Winch is it about the name?

[Ramman]

Hey all,

Making a list of items I am still trying to get to finish my build. A bumper and winch is one. I found the bumper I like but as for the winch I am not sure. Is a warn all that is king? Is Smitty built and badland a better bang for the buck?

I am not a hard core off-roader at this time we travel with very small children but last week on a rutted out mudded up snow covered road it made things a little interesting. I wasn’t near the weight I would normally be fully loaded and tires were not aired down but regardless. Almost all of my adventures will be family/single vehicle trips until we make enough friends here to hopefully make some fun trips.

I do want a synthetic rope.

 

[MMc]

I have used super wench for years. Have said that, they were purchased last year. I have no idea what kind of quality they have/will become. Warn has always been dependable name.I don’t see any company that wenches everyday using a Smitty or badlands.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Hey all,

Making a list of items I am still trying to get to finish my build. A bumper and winch is one. I found the bumper I like but as for the winch I am not sure. Is a warn all that is king? Is Smitty built and badland a better bang for the buck?

I am not a hard core off-roader at this time we travel with very small children but last week on a rutted out mudded up snow covered road it made things a little interesting. I wasn’t near the weight I would normally be fully loaded and tires were not aired down but regardless. Almost all of my adventures will be family/single vehicle trips until we make enough friends here to hopefully make some fun trips.

I do want a synthetic rope.

I cant verify how good it is but I pulled the info from a youtube guy who knows his stuff. He is a professional rig builder.

I just purchased this winch from Amazon which in my opinion is a good buy. It is a AC-DK (Badlands) 9500# electric winch w/ 95 ft. of synthetic rope, with Hawse fairhead, 2 remote controls, and 1- handheld unit. Looking it over it looks to be good quality and carries a good guarantee.
You might want to check it out.

 

[Ramman]

Hey all,

Making a list of items I am still trying to get to finish my build. A bumper and winch is one. I found the bumper I like but as for the winch I am not sure. Is a warn all that is king? Is Smitty built and badland a better bang for the buck?

I am not a hard core off-roader at this time we travel with very small children but last week on a rutted out mudded up snow covered road it made things a little interesting. I wasn’t near the weight I would normally be fully loaded and tires were not aired down but regardless. Almost all of my adventures will be family/single vehicle trips until we make enough friends here to hopefully make some fun trips.

I do want a synthetic rope.

I cant verify how good it is but I pulled the info from a youtube guy who knows his stuff. He is a professional rig builder.

I just purchased this winch from Amazon which in my opinion is a good buy. It is a AC-DK (Badlands) 9500# electric winch w/ 95 ft. of synthetic rope, with Hawse fairhead, 2 remote controls, and 1- handheld unit. Looking it over it looks to be good quality and carries a good guarantee.
You might want to check it out.

I will take a look, I watch a lot of YouTube on my list for the morning

 

[Old Tanker]

Is a warn all that is king?

Massive Multi-Winch Shootout

Getting unstuck while four wheeling is a rite of passage everyone must experience to be considered a trail veteran. Whether mired in deep mud or wedged between

www.fourwheeler.com

You have a choice of made in China, or Warn. And some Warns are now made in China too. Some Chinese winches work well. I'd look at Engo, T-Max, and Superwinch.

 

[M Rose]

Warn is good, but Mike-Marker is the best out there... and these are the only two brands I would trust with my life

 

[huachuca]

I've had a M8000 Warn on my TJ for over twenty years and its been fairly solid. The control box has been replaced due to corrosion (lots of use on the NC Outer Banks) but the winch itself has been trouble free.

Last year when I bought my Colorado, Chevy offered a dealer installed and warrantied package for ZR2s with the Bison option that included a winch plate and ComeUp's 9.5 RS Gen II Slim winch. This truck is particularly sensitive to air flow around the radiator and having something approved by GM was important to me. So far, I've been really satisfied although its seen much more use on the farm than in recoveries. The wireless remote and synthetic line are definitely nice features and the external brake means the line is much less likely to be damaged by excessive heat when spooling out under a load.

From my research, ComeUp is a manufacturer in Taiwan and not another relabeled Chinese product (not that there's anything wrong with that). They've been in business for a number of years and provide products across a wide range of industries. I definitely think its a line worth looking at.

 

[Boostpowered]

most if not all today even name brand are made in China or parts sourced from China. And most un known brands are using direct copies of older warn and Ramsey winches.
If you can find a 20 year old name brand winch that works go for it it will likely be good just know if your getting replacement parts for it they are likely new stock made in China so one way or another your probably gonna end up with atleast a partially Chinese winch no matter what you do. And like alot of other stuff these days many winches are made in the same factory and painted, labeled and may have different controller box, cable or rope options for different companies.

It sucks but thats the way it is. so to answer your title question yes it is about the name its cool to have name brand stuff although that name may have a warranty behind it that makes it better too. However being so brand loyal as to not try something else limits innovation. Without competition there is no reason to become better.

 

[M Rose]

most if not all today even name brand are made in China or parts sourced from China. And most un known brands are using direct copies of older warn and Ramsey winches.
If you can find a 20 year old name brand winch that works go for it it will likely be good just know if your getting replacement parts for it they are likely new stock made in China so one way or another your probably gonna end up with atleast a partially Chinese winch no matter what you do. And like alot of other stuff these days many winches are made in the same factory and painted, labeled and may have different controller box, cable or rope options for different companies.

