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recovery winch

J

jamesbtaylorjt

NAXJA Forum User
Location
hobart indiana
Anyone know where I can get a cheap winch? Only off road a few times a year so won't ne used much but would rather have one than need one. EBay has a few cheaper ones but have never heard of the brands before.
 
Just something to think about here.... Don't buy cheap on recovery gear!! There could be a lot on the line when you really need it the most. Possibly a life maybe your own. It's an insurance policy... Insure your butt gets out of a jam when you need it the most. There are plenty of GOOD winches for a fair price. Use the search bar, plenty been talked about on this subject.
 
Look for a good used winch online. It only needs to save you one time to pay for itself.
My 8274 is older than I am, and will probably work long after I am gone...
 
you can get cheap chinese crap in the $300 range.. Or a used warn for around $350-$450 OR a new Warn VR8000 for around $500..
 
I picked up an 8274 for $300, rebuild it and you have a sledge hammer for a winch. They're big and heavy, but it's just an example of what you can find.

I believe there are some things you shouldn't skimp on: safety, and recovery are some of the more important ones to me.
 
Yea dont skimp on a winch...youl end up like me in the begging of the summer, rewiring my whole engine and running new vacuum lines. Fires SUCK!!

The new warn VR series are a good option, how about the xrc8?
 
My Smittybilt has performed flawlessly. It's pulled vehicles much larger than mine out of some thick mud, drug vehicular carcasses up steep inclines - sometimes two at a time.

I would recommend looking at Smittybilt, Engo, or T-Max. Smittybilt is based on my experience, Engo and T-Max are based on the fact that they were the only ones to survive Four Wheeler's retarded test. Why was the test retarded? Warn won. Warn broke and cost 4x what the Engo did, yet the Engo pulled as hard and survived. Here's the link. Pay no attention to the finishing order. Actual performance was only worth 60 points while how nice the remote was is worth 60 points alone. Engo and T-Max won the performance tests.
 
Darky said:
My Smittybilt has performed flawlessly. It's pulled vehicles much larger than mine out of some thick mud, drug vehicular carcasses up steep inclines - sometimes two at a time.

I would recommend looking at Smittybilt, Engo, or T-Max. Smittybilt is based on my experience, Engo and T-Max are based on the fact that they were the only ones to survive Four Wheeler's retarded test. Why was the test retarded? Warn won. Warn broke and cost 4x what the Engo did, yet the Engo pulled as hard and survived. Here's the link. Pay no attention to the finishing order. Actual performance was only worth 60 points while how nice the remote was is worth 60 points alone. Engo and T-Max won the performance tests.
Click to expand...

The WARN failed when it was handed more load then any of the others could handle..

Let me ask you something.. How many americans built your ass-saver? I'm pretty happy to say my neighbor, 3 uncles, cousin, and a buddy built my winch. in a factory that employs up to 700 Hard working American employees.. While honoring ANY warranty claims, in a professional Timely fashion.

Goodluck with your smittybilt.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/product-reviews/118438-warn-m8000-ever-wonder-how-its-made.html
 
afbond03 said:
I bought this:
https://motoalliance.com/Site.Store.go?action=gotoProductDetails&id=49

after my Superwinch failed me. It has held up great so far. You can usually find it in their eBay store for $299. Comes with a good bit of stuff, including a wireless remote.
Click to expand...


Yea XXXX superwinch, i watched the epi-9 on my buddys tj explode into many pieces, the drum got caught on the winch plate lip with ALOT of tension still on the cable, created a very dangerous situation.
 
NW-ZJ-SCOTT said:
The WARN failed when it was handed more load then any of the others could handle..

Let me ask you something.. How many americans built your ass-saver? I'm pretty happy to say my neighbor, 3 uncles, cousin, and a buddy built my winch. in a factory that employs up to 700 Hard working American employees.. While honoring ANY warranty claims, in a professional Timely fashion.

Goodluck with your smittybilt.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/product-reviews/118438-warn-m8000-ever-wonder-how-its-made.html
Click to expand...
The Warn broke pulling 16000 pounds. The TMax pulled 16000 pounds and remained functional. So, your first argument, right off the bat is wrong. The Superwinch pulled 15,900 but quit working. The Engo pulled 12000 and kept working.

