What do you all think the best winch is. ive heard warn winches are good but i would loike another opinion.....From you the owners/operators of these beasts :bgreen:
Hey Disco, I agree, the ComeAlong, or Tirfor, won't quit when the motor or battery does (even though I can count on one hand the number of times this has happened to me in more than 35 years off road) and they have their place. They do have a nasty habit of binding up at the worst possible moment, but should be part of the permanant recovery kit of anyone spending significant time offroad (one to a group of several vehicles is enough) I have seen several occassions where electric winchers have also bound the hell out of their drum, when all the cable ends up on one end. One guy managed to cram so much cable off to one side that he cracked the winch case. That said, would you and a bunch of you mates knowingly go into a situation where the likelyhood of getting stuck is great, with only a hand winch? Pulling youself up out of 30' gulley is pretty exhausting, and your arms will remind you for days afterward. How willing is the average guy to do that for somone else. It's basically everyman for himself when it gets down to the grunt workHank said:I really don't understand whats so great about a hydro winch....There slowwwww, wear on your PS pump, PITA to install, do not work if the engine dies or has to be shut off, more parts to fail, and and cost as much as a really nice electric winch.
Hank, Your experience with a Hydraulic winch must be very limited. A proper installation would never use the power steering pump. Not because of wear, because running a winch of the PS pump will add NO additional wear to the pump, but because the PS pump is not intended for high pressure at high flow, such as a Barnes pump, typically used. Additionally, speed is proportional to engine speed, but even at idle (40-50 horsepower, delivered to the winch) the speed will be significantly higher than a planetary electric winch. Even a worm gear electric is twice as fast.
Oh, and a good Hydraulic will cost quite a bit more than an electric, and not usually a price the average weekend warrior will accept. Though the hydraulic will outlast many electric winches, how many times does the average person get stuck? Hydraulics are generally used by professionals. Try assembling a 550' steel antenna tower with ANY electric winch.
What happens if you drop into a mud/water hole deeper than you thought? Deep enough that water can suck into your intake. What good is a PTO, or Hydro winch?
This is the most commonly used argument by the electric winch proponants, and the hydraulic winch won't help here, however, how long do you think the electric will work with the whole electrics underwater? and how long do you think the electric connections will last, after you're out of the hole, because they were energized while submerged? Basically, kiss the control box goodbye, you should have had someone else pull you out of a hole that deep.
Or, if your truck dies in a place jumper cables barley wont reach?
Does the electric work here?Granted, your batteries are not going to last too long on a dead truck running a winch, but it will work longer than a winch with a pump....
I have a Warn 9000 Ti on the front of my Defender 110, I never thought of it as 'cool', but it's ok for the limited use it sees. It's not half the winch the Ramsey 12K worm drive on the back of the 110 is, but, as Adam says, I'd ideally like one of each.Warn Ti
Sorry, I have the attention span of a goldfish (3 seconds)jafus said:I was wondering...........Any ideas of where to find one without breaking the bank?