future. However, for now, I'm going to stick to Marine battery and no mods. Battery will not be connected to car through plug in back. If I need to chrge it I'll use a jumper wire. All set to go. Will definitely refuse to go over rocks larger than 8" uphill, on Bear Mtn Rd or any other 45 degree hills (up or down). If need be I can rent an ATV or a Jeep. No sense in reinventing the wheel. From What I see BLM is grading &/or paving all the interesting scenic rds for tourists. I guess they are getting tired of having to go rescue them. By the time I get there I might not need the winch. But she'll be back there just in case. Hope link only posts: Paved &/or graded Thanks.

Every once in a while they reduce the price on Harbor Freight 3,000 # winch to $49bucks. Add 20% discount to that and it comes out around 40 bucks. I'll have to consider grounding the frame eventually. In my truck the frame is grounded so I do not need a batt wire run to trailer. But, I have opted for the Marine Starting battery in back with fuses etc. as I indicated before.

I think I will use a slow blow 100 amp fuse (If I can find one). That way the winch can suck 190 amps for a few seconds before blowing the fuse. Thanks. I don't plan to do any "The Gods Must be Crazy" lifting of the Outback.. When discussing winches I wonder if you should consider rolling weight versus static or hanging weight. I understand Some winches are rated to rolling weight and others to hanging weight. I have a couple of davits that require a 1200# winch to hang 500# in the air.

I am a little puzzled on this one. You still need the frame support to handle the pull without bending the frame (Frame? what frame? Oh! the body is the frame?). I know you can exceed recommended by 1/5 or so but I don't get what you mean. ??

The 2013 Sub Outback 2.5i is only allowed to tow 2700 # per the factory specs. Unless you reinforce frame you cannot mount a 9000# winch to hitch or anywhere on it. Furthermore, It is my wife's subby, it is new and in warranty so I am not allowed any modifications. She is the one that wants to take her car to that particular campground in the desert. The hitch was installed so she could carry her bike. [The 3000# can be doubled with a snatch block. The vehicle does not weight in anywhere near 6k#.] She just wants to do some light dirt and gravel driving (She's been watching too much Youtube and Subaru ads). She does not want to take my Silverado 2500 Hd 4wd out there. Some women are "obstinate". Don't marry one no matter how sweet she is. I've opted for a 690 CCA Marine Starting Battery (48#) mounted in back by tailgate and plugged (with a 10 amp fuse) into that 12volt plug to keep it charged up but disconnecting before using winch (as Milesfox suggests-Thank you). I use one with a 55 Minn Kota that sucks 55 amps flat out and it will run for 2.5hrs before I have to quit using it. I think It will provide juice for 45 minutes steady or 1 hour stop n go. I can, also, possibly, weld some conduit to frame under driver's door and run a single 4 ga wire (positive) to battery in trunk (unbeknown to her). The frame can supply the ground. Or I can ground the conduit and use it for ground. Any other surgery risks voiding new car warranty. I also think two more batts is overkill. In my view, The trick is to not keep powering if not moving, that way you don't bury tires in a hole you cannot get out of. If that and using brakes to keep all tires rolling won't work. then.. Shoot some marine rescue flares 500' up in the air and watch them parachute down. I figure the forest rangers will see that and send someone over. They've given me enough tickets for going offroad in my bike and truck on LA Crest Highway and Palmdale. They can see pretty far from their bird's nests. In meantime I will use that hitch/winch and a 15# danforth to try to back it out o de hole. Monstaru you need to chill. Getting all bent up like that builds blood pressure and strains the heart by constricting the blood vessels. You really should chill. No point in getting a heart attack over a post. Amazing the stuff married guys put up with to keep their honeys happy. Hopefully she won't get the urge to go barreling up and down Bear Mountain road in Colorado with her car. Milesfox I owe you one. PS: That winch pulled a 3,000# sailboat and trailer up the boat ramp. So I am satisfied with it.

I mounted a 3000# winch on the hitch of my Outback (found hitch winch mount for $39.00 at harbor frt) for light use while going to a campground. I go through a dirt and gravel road to reach campground. However, am stumped on wiring it to the car. It seems vehicle battery is too small for claimed full load 190 amp draw expected from the 1hp motor on winch. How do you handle that? I've seen some Foresters and Outbacks with winches in front and read about others with the winch in back. I know enough to not keep spinning the wheel and digging a hole for it when stranded in soft sand. Not doing any serious offroading just need to get through soft sand road and the low tires will not grab at some points even partially deflated. Can't figure out how to wire winch to battery in front of car and worried about the winch load. It seems the outback battery does not have the load carrying capacity 12amp hours for the winch. or does it? I could just run one single jumper wire to the positive pole and just ground the winch to frame. Any help will be appreciated. thanks wanhanlu

anybody install a winch on their subaru? I am trying to mount a winch on my outback on the trailer hitch. I found a 3k# winch and a trailer mount for it. Am stumped with the wiring and the battery power. It seems the outback battery is too small for the winch load. Help? Not doing any jeep style offroading just need to ride on dirt roads a bit to a campground and people get stuck on the ruts. Not much traffic on that road and worry about getting stuck for days without help.