• RME Gear & Apparel

Which Winch?

Stephen

Stephen

Who Dares Wins
Moderator
Location
Never Far From Nowhere
My dad (@bobn) instilled in me the belief there is no reason to have a winch because you should have the right skills to get yourself out of any situation that you put yourself in without one. And to this day, my dad has never had to take a winch and only needed a tug from a strap once. For those of you that know my dad, this makes since because he is a general badass and has amazing driving skills.

I on the other hand have had a few situations where I've had to be winched, and have always been fortunate enough to a) have someone with me who has a winch and b) driven pretty light vehicles.

Then I bought a Y62 Armada. Now I'm the biggest, heaviest guy in town and my ability to rely on others abilities has diminished. So it's time to buy a winch and as I've never purchased one before; I turn to you, RME experts, for advice.

Vehicle's curb weight is 6,000lbs with a GVW of 7,500lbs. Should I be looking at a 9,000lb winch, or would a 12,000lb one be better just to make sure I've got the power when the power matters? I've got a DASH Off-Road winch bumper coming, so it has to fit in that. Not a brand snob, but I feel like Warn is still the best? Or are other's up to snuff these days?
 
Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
7.5k is pretty heavy... So depending on what deal you can find and if it will fit, the 12k winch might not be a bad call.

In addition to the winch, I am pretty big believer in having a good battery, carrying Snatch Blocks, Tree savers, and extra Shackles/clevis's.

As far as brands go, I have a had good luck with Warn and Ramsey, but some of these off brands seem to be ok. I have pulled cable on a couple of Smittybuilt and even a badlands winch, during my volunteer time helping at land use events and they pulled rigs up just fine. I always worry about longevity with off brands, I always hope to buy something I can have on my rig for 5, 10, 15, 20, years... (Yeah, I tend to hold on to rigs too long)
 
The_Lobbster

The_Lobbster

Well-Known Member
12k minimum. Warn is great, and supposedly from what I've read, machine at least some of their gears and cases in Oregon, but assemble the whole thing with "globally sourced parts", aka, made in china stuff. One source says the Zeon is made in china though.

The Badlands winches are pretty decent actually for the price, and I have a theory that one big factory probably manufactures a lot of the parts for all the brands, knockoff or name brand, similar to the whole Snap On vs HF Daytona jack scenario.
 
Jinx

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
Kiel said:
Click to expand...
That seems like a pretty good deal, I would upgrade to the synthetic line, (just because cables scare me, sissy I know) :D
 
Hickey

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Location
Grantsville, Utah
Jinx said:
That seems like a pretty good deal, I would upgrade to the synthetic line, (just because cables scare me, sissy I know) :D
Click to expand...
While you're at it, grab a few of Brennan's soft shackles to go with that synthetic line. He makes a great product for a fair price.

brennans-garage.com

Soft Shackle

Soft Shackle. This unit is constructed out of 7/16 'Amsteel Blue' SK-78 Dyneema in the 'improved' dual leg design. This gives a minimum breaking strength of 45,500lbs! This results 3:1 safe Working Load Limit of 7.5 tons. Each unit includes a long abrasion guard made from relaimed wildland fire...
brennans-garage.com
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
IIRC from when I bought my VR10, the VR12 is the same physical size with more pulling power. (and somehow, no less line speed)
 
gijohn40

gijohn40

too poor to wheel... :(
Location
Layton, Utah
there was a story written in one of the mags about how the vr series and all the badland/hf winches are all what they called intermittent duty winches which for someone the might winch for 10-15 mins and be done would be ok. The zeon series winches are the next step up and are rated for continuous duty of like hours instead of mins. I can't remember the exact (getting way old) but I am sure someone can find it. in fact I think it was on the quadratec site as well. They say to get 1.5 times the weight of your vehicle. when I looked at the zeon 12k versus the 10k. The 10k pulled faster with less of a load on the battery. it was a much better deal in my book. But now if your one of those tech nerds the zeon 12k platinum has usb charging ports on the remote so you can plug your phone in while winching! lol

Here is a good site for basic winch knowledge and as you can see it only rates the intermittent duty winches.

Choosing a Winch - mikesjeep.com

Discover the performance differences between a wide range of winches when applied to a real-world recovery scenario.
www.mikesjeep.com www.mikesjeep.com
 
I

ivantalk

Member
Diesel_Zuk said:
12k minimum. Warn is great, and supposedly from what I've read, machine at least some of their gears and cases in Oregon, but assemble the whole thing with "globally sourced parts", aka, made in china stuff. One source says the Zeon is made in china though.

The Badlands winches are pretty decent actually for the price, and I have a theory that one big factory probably manufactures a lot of the parts for all the brands, knockoff or name brand, similar to the whole Snap On vs HF Daytona jack scenario.
Click to expand...

Another vote for warn winch here.
I suggest that you read and watch more reviews about this product for more insights. If you have the time feel free to read this article:

www.smartmotorist.com

5+ Best Winches of 2021 - Best Winch for the Money

A winch is a must-have tool for any serious off-roader. It can get you out of a sticky spot when nothing else will work, whether you are caught in a mud puddle, a snowbank or ... Read more
www.smartmotorist.com www.smartmotorist.com
 
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Trate D

Trate D

Well-Known Member
I have had no issues with my VR10. I have made some pretty decent pulls with it and it always works as advertised. My rig is around 4800lbs and all have been single line pulls.
 
1969honda

1969honda

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
Cache
Here's another vote for Warn. The military HMMWVs with electric winch packages all ran them and my current employer runs Warn exclusively on the F350-F550 lineman rigs. M12s are the most common, least maintenance version, some years have the Endurance 12,000 winches that are supposed to pull faster.

I have seen very few failures in the M12s and they are on trucks that are almost exclusively over weight for the winch rating (16k lbs is average).
 
The_Lobbster

The_Lobbster

Well-Known Member
I just spoke to a contact for a brand made in China that I can’t name, but their brand of winch, according to him, is manufactured in the same factory as the Warn VR parts.

Edited due to my poor reading comprehension.
 
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The_Lobbster

The_Lobbster

Well-Known Member
Greg said:
Zeons aren't built in China, those are the top of the line Warn's and are fully built in the States. The VR line has parts built in China. 😉
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You are correct! I misunderstood him. He was comparing their pull speed of their product to the Zeon units, and stated that the Zeon is still faster. But that the factory I guess must make the same basic parts as the other Warn models that use Chinese parts.
 
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