Winch for CJ-5

I usually start thinking ahead a little bit on what I want to do and I have been thinking about a winch on the front. I don't plan on getting radical or too far back in the wilderness, but wouldn't mind having the luxury of a winch if I happened to get in a bind or stuck. What size would be appropriate? I was looking at some today just out of curiosity and they had a 4300, a 9000, and a 12000. No way I need 12000 but would 4300 be too small? Another thing, I am trying to avoid buying anything made in China as much as possible and that is hard to do. Are there any US made winches that aren't outrageous in price. I wouldn't even mind if they were made in Mexico. Any advice on this is appreciated.

For a general, all around winch, I would go with the 4300 lbs winch. The 9000 lbs winch is a bit overkill for back woods riding, unless you ever plan on getting buried in the mud. If you do plan on a possibility of mud, you could always carry a snatch block to increase the mechanical advantages of the smaller winch.
As far as American made winches, the Ramsey winches are assembled in the US. Warn winches outside of the VR series are assembled in the US. Mile Marker winches are what we install on our special ops military vehicles, and they are assembled in the US. They look to be a high quality winch, but I personally haven't put one to the test like I have with the bigger vehicles.

Are the cheap China Freight winches good for anything? Anchor is not a valid answer! I was wondering if they would work on a weekend warrior or a trailer.

The ones I was looking at were at Tractor Supply. They looked good but were made in China. They are probably OK winches but right now I am trying to buy USA as much as possible. Some stuff I buy made in China is fine but some of it doesn't work out of the box. I would pay more to get better quality, especially if it is US made. GM I think you're right, 4300 is probably enough to get a guy out of most binds. I hope to stay out of the mud with it.

I'm way too cheap to have any winch on my trailer, as long as my trusty come-a-long is still kicking. I haven't had any experience with the Badland winches from the freight. All of the experience I do have is with hydraulic and gear driven winches on heavy trucks and equipment. Braden and Ramsey were the biggest and toughest of the bunch. A funny story about a Braden winch.... I was working at the Ford tractor dealership, and received a service call to go out to repair a tractor. The guy on the other end said that they were having issues with the winch on their tractor. They were a cutting crew for Asplen tree service, who were contracted to clear high line right of ways. I pull up to the bottom of this large hill, where the line boss was waiting to pick me up on his three wheeler. We trudge up the hill, then back through the woods to an opening. At the edge of the meadow was this big oak tree, with a rather large limb hung out probably 25 yards above the ground.... You can see where this is going. On said limb was a winch cable hooked around the limb, and dangling from this hook was a Ford front wheel assist tractor swinging off the ground in the breeze. The service call was because they couldn't get the release lever tripped. We all stood there a few minutes, while the cutting crew showed up. We then came up with the plan to cut the limb until the tractor touched the ground. The crew did a great job in just easing the tractor down by expertly cutting the limb. The crew really didn't expect me to climb up there to try and release it, but wanted more to show off what the rig would do. It was a great skidder for rough terrain, with recapped 100 ply air craft tires installed with tractor treads.
Sorry for traveling off the reservation again. The Chinese winches are alright, but in my opinion, pay the extra money and purchase a good winch. When you find out you really need it to work, it will be ready for action.

My thinking was the winch cus' I'm old and the come along if it breaks because I'm cheap and didn't buy the good winch.

I have a variety of come alongs. Before that we had "fence stretchers" which were basically a block and tackle with hemp rope. I have my grandpa's right here in my office. I have bought those little 1000# electric winches to use to hoist a deer up to dress out and they work pretty good. I think the biggest enemy of them is the rain and such.

Ahh good info there. So the China winch would make a fair indoor, or a good weather only, keep it dry winch.

I had to use the 4-wheeler to get him up this high so I could load him. My brother and I are getting wise (so old) enough that we are thinking electric winch setup

The one I have is on a 4 inch pipe that has an arm that sticks out about 5 feet and the pole swivels. It is surprising how high this needs to be to get a deer up in the air high enough that the front feet are up about waist high. I have a ring on a chain in the ground and I actually use the winch to pull the skin off the deer.

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Originally Posted by okiemark

I usually start thinking ahead a little bit on what I want to do and I have been thinking about a winch on the front. I don't plan on getting radical or too far back in the wilderness, but wouldn't mind having the luxury of a winch if I happened to get in a bind or stuck. What size would be appropriate? I was looking at some today just out of curiosity and they had a 4300, a 9000, and a 12000. No way I need 12000 but would 4300 be too small? Another thing, I am trying to avoid buying anything made in China as much as possible and that is hard to do. Are there any US made winches that aren't outrageous in price. I wouldn't even mind if they were made in Mexico. Any advice on this is appreciated.

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My choice for most normal-sized 4x4's is the tried and true Warn M8000. that's what I have on mine. Built in the US (with domestic and imported parts), Low profile, reliable, fairly fast loaded/unloaded pull, good parts availability, nice controller, robust solenoid system, standard mounting bolt pattern. Pricey-er than Chinese models, but I'm in the "buy once, cry once" camp when it comes to winches. There are much more expensive winches and much cheaper ones. I think this is the least expensive "quality" winch you can buy.