ramsey vs. warn. vs mile marker

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
anybody had experience with these winches and what there pros and cons are? are the mile markers a good winch? they are a lot cheaper than warn, but i trust the warn name and quality and features. thanks.
 

venpick

77 fj40
Location
salt lake
Ive owned all three. I used to have an 8000 lb ramsey ive currently got a 9000lb mile marker and a 15000 warn. ive never had any problem with any of them. I did replace the electric motor on the ramsey once but you cant blame the winch it was extremely old (prob made in the 70s?) and had probably been under water countless times. it sputtered out late 90s. I do think the warn has the best features. both my ramsey and mile marker winch had one speed only and it was very slow. It can take a long time to respool if you have lots of cable out. I would get one of the varible speed winches if I were smart. It seems like im always to cheap to pay the extra money for the nice features. But i think that you wont regret it if you do get the better one. my 2 cents.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
IMO, the Warn is going to be the better choice in the long run. I know Rockmonkey had a Superwinch... or Ramsey? It was a POS apparently, not long after getting it the brake quite holding.

I haven't heard much about Mile Markers elec. winches, but I'd be leary since their #1 product is the hydraulic-drive winches. Makes me wonder if the hyd. winches are so good, why are they making elec. winches too?

If you're still thinking about a cheaper winch alternative, ILean recently picked up a Champion & had been conducting an ongoing review-

http://www.rockymountainextreme.com/showthread.php?t=39440
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
A very loaded question... Warn makes cheap winches (Tabor) and some of the others have their "premium" winches. What models are you considering? Warn has the best warranty out on the market... period. And they honor it too!
 

RockMonkey

Suddenly Enthusiastic
I had (actually still have, and may end up using again...) a Ramsey Pro 8000. I had nothing but problems with it. The motor died, and was replaced. The solenoids were constantly problematic, the brake doesn't work. Basically it has been extremely unreliable. I had a Warn HS9500i that was exceptional in every way. It worked every time. The brake worked flawlessly. I never had a single motor or solenoid problem. It spooled in extremely quickly, and pulled very hard. I don't know that I ever stalled it. I used it a lot and it never gave me a hint of a problem. Just typing this out makes me really want to spend a little money and buy a Warn for my new rig instead of trying to resurrect that stupid Ramsey again. The only problem with Warn is that they last so long and are so good that you can never seem to get a really good deal on one.
 

NE_Utah

Active Member
Location
Roosevelt
I havr a Mile Marker 8000. i like how slow it is while pulling. my warn was almost to fast and it would keep spinning after you let off the switch. My mile marker is slow as hell but I can wind the wire nice and strait. My warn did burn up a motor, but I got it replaiced for free. My Mile marker is lower and lighter so My jeep runs cooler and raised up 1/2"

I like the slower line speeds. Im in no hurry to get to places.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut

For all the hype I heard about their big "competition", I was let down to read their results. Very lacking in actual quantitative data & scientific approach.

How much did the Jeeps themselves weigh? Sounds minor, but a 500 lb difference could change the results drastically... They didn't weigh any of the rigs prior to the competition, at least not that was mentioned. For some of the pulls it didn't matter, but others it surely would. I see they had a 5k lb scale, why would they not have used one capable of measuring the actual loads they anticipated?

Batteries? They made no mention of wether or not the batteries were all at least a consistent size, the difference in winch performance relative to the battery is huge. It could likely be the difference between a fried winch motor and not.

The synthetic rope on the T-Max, was it used with less wraps on the drum than specified by the manufacture? Pretty subjective to DNF a winch because they used it improperly IMO? I'm not a huge fan of synthetic, but seen it used extensively, I've never seen one pull off the drum when used correctly... and If "Joe Consumer" can't figure out a way to put the rope back on the winch and keep going... "Joe Consumer" surely shouldn't be driving a Jeep ;)

The "temperature after pull"... How do you even begin to compare these?? Does every electric motor design run at the same temp, begin to fail at the samp temp? It is a great benchmark for the SAME motor, but to compare and rank temps between winches, lame. Does Car/Driver use motor temps before and after a drive to rank a car? Do the winch manufactures publish a temp. threshold at which their winch implodes? They should have measured the output noise too... because that really matters when your rig is hanging on the side of a cliff.

