Sidewinder winch

72Quarterhorse · May 8, 2008

Just wondering How many broncos have sidewinder winches.

Viperwolf1 · May 8, 2008

I have one and I know Grauerfam has one also.

Flintknapper · May 8, 2008

You don't see many "Hickey" Sidewinders these days.

They are a good strong winch...and tuck up neatly between frame rails....(or just about anywhere underneath a vehicle).

"Back in the day", I knew a couple of people that I wheeled with that had them. Their only complaint was that the cable had a tendency to "pinch" itself on hard pulls when it would not spool back in evenly.

This would not only damage the cable, but made it hard to "pay out" the cable later.

Certainly a robust winch however.

ugly74 · May 8, 2008

I've got a sidewinder too, but I've never used it. it was on my 74 when I bought it, but I took it off to rebuild it. I never actually planned to use it really, figuring that it might be a collectors piece, and I don't want to destroy it. but on the other hand....what good is a winch sitting in the garage, when I have a winchless EB that'll never be sold? (I think I just now talked myself into putting it back on%) )

Viperwolf1 · May 8, 2008

I've only used mine a handful of times but I've put it to the test and it is strong. It may be a little slow but it'll get the job done.

zenzone · May 8, 2008

I also have one on my 76. It was on it when I got the bronco, it does tuck under the truck nice, and seems real strong, but I don't know much about it or what the pulling capacity is. I have had lots of guys say they like how it is out of the way and hidden on the truck. For the longest time I just figured it was a very rare option on the broncos.

BajaBronco · May 8, 2008

Two later model Bajas I know of still currently have their sidewinder winches on them, and I know a 73 that had one, but is now off in favor or a Hansen bumper. So theres another 3.

Viperwolf1 · May 8, 2008

zenzone said:
I also have one on my 76. It was on it when I got the bronco, it does tuck under the truck nice, and seems real strong, but I don't know much about it or what the pulling capacity is. I have had lots of guys say they like how it is out of the way and hidden on the truck. For the longest time I just figured it was a very rare option on the broncos.

I read that the original models had a 8K lb. capacity and later ones were higher, I think 9K or 10K lb.

They do tuck in well but if you do a lot of rockcrawling it'll eventually get in the way. The skid plate underneath goes all the way back to the front cross member so that helps you slide over stuff.

Flintknapper · May 8, 2008

Best I remember the Sidewinder was rated at 9,000 lbs. I do remember one of the 4X4 magazines doing a test on it and others. It finally stalled just short of 11,000 lbs.

They had plenty of “grunt”. Not real fast, parts didn’t always hold up on them…and wire rope would pinch pretty badly at times.

I recall the ads back then showing a 1972 Blazer winched completely off the ground and hanging by the limb of a big oak tree. It was all the rage back then.

Sidewinder winch

72Quarterhorse

Full Member

Viperwolf1

electron whisperer

Flintknapper

Sr. Member

ugly74

Bronco abuser

Viperwolf1

electron whisperer

zenzone

Newbie

BajaBronco

Bronco Guru

Viperwolf1

electron whisperer

Flintknapper

Sr. Member

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