what kind of winch would you get, besides Warn & Ramsey?

[jfonze]

this is my new novel:


I quess the original question I should have asked is has anyone had any experiance with any other winches besides warn and ramsey and what was it. And what do you know about the other winch companies, that doesn't include a whole lot of hear say.

Sure I know Warn is a great winch. Don't dought its capabilitys or reputation at all. The thing about the caple snapping, happeining in the same area where waynehartwig winched 10 people up. Truth be told it wasn't pulling anyone up anything, and was being used for pulling somthing back to where it belonged (long story) and the cable failing is part of the design, it should be, better that then your motor failing.

So, sofar I have heard from alot of people that have used ramsey, and warn and pretty much no one who has experiance with the others or can tell me what makes warn better than the others, except for there personal experiances with warn, or ramsey, thats about it. .......

I've used my winch multiple time in a day also to get people unstuck incuding my self, so far it hasn't failed me but like I said earlyer there are things about it that I'm not impressed with.

The part about the marketing thing. I agree it does help them sell alot of winches and they have a good product, hence why I have about 15 people (and I'm sure more to come) telling me how warn is the best. I don't disagree with that in anyway, They probobly are the best, just like burton snowboards are probobly the best, but how would you know if you hadn't rid'n anything else?.............hmmm maby I should have used tires for a comparison?....

 

[waynehartwig]

this is my new novel:


I quess the original question I should have asked is has anyone had any experiance with any other winches besides warn and ramsey and what was it. And what do you know about the other winch companies, that doesn't include a whole lot of hear say.

Sure I know Warn is a great winch. Don't dought its capabilitys or reputation at all. The thing about the caple snapping, happeining in the same area where waynehartwig winched 10 people up. Truth be told it wasn't pulling anyone up anything, and was being used for pulling somthing back to where it belonged (long story) and the cable failing is part of the design, it should be, better that then your motor failing.

So, sofar I have heard from alot of people that have used ramsey, and warn and pretty much no one who has experiance with the others or can tell me what makes warn better than the others, except for there personal experiances with warn, or ramsey, thats about it. .......

I've used my winch multiple time in a day also to get people unstuck incuding my self, so far it hasn't failed me but like I said earlyer there are things about it that I'm not impressed with.

The part about the marketing thing. I agree it does help them sell alot of winches and they have a good product, hence why I have about 15 people (and I'm sure more to come) telling me how warn is the best. I don't disagree with that in anyway, They probobly are the best, just like burton snowboards are probobly the best, but how would you know if you hadn't rid'n anything else?.............hmmm maby I should have used tires for a comparison?....

lol I get your Burton comaparison

 

[N-Smooth]

just like burton snowboards are probobly the best, but how would you know if you hadn't rid'n anything else

you know burton is not the best if you ride anything else

i don't buy the whole most popular or founder of the product being the best at all. my experience is that my friends warn 16.5 ti is the fastest freaking winch i have ever seen and it has the sweet thermal shutdown thingy. a friends milemarker winch was freakishly slow, but like 1/4 the price of the warn. in a lightweight rig like mine, i am not going with the worlds heaviest winch (when i purchase one) and i will try something different than warn... i could buy two winches of another flavor for the price of a warn.

i am not trying to take away from warn, i think they probably are the best, but it most likely won't be my route. :-\

 

[waynehartwig]

you know burton is not the best if you ride anything else

i don't buy the whole most popular or founder of the product being the best at all. my experience is that my friends warn 16.5 ti is the fastest freaking winch i have ever seen and it has the sweet thermal shutdown thingy. a friends milemarker winch was freakishly slow, but like 1/4 the price of the warn. in a lightweight rig like mine, i am not going with the worlds heaviest winch (when i purchase one) and i will try something different than warn... i could buy two winches of another flavor for the price of a warn.

i am not trying to take away from warn, i think they probably are the best, but it most likely won't be my route. :-\

I don't ride a Burton. Can't remember what brand it is...But it's not a big name.

Dude, get a Warn... If it's cost your worried about, check out this 9,000 lb one...
http://www.alljeep.com/oscommerce/product_info.php?products_id=564
I think I can let it go for about $475....

