Winches for dummies

[HARDTRAILZ]

I have seen several Warn winches fail and have a buddy that after a couple years and having to send in his Warn 3 times for work and not having a winch for about a month each time....sold it and got a Smittybilt that has not failed him yet. If it does, he says it is cheaper to replace than to send in Warn several times and have the extended time without a winch. Maybe not typical, but any winch can fail. Some people use HF winches day in and day out for years without issue.

Buy what you can afford and learn to use it properly. Knowing good winch techniques can be easily as important as the winch. Several of the cheaper brands will do you as good or better than sucking up the Warn koolaid.

 

[Revco]

I have a Rugged Ridge 8500lb. My uncle owns www.vintagejeepparts.com / www.4x4outfitters.com and he sells the Rugged Ridge winches, so I wanted to support him and I didn't have to pay for shipping :sombrero:

I did some research on winches, and for my use, the Warn just wasn't in the cards due to the price. The Engo was a strong contender after reading some reviews. A friend has a "Badlands" winch from HF that he uses on his budget crawler and he swears by it since it does the job and is cheap. I opted for the Rugged Ridge because it was a good price, and I hadn't heard anything negative about it, plus the fact that I could support my Uncle's small business. The RR winch is a re-labeled "T-Max", and from what I've heard, the Summit Racing winches are also relabeled T-Max's. The underside the plastic cover on mine says "T-Max".

Now, I don't use my winch like most offroaders. I have front & rear receiver hitches, and a receiver hitch on my car trailer, and I built a receiver mount for the winch. It sees most of it's use on the trailer, and will pull anything up the trailer effortlessly, even a '64 Lincoln with stuck brakes and 4 flat tires. It will pull my K2500 Suburban out of a bind with ease, and that's without using the snatch block. I have probably used it about 30 times and it has operated flawlessly. For the price, and for what I use it for, it has served me well, and I have nothing negative to say about it.

When I finish my other truck, I will likely purchase a Warn that will permanently mount in the front bumper, and the RR winch will stay with the trailer, or be tossed in as a spare or if a buddy needs a winch on the trail.

 

[Warn Industries]

As usual, if any of you has questions about the WARN product, feel free to message me at any time.

- Andy

 

[fasteddy47]

A winch is a tool .....like any other tool... buy the best you can afford. Once you have purchased what is affordable
..... Like your tools... take good care of it. Service it.... Buy a winch cover..... Grease it..... Test it...
And before you go out in the middle of no-where by yourself.... learn how to use it, practice makes perfect and
do a driveway pull test to make sure it's working.

 

[LIVEanimals]

I picked up this old Warn bumper off CL yesterday, needs a little work but should be nice

 

[bigwapitijohnny]

I'm going with a Warn VR series this time...

My previous winch was a 9.5 ti for my 4runner. It was a great winch with no problems with reliability. However, I did note some of the powder coating chipping off after awhile. Warn paid to ship it back to them, refurbed it and sent it back. They even threw in a winch bag for the trouble...:wings:

I had the 4runner for about 3 years and needed my winch 2x. I feel as though it paid for itself considering how much it would have been to get it towed...Since my 'need' for a winch is minimal compared to others, I am going to go with the VR series winch this time. The warranty for the VR series is the exact same for their premium offerings. Good luck with your decision, you cannot go wrong with Warn winches...

Regards,

BWJ

 

[jacksonbase]

go with warn

Go with a warn. I think I have had 20 to 30 trucks with winches over the years. The ones with warns -8000lb to 12,000 -never gave me any problems and I absolutely abused them when they were needed. Ramseys always gave me solinoid problems . The cheap ones are really hit or miss. They sometimes don't even work right out of the box. The last winch I sold(warn) the buyer expressed "After getting my jeep stuck in front of a crowd of about 30 friend I hook up my new (cheap) 8k winch and it pulls me about 2 ft before it died" He said he would never buy another cheap winch again.

 

[Texan1983]

had a warn m8000 for alot of years and on a few differents trucks. worked awesome...

That being said, I tried an engo e12000 on my truck... no reason a new company cant have a chance, and they look like they have something here... give them a call, great customer service goes a long way and they have the tests to prove their winches. Never got that feeling from warn.

 

[FishAll50]

I've had a Warn X9000i on my Wrangler for over 10 years with no problems. I need one for my truck as I start using the truck more off-road - I will prob. get a receiver mount and just transfer it between the Jeep and truck(s) as needed.

LIVEanimals - nice find on the Warn bumper.

Warn reps - thanks for sponsoring this forum and not using it as a means to talk against competitors when winch talk starts. I've seen other forums (not EP) where mfg reps (not Warn) showed their bias.

 

[JSTANN]

I heard warn is built in china now

 

[LIVEanimals]

I heard warn is built in china now

Well, we've heard straight from Andy from Warn that they are still built in OR, but I have heard that some parts are sourced from outside countries. They still go through the same tests as they always have.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Assembled here...just like Toyota or Honda.