Let's talk winches folks

[545moose]

I plan to go with a ComeUp, my last Superwinch Tigershark 11.5 was good on my GX460 but since the Westin ownership their service is trash. I'd consider MileMarker maybe too, nothing low budget ever. You get what you pay for and you want to be able to rely on something like a winch if you ever get in a bad spot, for safety reasons too IMO.

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[OllieChristopher]

I agree with you on this. There is a situation for just about everything. I do not carry traction boards because I have a winch, and I don't wheel alone. I find that traction boards are a pain to use, You end up dirty unless you are using them in sand, they are pain to store and secure on the Jeep and by the time you get them unsecured, off the Jeep, put into place, it would have been easier to pull winch line.

Traction boards, snow chains and a snatch are all I ever need on my 2wd vehicles. I always wondered why you don't see traction boards on a jeep. I would make room for them.

My cheap arse X Bull ones are amazing. I use them as a bridge over deep ruts, getting unstuck in sand, leveling for camping and even a shovel!! I cannot see going off road without them.

 

[ConqSoft]

I have no experience with these, but if you are looking for something that takes up less space, these seem pretty compact:

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[OllieChristopher]

Out of 6 winches the only failure I had was with my Ramsey winch. Nothing is flawless, unfortunately.

Which model Steve, what were you pulling, and what failed? Any winch can burn up if you exceed the duty cycle rating or abuse it.

The only thing I have ever seen go bad on a Ramsey winch are solenoids. I always kept a few spares. Quick and easy on job site replacement part.

 

[Grimmjpr]

Which model Steve, what were you pulling, and what failed? Any winch can burn up if you exceed the duty cycle rating or abuse it.

The only thing I have ever seen go bad on a Ramsey winch are solenoids. I always kept a few spares. Quick and easy on job site replacement part.

I think it was a Pro Plus 9000 on my TJ Sport. I couldn't exceed the duty cycle or abuse it because it was dead when I needed it, Pulled the cable out and when I tried to spool in nothing. Ended up the motor was dead. I think it had maybe 3 or 4 quick pulls prior to that.

 

[Chainringtattoo]

Traction boards, snow chains and a snatch are all I ever need on my 2wd vehicles. I always wondered why you don't see traction boards on a jeep. I would make room for them.

My cheap arse X Bull ones are amazing. I use them as a bridge over deep ruts, getting unstuck in sand, leveling for camping and even a shovel!! I cannot see going off road without them.

I don't use my winch much out here in Western Colorado but there is a particular obstacle on Hamburger Hill on the Kane Creek Trail in Moab that had the number of my 2 door JK. Traction boards and snow chains wouldn't have helped me much there. Sure, I could have bypassed the obstacle but my stubbornness never let me. At least I knew my winch worked a couple times a year.

 

[joegrasse]

This thread might be the least productive thread in the whole forum. There is no clear evidence Warn is now worth the extremely high price. Casey250 just did a video where his Warn Zeon failed on him. I think Warn is relying on their decades old reputation and maybe the new owners of Warn don't value quality as much? You're also not going to convince me a Harbor Freight winch is going to last long term either.

The past two years have made me question the value of "Made in America" when American workers would rather take hand outs from the government than go to work and be productive.

Casey just did a response video where he explains what went wrong with his Warn winch.

 

[Chainringtattoo]

Casey just did a response video where he explains what went wrong with his Warn winch.

I saw that. Always nice when it's something simple. Makes me feel better since I ordered a Warn Zeon 10 right before he put that video out.

 

[99ls1tj]

Factory steel. Rockhard winch plate Which I am waiting on

I have the Badland Apex I'm waiting to install on my Wife's JLUR with factory steel bumper. I'm probably going with the Rockhard plate. I'm curious to hear your experience with this setup. Thanks

 

[Mgg253]

I have the Badland Apex I'm waiting to install on my Wife's JLUR with factory steel bumper. I'm probably going with the Rockhard plate. I'm curious to hear your experience with this setup. Thanks

My rock hard order is processing, I hope to have it within the next couple weeks. Rock hard did me a solid and grouped the winch plate (that I ordered 5 weeks later than my rock sliders) with my rock sliders and waived the extra shipping so I can’t complain about wait times! I’ll let ya know how it all goes

 

[Traveller128]

Just as an FYI in case anyone wants the info, we got a Badlands Apex, and I weighed it all. The winch itself came in at 57.8 lbs with the main positive and negative cables. The positive cable attached to the unit, and the long negative cable inside the bag with the winch. All the other bits, bolts, plate, controller, other cabling, etc., all add up to 12.8 lbs. All those will end up in the Jeep for the install, so just a tick over 70 lbs for the whole unit and all the wiring plus the hook.

 

[Krondor]

Just as an FYI in case anyone wants the info, we got a Badlands Apex, and I weighed it all. The winch itself came in at 57.8 lbs with the main positive and negative cables. The positive cable attached to the unit, and the long negative cable inside the bag with the winch. All the other bits, bolts, plate, controller, other cabling, etc., all add up to 12.8 lbs. All those will end up in the Jeep for the install, so just a tick over 70 lbs for the whole unit and all the wiring plus the hook.

I was guestimating 120+ for the winch and mount, so that's fairly svelte!

 

[Traveller128]

I've been considering an MP Concepts front bumper, which comes in just under 40 lbs, but add another 20 for the mounting plate. Also a Rugged Ridge Venator, which comes in around 65 for the whole front bumper and mounting plate. Either way, I'm going to end up with 135 lbs up front minus the 35 lb plastic covered stock setup. Doesn't seem to be any way to get away from another 100 lbs net up front if we want a winch. About the only thing lighter is a narrow aluminum bumper and mount, which might save 30 lbs.

I'm a big believer in light, weight is everything for fuel mileage, ability to climb and not sink into mud/sand. But we offroad alone a lot, so we want to be able to self recover if needed. Really hope not to have to use a winch, but don't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting on someone to help.

And I drug that thing out of the box yesterday and it didn't feel svelte at all! It's compact and dense, or maybe I'm still off my feed after having this latest bought of plague.

 

[Thane]

The front suspension is already challenged, winch has to wait for new suspension.

 

[Mgg253]

I have the Badland Apex I'm waiting to install on my Wife's JLUR with factory steel bumper. I'm probably going with the Rockhard plate. I'm curious to hear your experience with this setup. Thanks

I will complete a more thorough write up. But I can sum up this… it’s super tight tolerances, either my bumper or the rock hard plate was out of spec because it did not fit without some serious force, slight modification, and a beating with a rubber hammer. It is a quality plate and I’m not worried about strength. There were a few additions I had to buy at the hardware store. Mainly the fair lead bolts are too short for the Apex fairlead. I like it a lot, but fitment and parts Took a 2-4 hour job and I spent almost 8 hours.

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