 

[rxcarl5]

Although I am also a big fan of warn winches. And will probably never use anything other then a warn winch, I do have ot report a couple of failures that my trail buddy and I have had with them. On my xd 9500i That I used to have it for some reason stopped free spooling. When I took it in for warrant they told me that the modem was wet, which confused me cause it was only a month old and had only seen rain not any deep puddles. Anyway that one was just a bad experience with me and the company warranty that was fixing it. once it was fixed it worked good enough although a little slow I thought, until it was stolen off of the rig. After it was stolen off of the rig even having a bad experience I bought the 9500ti and love it I have not had any problems with it at all in the 3 years that it has been on the rig.

That being said my buddies xd9000 would spin the drum but not pull in the cable after we took it apart we found out it was just a little weld that ad broken. We rewelded it and have not had anymore problems since. That modem was probably 6years or so old when this problem occured though.

So like I said I like warn winches but I thought I would tell you of a few weird quirks that I experienced and have seen.

 

[ZUKEYPR]

If I had the money I'd buy a Warn. Would I need a Warn? No I don't see myself going up the Eagles Nest anytime soon. That's really killer though Wayne to pull that many rigs up. Isn't 16.5 a bit overkill though? For me my little 8,000 HF has served me well. It has pulled me out of every jam that I got myself in and even pulled out a bunch of illegals stuck knee deep out on the Pony Express two years ago in a snow storm. I only remember it stopping once and that was when I contiually pulled myself and another for probably about 30 minutes. It's EXTREMELY slow though. The $800.00 dollars that I saved bought me a locker and Tera Low gears, now I rarely need the winch. I guess it's all how you intend on using it. I can't see some of the extreme guys on here using a HF without distroying it after one use but it's fine for me.

 

[rrefx]

Hey Jfonze,
I don't know how to post links to their individual threads, but there's a lot of discussion about this on www.discoweb.org and being a landrover sight, and with the camel trophy and such there's a lot of info on Superwinch, also takes on the others you listed. Just do a search and you'll find all of the experiances with the different winches you'll need. Hope this offers you a little more of the personal experiance you're looking for.

Ryan

 

[jfonze]

Hey Jfonze,
I don't know how to post links to their individual threads, but there's a lot of discussion about this on www.discoweb.org and being a landrover sight, and with the camel trophy and such there's a lot of info on Superwinch, also takes on the others you listed. Just do a search and you'll find all of the experiances with the different winches you'll need. Hope this offers you a little more of the personal experiance you're looking for.

Ryan

thanks, much apreciated

 

[Spork]

I dunno... My Dad had an old 65 CJ5 with a PTO winch that was pretty cool...

 

[willies45]

I bought a Mile marker electric because I had used their hydrolic on company trucks and they always worked well.. My electric has not failed me as of yet, but being one of their first it is very slow compaired to their newer models or the warns. its only an 8000 but with a snatch block I have pulled some full size rigs out of the mud and snow.

 

[Steve]

I'll expand on my earlier "Warn or nothing" response. I do rock crawling (my wife says it's "extreme") so I get into situations where a working winch is critical or I'm in trouble. I don't want it failing on the exit waterfall on Upper Heldo for example. I know that Warns have been around for a very long time and I know they have a very good reputation for reliability. I also know that the majority of comp buggies run Warn winches, which says something.

That said, if I used mine for milder wheeling, where I might use a winch a couple of times/year at most, and not in extreme circumstances, I would consider something cheaper.

Things you should consider:

- line speed vs amperage draw; you'd be amazed how much this varies from brand to brand. I've seen a comparison between various brands for similar size winches, just don't remember where I saw it, sorry.
- warranty; what is it, how long is it, what do you have to do to get warranty service and how readily available is it?
- and most importantly, what kind of wheeling do you do and how critical will it be if your winch has problems? Only you can answer that question.

Like most everything else, you get what you pay for. If a Warn costs 50% more than a HF or Costco winch, you know that they're NOT the same quality, so the question is what's different in the cheaper ones to allow them to sell them significantly cheaper and still make a profit?

