One of the rules is NEVER GO ALONE, except on the very easiest of trails. Not every rig in a group needs to have a winch, but it sure helps if multiple people can help. But as the saying goes, winching ain't wheeling. If the budget says either/or, I generally encourage people to invest in lockers before a winch. Although an ARB or Detroit is going to set you back a bit, you can get a lunchbox locker pretty cheap, and they can be installed without any special tools. And a Lincoln Locker costs less than your lunch.
That Dodge Ram was heavy. A lot heavier than my little YJ. You can't see it in that picture, but there's another YJ behind me, strapped to my rear end, just to add weight. It doesn't show well in the photo, but I was also a fair bit off camber trying to get the angle for the snatch block, and I didn't want to winch myself into a rollover. I had a MileMarker 12,000lb electric winch on the YJ and a MileMarker 15,000lb hydraulic winch on my Ram (the silver one). I used to tell people that between those two, if we couldn't pull them out, we'd just rip their rig into pieces small enough to carry out by hand...
Another rule to remember is that self-extraction is one thing, but if we have to pull you out... there WILL be harassment.
