Most people that use the winch to suck the front end down do it because a coil sprung suspension pushes the body away until something stops it. I use my winch to suck the front end down on climbs all of the time and it makes a huge difference in the way the buggy feels on climbs.
This weekend we were running carnage canyon in Buena Vista and I had the winch hooked up to the axle for the last climb. When I released the winch for someone to attach it to the winch anchor because I couldn't make it the front end pushed away so much that I was a little nervous about going over backwards.
It really helps to keep the front tires loaded with some weight. As the body pushes away the front tires go to basically having no presure on them. Therfore no traction.
I have watched Stephen do the same climb in his Blazer with leaf springs, Coilovers with no front limiting strap, and then with a center limiting strap that holds the front axle at ride height.
The leaf springs did not appear to have any bad push away
The coils with no front limiting strap made the front go to full droop then lift the front tires. It looked a little scary.
Then by adding the front limit strap the blazer climbed better than it had with the leaf springs. This was because the weight of the front axle helps to keep the body down which in turn makes the body put more weight on the front tires. Which equals better traction.
