WILLD420
Observer
Since the decision had to be made a week or so ago, this is for posterity's sake I guess.
I have both winches. Both are good, both do the job most of the time, with the 8274 being more reliable when abused and built more like an industrial winch. The 8274 has the cable held in much more securely, as the brake is not in the way to run the cable inside the drum and clamp it in tight. The other style winch cannot be done like this, as there are shafts, brakes and unsealed gears prohibiting this.
The 8274 is taller and takes up more space. The only reason I wouldn't choose the 8274 is if I could not make it work, or I needed more than a 10K lb winch.
I'm siding with the drive it while you winch crowd. Dragging axles and stuck tires is a lot harder, than dragging spinning tires that are helping you out. For that reason alone, the 8274 wins over 80% of the winches on the market. My 8274 can un-spool as fast as most men can walk on the ground we winch in. The other winch is fairly fast as well, but not quite there. As an example, on the last run, there was a smittybuilt winch on the rig working with me. We wound up winding his synth line on the bumper because we got tired of waiting for his winch to wind the line in and out every 3 minutes. My 8274 did not have this issue.
As for pulling power, this is my gut feeling. Take it for what it's worth.
My rig is a Ramcharger on 35's with a 3" lift. It probably weighs around 6000 lbs loaded up, maybe more. With the 8274, I can be buried in snow with both bumpers sitting on the top of the frozen crap we get here. My other winch would only move me if I was on the last wrap or so of the winch. The 8274 will move me on the outer wrap from the same stuck.
While the 8274 is an 8K lb winch and my other winch is a 9500 pounder, the 8274 feels like it pulls a LOT harder.
Either one is going to suck a lot of amps at full load. The deeper the gears in the winch, the fewer amps it pulls for a given load, with the same diameter spool and wire wrap, so I don't worry about the amp draw. The only thing I worry about is burning up the solenoids from too much duty cycle.
If I had to choose between my 9500 Warn and an old school Harbor Freight 10K winch, I'd pick the HF winch and hotrod it with some better solenoids and some good grease and silicone.
I have both winches. Both are good, both do the job most of the time, with the 8274 being more reliable when abused and built more like an industrial winch. The 8274 has the cable held in much more securely, as the brake is not in the way to run the cable inside the drum and clamp it in tight. The other style winch cannot be done like this, as there are shafts, brakes and unsealed gears prohibiting this.
The 8274 is taller and takes up more space. The only reason I wouldn't choose the 8274 is if I could not make it work, or I needed more than a 10K lb winch.
I'm siding with the drive it while you winch crowd. Dragging axles and stuck tires is a lot harder, than dragging spinning tires that are helping you out. For that reason alone, the 8274 wins over 80% of the winches on the market. My 8274 can un-spool as fast as most men can walk on the ground we winch in. The other winch is fairly fast as well, but not quite there. As an example, on the last run, there was a smittybuilt winch on the rig working with me. We wound up winding his synth line on the bumper because we got tired of waiting for his winch to wind the line in and out every 3 minutes. My 8274 did not have this issue.
As for pulling power, this is my gut feeling. Take it for what it's worth.
My rig is a Ramcharger on 35's with a 3" lift. It probably weighs around 6000 lbs loaded up, maybe more. With the 8274, I can be buried in snow with both bumpers sitting on the top of the frozen crap we get here. My other winch would only move me if I was on the last wrap or so of the winch. The 8274 will move me on the outer wrap from the same stuck.
While the 8274 is an 8K lb winch and my other winch is a 9500 pounder, the 8274 feels like it pulls a LOT harder.
Either one is going to suck a lot of amps at full load. The deeper the gears in the winch, the fewer amps it pulls for a given load, with the same diameter spool and wire wrap, so I don't worry about the amp draw. The only thing I worry about is burning up the solenoids from too much duty cycle.
If I had to choose between my 9500 Warn and an old school Harbor Freight 10K winch, I'd pick the HF winch and hotrod it with some better solenoids and some good grease and silicone.
