Off Roading Winch Stuff

[cyborg]

Just what exactly is everyone running for winches and why.



Any Buckstop/Winch info? pix are welcome.



Any "bad winch" stories? Not to be confused with "bad wench" stories.

 

[Nate]

Warn XD9000 on the Jeep.



For a big truck, I'd look at a 12 or 16k for sure... Oh, and Go Warn, Or Go Home.

 

[cyborg]

Yeah, I was leaning towards 10k or larger.

Does anyone have any winch horror stories? You know like pulling someones bumper off, pulling your own bumper off!!



Design flaws?

Haven't milemarker proven themselves?

I 've have some big rigs with ramsey, and PTO types.

 

[JCrockett]

I have a Warn 8000lb Winch, had it permanently mounted to the front of my Ford. It is now off, for the conversion. But I am going to build a bumper like the on on my 05 (in RR)and put the winch in a cradle and be able to use it on either truck front or rear. My thought is if you are not going to do "Serious" wheeling with your full size extended cab truck stick with a 8 or 9000 lb winch and put it in a cradle so you can pull from the front or back. Get a snatch block and you have 16-18,000lbs of pulling power. Plus if you carry a highlift jack you can lift you truck out of the muck and make it that much eaier to pull out. I don't know how many times I was stuck in the Ford and wished I could pull myself backward(that is typically the easier way to get out) and besides the winch usally could not pull me out, I had to jack the truck up and put logs under the tires, that made a big difference. (FYI the Ford when it was a gasser weighed in at 6500lbs empty)

My thought is save your money, and the weight, and get a 9000lb winch with a snatch block and do the multi mount. But if you are going to wheel your truck like a jeep then you probably should go with a 12 of 15K winch permanently mounted. I have heard good things about mile marker as well, never had any experience with one though.

BTW 90% of the time I used my winch to pull other people out, not myself, and I took the old Ford where it should have not been.

Just my experience and thoughts, You just need to get what is right for you.

 

[cyborg]

I took the old Ford where it should have not been.

Yeah, I know that one.

 

[Nate]

The other brands of winches are ok, but I find most of them to be SLOW. Not a huge issue for occansional use, but if your wheeling the rig, it gets to be a royal PITA. To the point where other people are hooking up to the guys with the slow winches to pull them out.

 

[Dl5treez]

On the Jeep: Warn 8274 with 3/8" x 125' Masterpull Superline II synthetic winch rope



On the ATV: Warn 3. 0ci with 3/16" x 50' Masterpull synthetic winch rope



Nothing on the pickups at this time.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

My article part 1 was in TDR 47 and part 2 should be in Issue 51--I haven't gotten my copy of #51 yet. Hope they help some. See my signature for my choices. As their ad said: Warn your buddies.

 

[RDelissen]

The other brands of winches are ok, but I find most of them to be SLOW. Not a huge issue for occansional use, but if your wheeling the rig, it gets to be a royal PITA. To the point where other people are hooking up to the guys with the slow winches to pull them out.

ditto that

Spend that extra 100-150 bucks and get a Warn instead of the other ones out there ...

 

[cyborg]

Where to buy?

I have settled on a 12k warn. The Buckstop is painted and on.



You would think for those duckettes$$ it would fit better.



Who has the best deals?



Anyone in michigan-ohio-indiana?

 

[benhall]

I plan on getting the MileMarker hydralic winch when I replace the front bumper.



Ben

 

[Cigar John]

Buckstop with a Ramsey 12000lb Patriot Profile.

. 9 hp more than the Warn. Made in USA.

$929. 00 delivered from Sam's offroad.

Took about 4 weeks though.

 

[JVantreese]

I have the Buckstop and a 12K warn. I was concerned if the bumper winch combo would change how the truck sits and handles. I am happy to say that the 2500 handles the extra weight with no problem. My truck has the plow package so mayby that is a factor. I went with the warn as I have a 9K warn on my Jeep Wrangler and have been happy with how it has performed.

 

[cyborg]

I have the Buckstop and a 12K warn. I was concerned if the bumper winch combo would change how the truck sits and handles. I am happy to say that the 2500 handles the extra weight with no problem. My truck has the plow package so mayby that is a factor. I went with the warn as I have a 9K warn on my Jeep Wrangler and have been happy with how it has performed.

Mine has the plow package also. Did your truck drop much?



I have heard the hot tip is to use welding cables for the winch power. If I can't find anything I'll use some accel battery cable i have left over from another project. .

 

[Dl5treez]

The advantage to using welding cable is flexibility and resistance to oxidation/corrosion.



I use it, and have also had great luck with 1/0 AWG 'power wire' made for high-powered stereo systems. Both work great and are MUCH less of a PITA than the traditional stiff.



Dan-



Oh, you wanted bad winch stories, too:



I HATE WIRE ROPE!!! Unless I'm logging or running a crane, I don't want it around me. Give me synthetic rope all day long, thank you. Been on the receiving end of a 5/8" extremely fast-moving ****** off chunk of wire rope with a nice 3 1/2 pound self locking hook attached--it took out the windshield, A-pillar, driver's door window, mirror, sliding rear window, and spilled my Coke all over the place.

 

[JVantreese]

Mine has the plow package also. Did your truck drop much?



I did not do a before and after measure but from visual guess based on recollection, there was no discernable drop.



One story of what not to do with a winch involved trying to winch a fallen tree off a house. I was using my Wrangler and had the winch control routed into the cab through the driver side window. As I pulled on the tree the light little jeep was pulled toward the tree. The front tire slide over the remote wire and caused them to be shredded and fused together. A little smoke and every thing stoped. I got a replacement control and all is now well again. The moral of the story is to route the control cable on top of the hood and keep an eye on it when using your winch.

 

[BK]

I had a 6klb Warn winch. For about 10 years on the front of a Toyota P/U. When that was totalled, I put the winch on a multi mount and moved it between my van and bronco, then the ram.

At about 25years, the motor finally burned up trying to pull out a stuck flat bed.



I've pulled out soo many things with that winch, pulley blocks being a good friend.

I got more than my monies worth out of it.

But it seems since , when ever it happened, Warn went from in house customer service to referring replacement parts to dealers, I can't get anyone to talk to me about a replacement motor.



When it was permanently mounted on the Toyota, I was hit from behind and pushed into the car in front of me, and messed up the rollers. When I called Warn directly, they just shipped me the replacement rollers and bushings.

But now, I can't get anyone to sell me a replacement motor, just a new winch.