Towing & Recovery Reviews & Guides

Towing and recovery gear reviews: hitches, brake controllers and winches, with ratings taken from published specs, never guessed.

Best winch for a truck: Badland Apex vs WARN VR EVO, sizing by GVWR x 1.5, synthetic vs steel rope, warranty, mounting and safe pulls.

Badland Apex 12,000 lb winch review: Harbor Freight's specs and layer chart, sizing by GVWR x 1.5, bumper fit, the 90-day warranty, safe pulls.

The best trailer brake controller for a truck without a factory unit: Tekonsha P3, REDARC Liberty, Primus IQ or CURT Echo, matched by truck.

Do you need a brake controller? What Ford, GM, Ram and Toyota manuals require, state law examples, factory vs aftermarket by truck and our picks.

Tekonsha Prodigy P3 review: which trucks it plugs into, setting power and boost, the errors owners hit, and avoiding clone 90195 listings.

How to set up a weight distribution hitch: the three fender measurements, each truck maker's target, and the Equal-i-zer and Andersen steps.

What size winch for your truck: WARN's GVWR x 1.5 rule, a winch-size table, where Superwinch and Smittybilt differ, and limits past the winch.

WARN VR EVO 10-S winch review: rated pull, sizing by WARN's GVWR x 1.5 rule, the remote recall, bumper fitment and line safety.

Do you need a weight distribution hitch? What Ford, GM, Ram and Toyota manuals require by truck, receiver ratings, payload math and our picks.

Andersen No-Sway vs Equal-i-zer 4-point: weight transfer, sway control, hookup, noise, how each one fails, and our pick by tongue weight.

Equal-i-zer 4-point WD hitch review: how its sway control works, sizing by tongue weight, the setup target, noise and who should skip it.

Andersen No-Sway WD hitch review: how the friction cone controls sway, how much weight it moves, ratings by shank, and who should skip it.