Where in this test did longevity come into play? They ranked the Chicago Elec. winch #3, while acknowledging the fact it was near death. How do you recommend something that you know will fail? I don't buy expensive items for my rig... just because they will work initially.

It was a neat idea, and they did a good job given their experience I suppose. I wish another group would do some hard data testing. Honestly after reading all through their test, I have more questions than answers.
 

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
thanks for all the posts they are quite helpful...i had a ramsey 8k on my yj that never had any problems and the warn 8k on my dad's jeep is awesome. however, i think that a 9k or 9.5k will be better. i have my eye on the 9.5ti, but holy crap batman, that is one expensive winch! i'm just kind of tossing brands around. i don't want to spend a million bucks, but i also don't want to buy a piece either.
 

Meat_

Banned
Location
Lehi
For all the hype I heard about their big "competition", I was let down to read their results. Very lacking in actual quantitative data & scientific approach....

I was VERY impressed with GOAT's Superwinch EPi9.0 while winching his TJ out of the big hot tub.... with that said, my recovery winches will ALWAYS have a W on them.

We did manage to stall (almost, I let off first) the Superwinch, but his TJ was going up a vertical wall with the front tires smashed hard into the wall and the back tires floating in the air.....

As for rope vs. cable, I've been on the fence (leaning towards cable) for some time now... last weekend killed any consideration of rope... as I watched GOAT's cable dig into the sandstone 3/4" x 3' and it wasn't even moving on the rock!

Ramsey and Milemarker may see duty on my trailer someday IF someone gives them to me.
 

gijohn40

too poor to wheel... :(
Location
Layton, Utah
I was given a ramsey REP 12,000 that was on a company truck that was used to run fiber optic cable up in the no man lands... so it got used alot and when I got it and put it on my expedition I used it even more up in wyoming pulling carsl and trucks out of snow drifts... its very slow (7fpm) but it just keeps turning and works great... I have used it once to lift the front end of my expedition off the ground to work under it (of course I used jack stands just didn't have a jack).

I don't think I would put it on any of my jeeps due to its slowness but on the expedition as a recovery vehicle it works great... I have not had any problems with it at all... I did take it all apart and replace a few things just to make sure it was clean and greased properly before I installed it on my truck.
 

Paul R

Well-Known Member
Location
SLC
I had (actually still have, and may end up using again...) a Ramsey Pro 8000. I had nothing but problems with it. The motor died, and was replaced. The solenoids were constantly problematic, the brake doesn't work. Basically it has been extremely unreliable. I had a Warn HS9500i that was exceptional in every way. It worked every time. The brake worked flawlessly. I never had a single motor or solenoid problem. It spooled in extremely quickly, and pulled very hard. I don't know that I ever stalled it. I used it a lot and it never gave me a hint of a problem. Just typing this out makes me really want to spend a little money and buy a Warn for my new rig instead of trying to resurrect that stupid Ramsey again. The only problem with Warn is that they last so long and are so good that you can never seem to get a really good deal on one.

I seem to remember a few years ago you said any winch that doesn't have a "W" on it is a waste of money... after seeing a Ramsey winch explode on upper proving grounds :eek::rofl:
 

Devel

Just an Outlaw....
Location
North Salt Lake
Ive got a Mile Marker, its Slow but it does the Job, my only Beef with it is that the cable is so big that it almost always binds when im pulling sumone out
 

RockChucker

Well-Known Member
Location
Highland
thanks for all the replies! i'm leaning more and more towards warn everyday, but for now, i think i'll save my money and get a long arm kit....
 
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