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If you haven’t already heard, ARB has released a brand-new winch, and it's available for the 4th gen Tacoma (2024+). We designed the winch to handle recovery for how trucks are actually set up these days: bigger bumpers, more accessories, heavier loads. Here's the rundown on what it is, the specs, and why it's not just another winch on the shelf.
About The Winch
The ARB Winch is a compact, fully recovery winch available in 10,000 lb and 12,000 lb ratings. It's built to keep up with heavily equipped rigs, with consistent power, smart heat management, and a simpler install than most winches on the market.
Top Features
- 10K and 12K capacity
- Electronics built directly into the winch housing, no external control box to package
- 4-stage hardened steel gearbox for smooth, controlled pulling power under heavy load
- Gearbox-mounted brake for 100% load holding and powered unspooling without cooking the winch
- Synthetic rope standard, safer and easier to handle than steel cable
- Dual connection remote: 2.4 GHz wireless up to 130 ft, plus a hardwired option up to 16 ft
- IP68 rated for water and dust
- Pre-wired connections for a clean, hassle-free install
Most winches haven't changed much in years. They get the job done, but the same pain points keep showing up once things get serious. Here's how we approached them.
Heat
On a lot of winches, the brake sits inside the drum, which dumps heat straight into your rope and wears down the line over time. We moved the brake into the gearbox, away from the drum entirely. Less heat on the rope means better durability and more consistent pulls, run after run.
Electrical Complexity
A separate control box means more wiring, more connections, and more places for something to fail once you're in mud, water, or dust. We replaced it with a custom Albright contactor built directly into the winch, sealed into one compact IP68-rated unit. Fewer connections means fewer things to go wrong when you're already in a stressful spot, and the pre-wired setup keeps installation straightforward.
Performance Drop-Off
Plenty of winches start strong and slow down as they heat up. Our 4-stage hardened steel gearbox and tuned 12V motor work together to hold consistent pulling power and line speed through longer recoveries.
Low-Profile Design
A lot of winches on the market are bigger than they need to be, which makes them a tight fit behind a bumper. Ours is noticeably more compact, so it fits and works with most bumpers on the market and keeps the front end looking clean.
10K vs 12K: Which One for a Tacoma?
For most 4th gen Tacoma builds, the 10K is plenty (rule of thumb is roughly 1.5x your loaded vehicle weight). If you're running a heavier overland setup, steel bumpers front and rear, drawers, RTT, full water and fuel, and want extra headroom for mud and steep, loaded pulls, the 12K is the safer bet.
Full specs side by side:
| ARB 10K Winch | ARB 12K Winch | |
| Rated Line Pull | 10,000 lb / 4,536 kg | 12,000 lb / 5,443 kg |
| Rope | 10 mm x 92 ft Grey Synthetic | 11 mm x 79 ft Grey Synthetic |
| Fairlead | Forged 6061 Aluminum Hawse Fairlead | Forged 6061 Aluminum Hawse Fairlead |
| Fitted weight | 73.5 lb / 33.3 kg | 76 lb / 34.5 kg |
| Max Line Speed | 60 ft/min | 65 ft/min |
| Motor | 5.3 HP | 5.7 HP |
| Warranty | Limited lifetime + 7-year electrical | Limited lifetime + 7-year electrical |
Mounting on a 4th Gen Tacoma
Because the control box is built into the winch housing, there's no separate box to hide behind the fascia or zip-tie inside the engine bay, which is one less packaging headache on the new Tacoma with all the sensors and camera hardware up front. The winch mounts to a standard low-mount winch cradle, so it drops into any winch-ready bumper built for the 4th gen Tacoma with a conventional mount pattern.
Speaking of bumpers, we've got two new front bumpers for the 4th gen Tacoma now open for presale:
Summit MKII Winch Bumper for Toyota Tacoma (2024+)
The Summit MKII is our most tech-forward bumper yet, and it still works fully with the driver assist safety systems on newer trucks. It keeps the core layout of the original Summit but cleans up the design, no front buffers, robot welds on the face for a more finished look, and all the lighting (fog, DRL, sequential turn signal, clearance light) built into one unit instead of bolted on separately.
It’s built to protect and features durable steel construction, an upswept wing design for a better approach angle, an airbag-compatible mount that bolts to the chassis, full underbody protection panels, and twin jacking points in the lower pan.
Zenith Winch Bumper for Toyota Tacoma (2024+)
The Zenith is the low-profile option, built for people who want added protection without a bulky front end. It's laser-cut 3mm steel, e-coated and powder coated for corrosion resistance, and it's got twin 8-ton recovery points forged right into the bar so you're not relying on bolt-on shackle mounts that tend to point-load.
It also comes with integrated skid plates and under-wing pans, keeps airflow open to the radiator so you're not losing cooling capacity, works with OEM fog lights and factory radar/parking sensors, and has a built-in cradle that fits most low-mount winches up to 12,000 lb.
Quick note: to fit our winch on both of these bumpers, you’ll need to purchase our spacer kit as well.
Both bumpers are open for presale now!
Have Questions?
We know a winch is a real purchase, and there's a lot to weigh: which capacity is right for your build, how it all fits together with a new bumper on the 4th gen platform, and whether it's worth it over the other options. Drop your questions below, and we'll get you answers.
Want to see everything we've got available for the 2024+ Toyota Tacoma? Check out our current lineup.
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