Let's talk winches folks

[Cjanak21]

I like the Warn name too. Went with a Zeon 12-S. Marketing?

Just wanted something that could pull my Jeep and small off road trailer out of sticky situation together in case I had no other choice. Made in America was key too whatever that means these days.

Where’d you get the gold/bronze Warn W? Looks great

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[OllieChristopher]

stacking rocks

GRRRRRR!!!! So your the one stacking rocks at Frank Raines OHV!!

All joking aside, I have a thing about rock stacking or modifying landscape to clear obstacles. I find other means. The traction boards sure are pretty slick though. I keep a set of those with me all the times attached to my bed extender.

 

[Jtphoto]

You have to run the cable to the anchor, and walk back to the vehicle. It's the same walk whether you're carrying the cable or not.

If less is more, then that is an 8k lbs winch, not a 12k lbs winch. Also, you maximize the pulling power by using more cable, not less. You don't need a second pull if you maximize the power of the first pull. Do it right the first time, or do it twice.

By your philosophy then why not run a 4K winch and a 4 line pulls?
The 12k winch is the same weight as 10k winch for the most part just different gearing. I always carry 3 snatchblocks Incase I need it but I prefer a faster I line pull.

 

[alksion]

Where’d you get the gold/bronze Warn W? Looks great

@pixeldecals

 

[OllieChristopher]

@pixeldecals

Your rig is really setup nice Josiah !! You and I are really lucky to live where we do. All kinds of sweet off roading close by. This time of the year will be good for you to take your family to Mojave National Preserve for a weekend of fun!!


You have the perfect rig for it. And what's nice it won't get torn up like taking it in the rock piles of Big Bear or Lucerne.

 

[AcesandEights]

By your philosophy then why not run a 4K winch and a 4 line pulls?
The 12k winch is the same weight as 10k winch for the most part just different gearing. I always carry 3 snatchblocks Incase I need it but I prefer a faster I line pull.

That's not my philosophy at all. Right tool for the job. That being said, a 4k lbs winch would probably work just fine.

Your vehicle weighs what, you have a 12k lbs winch and you carry three snatch blocks? I guess you're prepared.

By your logic, your philosophy would an air crane and pilot that follows you around? Absurd.

 

[wibornz]

What I have not read once in 4 pages of comments is where a cheaper brand has actually failed somebody. The assumption seems to be that by spending more on say a Warn, you are buying an extra layer of reliability. Sadly there doesn't seem to be ANY evidence to support the notion that spending more, double or triple even buys you any more than a name plate. That said, the only winches I have ever owned were a couple of Warn's.

Kind of late to the game, I have seen 5 of the Badlands 12,000 winches fail in the last three years. We have a large Jeep community. We have people that buy the added warranty and take the winch off each year and return it for a new one because they fail so often. There is no way I would buy the Badlands 12,000 winch.

A winch like a fire extinguisher, it is not needed until it is needed and you hope that you never need it.

This is the last Badlands winch that I changed over for my bud. I love him, but he is a idiot.

This is a copy of a post that I made about it....

Not my Jeep, but helped my bud replace his winch and rotate his tires.

He had the Badlands winch and added the rope and a wireless controller to it. Well the wireless controller failed and sometime during the night it turned the winch on and tried pulling rope in. The rope did not break as it was rated for over the 12,000 pound pull of the winch. The winch just kept pulling and pulling, tweaking the winch mounting plate a little bit and while it did not great the rope, It did damage it. The winch got hot enough that it melted the negative power cable until It broke and cut the power to the winch.

While I tried to talk him out of putting another badlands winch back on...... He had bought the free replacement warranty, so we put his new badlands winch back on. This is like the 5th one I have seen fail. I think he is lucky that it did not catch on fire and burn his Jeep down.

Only a Jeep owner. $60,000 vehicle, hand me the grinder and a can of flat black spray paint. Note: I have said this myself....

So just a quick breakdown of buying a Badlands winch.

$300 for the initial winch
$180 for the "best" warranty
$129 for the synthetic rope.
$39 for the wireless remote
$20 for the Fairlead
Then another $180 for the warranty on the free winch.

Total price for running a Badlands winch on his Jeep $848+ tax $898. But at least he has a new Badlands winch.

At least Harbor Freight is easy to deal with, they just handed him a new winch and out the store we went.

I also think he is lucky that he had a high quality Poison Spyder bumper that did not collapse in on itself. While it did bend the winch mounting place a little bit it was still usable.

 

[wibornz]

Yes, people with seldom used winches are much more likely to leave their controller at home. If you need to borrow one it pays to have the most popular Warn winch or the second most popular Badlands.

I was at an event ~6 years ago and ran a hard trail the first day while my friends ran with a moderate group because they didn't want to break anything the first day. Around noon the skies opened up and we got torrential rain. About 25 Jeeps were stuck in a muddy mess where the only way to get over some obstacles was by winching. Most had street tires and no winch. The climb out was a two winch pull, one halfway up, then switch to another winch line to complete the pull. The guy in front of my buddy had an off brand winch and had left the controller at home. Over and over people came over and started to pull his cable and he had to wave them off... The group finally made it off the trail at 11 PM.

Adversity make for a long day, but great memories.

 

[wibornz]

Grain of salt- Matt's is also an outfit that leaves a floor jack unrestrained, bouncing around behind the back seat while bopping around at speed.

And he runs Milestar Patagonia tires.... possibly the worst tires I have ever owned in my life. The funny thing is I sold the XJ the Pats were on. The guy that bought it put the Pats up for sale the day after he bought the XJ from me stating that they had 75% of tread left on them. LOL, I only put 5,000 miles on the Pats......

 

[wibornz]

And why wouldn't you always use a snatch block? More power with less line on the spool, and less necessary pulling power. An 8k lbs winch is a 16k lbs winch when using a snatch block. There's no reason to overload a winch, and an 8k lbs winch provides (theoretically, when using a snatch block) three times the weight of the vehicle.

I get it though, some people need 40" tires to wheel to the grocery store, with a Super Duty winch on the front of their $40k Jeep with $40k in options. To each their own.

The last time I used my winch, I had the winch line out as far as it should go, leaving the enough rope around the spool, and two 30 ft straps put together and a tree saver to get to the nearest tree to pull me up a hill in deep snow at night. a snatch block is not always an option.

 

[wibornz]

Okay, I have read all the post on this thread.

Frankly I am disappointed. I was hoping this would be like the changing your Differential fluid fluid thread. There was not enough name calling, arguing or trolling as I expected.

Might have to link this thread over to Facebook and bring some 12 year olds onto this thread to liven it up a bit.

 

[Kreepin1]

Okay, I have read all the post on this thread.

Frankly I am disappointed. I was hoping this would be like the changing your Differential fluid fluid thread. There was not enough name calling, arguing or trolling as I expected.

Might have to link this thread over to Facebook and bring some 12 year olds onto this thread to liven it up a bit.

Truth.

 

[Kreepin1]

Adversity make for a long day, but great memories.

Actually the adversity was on the poor folks running the moderate trail. I was on the hard trail and other than having a literal river of ice cold rainwater running down my butt crack while helping an amputee replace the alternator on his Scout I had a a great time. By 6 PM I was changed into warm dry clothes drinking beers and having dinner.

 

[Grimmjpr]

Any recommendations on winch plate for Badlands?

I'm running the Grimm Off Road winch plate, with a Badlands Apex 12K.

 

[wibornz]

I'm running the Grimm Off Road winch plate, with a Badlands Apex 12K.

I like the fact that the winch is dam near hidden and not siting on top of the bumper in front of everything that requires air flow.

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