Off Roading Atlas Winch

[MMcCallie]

Thanks Don. Guess I missed where anyone told me this winch would be junk and not to buy it because it would have problems before I made the investment. All I got out of the comments was that Milemarkers are junk.

I have very little experience working on electric motors. Having had the first Atlas apart and no luck repairing it myself with the help of their tech support I know it is not a procedure I'd like to repeat. Wiring however is a different story but like I said I have found no obvious problems.

I'm hoping perhaps someone has some experience that is similar and can recommend steps toward repair. Still waiting to hear back from gregsmithequipment.com where I bought the winch and Atlas that makes the winch. There are a few local guys around but none with a magic touch so I'm going to hold off on letting anyone local tear into it.

On a side note, does anyone know of a safe way to run the WARN 18,000 lb industrial winches off of a 2 battery 12 volt system? The winch looks like a 24 volt version of the 16. 5. They have a severe duty version that looks built to take extra abuse. It's all out of reach of my pockets but may be something to plan for in the future. It couldn't be as simple as running extra wires to the winch, could it?

 

[DonCurley]

Matt,

True, no one on your thread specifically knew much about Atlas winches per se, but I believe a number of comments revolved around Milemarker and other potentially cheap/questionable winches (which Atlas may or may not generally be equivalent to). That said, you yourself have characterized your Atlas as "a cheap winch".

Out of curiosity, I did a bit of searching on the net for Atlas winches (which appear to be Chinese made, but I couldn't definitively nail that down). But I did find some rather interesting threads here and there on other forums where there was some pretty negative commentary on Atlas winches as well as Greg Smith Equipment Sales in terms of their after sale customer support. That said (and to be fair), I also found some commentary from those who have apparently had no problems with their Atlas winches and have been satisfied with their operation and reliability, so it's hard to tell what the bottom-line is in terms of overall customer satisfaction and reliability.

While I have a Warn 16. 5ti winch on my Dodge 3500 (which I sized for when I have the weight of my slide-in truck camper on board), I can't really help you on Warn's 18,000 lb industrial winch. I am not sure why you would need such a high pull rated winch for an automotive application, but I would be careful on how such a winch is mounted in terms of mounting hardware and bumper/frame attachment point strength. On the other hand, if Warn's 16,500 lb winch is sufficient for your needs, perhaps that would be a better (and easier to install/interface) winch choice when you can afford it.

Again, good luck.

Don