It sucks but thats the way it is. so to answer your title question yes it is about the name its cool to have name brand stuff although that name may have a warranty behind it that makes it better too. However being so brand loyal as to not try something else limits innovation. Without competition there is no reason to become better.

All of the Warn HD winches and all MM winches are American made with American sourced parts.

 

[Billiebob]

All of the Warn HD winches and all MM winches are American made with American sourced parts.

no, the botton line Warn winches are built in Asia. The midline use Asian parts assembled here. The best Warn winches are mostly built here but they all source parts off shore.

PS, Asia has the capability to build to the same spec as North America. The difference is North America cannot match the low wages paid in Asia.

I have an M8000, love it but I now have 2 Rucicons and the second one will likely get a Badlands winch. Many positive comments on them and the price is outstanding.

 

[M Rose]

no, the botton line Warn winches are built in Asia. The midline use Asian parts assembled here. The best Warn winches are mostly built here but they all source parts off shore.

PS, Asia has the capability to build to the same spec as North America. The difference is North America cannot match the low wages paid in Asia.

I have an M8000, love it but I now have 2 Rucicons and the second one will likely get a Badlands winch. Many positive comments on them and the price is outstanding.

I said warns Heavy Duty line (HD), not the middle and light weights.

 

[smritte]

I've gotten to see just about every winch abused horribly over three decades of Adopt a Trail work. We would pull massive boulder requiring four winchs and snatch blocks. I have personally burned up my winch motor a few times having to have it rewound. I have seen spools bend and hardware brake. Life span of the synthetic cables was about a year. Some guys would only run Warn, some were happy with Harbor freight, some loved their superwinch.
Here's my opinion.
Warn didn't heat up as bad as some of the others. Was overall quieter.
Superwinch and Ramsy held their ground well but would heat up a bit more than Warn.
When I sold my TJ, I picked up a Come up 12k. It does real well and I would compare it to the similar Warn but, gawd its noisy. I was the only one with one and i only abused it once so, I cant really compare it.
Lesser winchs did good as long as we didn't push them.

The biggest cause's of failure I've seen (besides over heating) were crooked pulls. Some winchs don't do well when the load isn't fairly straight.
Abuse aside, the 2 biggest issues were not having proper batteries, wiring and not working at all from the motor brushes corroding due to non use.
So...are you going to pull yourself out of a rut or are you needing to move a boulder as big as your vehicle?
If I was a casual user on a budget I would buy what I can afford and spent the rest of the money on proper batteries.

 

[MidOH]

Winch - it's all about the maintenance.

If you're willing to grease the planetary, clean the clutch, and clean and spray the contacts, on a very regular basis, any quality winch will run well. Without proper maintenance, the quality winches end up in ''junk threads''.

The Warn xd9000 is a staple of pro's with fullsize trucks similar in configuration and usage as overlanding.
"But but but a 9000# winch won't recover a 13,000# truck''
Yes, actually it will. Just fine. You ain't burying a truck camper, or wheeling giant mudholes. You don't need 9000# of force to move a truck that's barely stuck at all.

Don't forget one of the most important winch spec's. The actual weight of the winch. A 15k# winch is heavy as heck. I have to run ''plow'' springs up front to use a winch like that.

The Smittybilt winches have a good rep around here. This might be my next winch, installed in a Warn bumper:

https://www.4wd.com/p/smittybilt-xrc-gen3-12k-comp-series-winch-with-synthetic-cable-98612/_/R-DSBP-98612

When I'm getting very stuck, my truck weighs 7-8000#. When I have a camper or trailer, I'm wheeling lighter, and barely get stuck. Usually just a slick spot.

 

[M Rose]

Winch - it's all about the maintenance.

If you're willing to grease the planetary, clean the clutch, and clean and spray the contacts, on a very regular basis, any quality winch will run well. Without proper maintenance, the quality winches end up in ''junk threads''.

The Warn xd9000 is a staple of pro's with fullsize trucks similar in configuration and usage as overlanding.
"But but but a 9000# winch won't recover a 13,000# truck''
Yes, actually it will. Just fine. You ain't burying a truck camper, or wheeling giant mudholes. You don't need 9000# of force to move a truck that's barely stuck at all.

Don't forget one of the most important winch spec's. The actual weight of the winch. A 15k# winch is heavy as heck. I have to run ''plow'' springs up front to use a winch like that.

The Smittybilt winches have a good rep around here. This might be my next winch, installed in a Warn bumper:

https://www.4wd.com/p/smittybilt-xrc-gen3-12k-comp-series-winch-with-synthetic-cable-98612/_/R-DSBP-98612

When I'm getting very stuck, my truck weighs 7-8000#. When I have a camper or trailer, I'm wheeling lighter, and barely get stuck. Usually just a slick spot.

My 18,000lb winch ways about 100# with 100’ of 1/2” steel cable... also you need a minimum of 3x your vehicles weight to overcome the suction of being stuck in mud and snow.

 

[MidOH]

Or a shovel.

 

[Downs]

I'll run a non Warn winch no problem. Interesting that the WARN broke pretty early in the FW shootout yet still somehow managed to pull off a win. That's what enough advert dollars will do for you.

I ran a Rugged Ridge 8k winch on the front of my last XJ and it did it's job just fine many times all over SOCAL. Maintaining it and protecting it from the elements will do a lot to make any winch last much longer than it would other wise.

I'll probably wind up with a Traveler or a Badlands (probably roll out of the same factory) in a reciever hitch carrier on my current XJ. No need to lug around 80+ lbs of winch just to commute to work.

Also

These are WENCHES.

This is a WINCH