It's been only the last few years I've had a winch, because I'm getting old and feeble
For DECADES I used a pair of come-a-longs. Now these are not HF ones, but they are the "smaller size." These are "dual cable" IE a snatchblock, but the SLIP HOOKS which they come with are useless. I replace the hooks with GRAB hooks, and when loading a car, stretch out a chain from the front so I can "leapfrog" one over the other as they run up out of cable.