 

[mbryson]

I'll expand on my earlier "Warn or nothing" response. I do rock crawling (my wife says it's "extreme") so I get into situations where a working winch is critical or I'm in trouble. I don't want it failing on the exit waterfall on Upper Heldo for example. I know that Warns have been around for a very long time and I know they have a very good reputation for reliability. I also know that the majority of comp buggies run Warn winches, which says something.

That said, if I used mine for milder wheeling, where I might use a winch a couple of times/year at most, and not in extreme circumstances, I would consider something cheaper.

Things you should consider:

- line speed vs amperage draw; you'd be amazed how much this varies from brand to brand. I've seen a comparison between various brands for similar size winches, just don't remember where I saw it, sorry.
- warranty; what is it, how long is it, what do you have to do to get warranty service and how readily available is it?
- and most importantly, what kind of wheeling do you do and how critical will it be if your winch has problems? Only you can answer that question.

Like most everything else, you get what you pay for. If a Warn costs 50% more than a HF or Costco winch, you know that they're NOT the same quality, so the question is what's different in the cheaper ones to allow them to sell them significantly cheaper and still make a profit?

I think of a winch as kind of a 'safety' item. During it's usable life it very well could be for you or for someone else. I'm just not willing to compromise on quality to save a $100 or $200 for that kind of product.

 

[ZUKEYPR]

Has anyone seen this website
http://www.winchdepot.com/winches.asp
Those prices are killer!

 

[mbryson]

Has anyone seen this website
http://www.winchdepot.com/winches.asp
Those prices are killer!

I think Six States has better prices than that (at least on the M8000). I haven't gotten a quote for a while, but they were WAY better than that last time I checked.


I believe Kurt is a Warn vendor. I'd check with him too.

 

[rondo]

I've blown up a Warn 6000lb on a light rig, but that was about 10 years ago. At least Warn fixed it free even when i had no receipts (I had to get a couple of different people on the phone). That kind of service is good enough reason for me to buy Warn. I'm hard core by most standards and i've never had a problem since on that 6000 lb winch and i now have a 9500.
My Pal blew up his cheapo Harbor Freight special about 2 months after getting it. He was trying to save $. Big mistake!
I'm running a Ramsey on my Jeep for about 2 years, no complaints so far.

I also personally don't feel the winch rope performance has anything to do with the winch. A breaking cable or rope probably has to do with the situation.

 

[waynehartwig]

Has anyone seen this website
http://www.winchdepot.com/winches.asp
Those prices are killer!

They really aren't that good. They look good because they show an inflated retail price and their price...Better than most, but there are better prices otu there. I paid almost $200 less (before I had AllJeep.com) for my 16.5ti than what is listed on that site. And I received free shipping and tow strap.

 

[waynehartwig]

I agree.. What are your plans with it? I'm hardcore with mine. There have been lots of times I've been tethering on it, and had other people tethering on it. IMO that is not the time to save a few bucks.... I too feel a winch is a safety item, and not for convienence. Your buddies winch is for your convienence - know what I mean? When you get into trouble and need a winch, you really need it. I want to know that my winch is up for the task at the moment - safely.

Like someone else said about line speed and current draw...This is the primary reason I went with such a large winch. Speed is fast and current draw is low (unless fully loaded, then current draw is REAL high). I only intend on running one battery, so this is very important to me.

If I had it to do over, I'd probably still buy a 16.5ti, but I might go to 24v instead. Even faster with MUCH less current draw...

 

[Tacoma]

I had to pick "other" and here I'll detail that:

The Braden and Garwood 10k's, PTO driven and found on military trucks. Why? mostly because that's what I have, and they fit the PTO ports on the trans/tcases.

That said, I really like Warn otherwise, and will probably be using their winches on everything from now on. Good reputation, good personal experience, and even nice aesthetics.

 

[RockMonkey]

I don't want it failing on the exit waterfall on Upper Heldo for example.

You use a winch there??? :greg:

 

[Steve]

You use a winch there??? :greg:

Dang, where's that flipoff smiley? The exit doesn't like my 92 inch wheelbase.