Let me ask you something: As a proud patriot, shouldn't you at least know to capitalize Americans? Or do you care, but not enough to bother with proper grammar? I'm pretty happy to say that for the $600 I spent on my Smittybilt, I got a 10k winch and synthetic line (the line was an American company), and saved $600 over the Warn.

The question was "What is a good, cheap winch?" The answer is "Not Warn". Engo did better in the submersion test, speed and efficiency, and value. The TMax beat the Warn on the stall test, matching total pull but continuing to function rather than breaking. Even the Superwinch, which lost to the Warn only by 100lbs, could've still been used to extract your vehicle. It wouldn't spool out, but would still spool in and you could just pull the cable by hand.

Mind you, the Engo only cost $329.99 and the T-Max and Superwinch were both priced the same as the Warn at $999.99. The choice is yours, pay for the name and the satisfaction that it's built in America, pay the same price but have something that matched and beat the Warn's performance, or pay 1/3 the price for something that beat the Warn in all meaningful areas aside from total pull power (even though both greatly exceeded their rated capacity). I would personally choose the one that would get me out of the supposed life and death situation that makes everyone say not to cheap out on than pay 3x as much for one that is more likely to break...

Don't be hatin just cause you drank the kool aid. :D

EDIT: The Engo even kicked the Warn's butt in packaging! :roflmao:
 
I like my smittybilt, cheap and functional.
 
Darky said:
The Warn broke pulling 16000 pounds. The TMax pulled 16000 pounds and remained functional. So, your first argument, right off the bat is wrong. The Superwinch pulled 15,900 but quit working. The Engo pulled 12000 and kept working.

Let me ask you something: As a proud patriot, shouldn't you at least know to capitalize Americans? Or do you care, but not enough to bother with proper grammar? I'm pretty happy to say that for the $600 I spent on my Smittybilt, I got a 10k winch and synthetic line (the line was an American company), and saved $600 over the Warn.

The question was "What is a good, cheap winch?" The answer is "Not Warn". Engo did better in the submersion test, speed and efficiency, and value. The TMax beat the Warn on the stall test, matching total pull but continuing to function rather than breaking. Even the Superwinch, which lost to the Warn only by 100lbs, could've still been used to extract your vehicle. It wouldn't spool out, but would still spool in and you could just pull the cable by hand.

Mind you, the Engo only cost $329.99 and the T-Max and Superwinch were both priced the same as the Warn at $999.99. The choice is yours, pay for the name and the satisfaction that it's built in America, pay the same price but have something that matched and beat the Warn's performance, or pay 1/3 the price for something that beat the Warn in all meaningful areas aside from total pull power (even though both greatly exceeded their rated capacity). I would personally choose the one that would get me out of the supposed life and death situation that makes everyone say not to cheap out on than pay 3x as much for one that is more likely to break...

Don't be hatin just cause you drank the kool aid. :D

EDIT: The Engo even kicked the Warn's butt in packaging! :roflmao:
Click to expand...
you have alot to learn in life, grasshopper. :cheers:
 
Egodfrey said:
Yea XXXX superwinch, i watched the epi-9 on my buddys tj explode into many pieces.
Click to expand...


Like most winch manufacturers, Superwinch has high end and low end products. They're not all in the same category. Most of the cheap stuff rolls off the same assembly line doesn't matter whose name is on it.
 
All these life and death situations people refer to, please describe 1? Did you hook your winch up and drive off a cliff to see if it would hold? Drive your jeep in to water so deep your drowning (with a scuba diver to winch you out)? I've wheeled for years without a winch and haven't died. I bought a smittybuilt 8000, but it's receiver mounted and usually in the back of my jeep. If you put yourself in a position that a winch failure will kill you, you are using it wrong. If you take nothing else from the test results, it's that recovery gear fails at times no matter the price. If you use your winch every trip, I'd buy a warn. I've used mine once. I find it's faster to throw a strap.
 
Ok here is a situation where winch failure could kill
IMG_0684.jpg


Rubicon trail, Cadillac hill, hard uphill left, with loose rocks sliding beneath you, and a few hundred foot drop behind you. Lets say the 1st attempt fails and you partially slide backwards. if you managed to get the winch hooked up, and it failed, its a looong way down...
 
I've been up Cadillac, unless you were already off the trail, I don't see a point were you would slide off the cliff. Vehicle not in gear, no brakes, yes you could roll off, but that's more likely when the winch is not connected. Like I said, if your using the winch properly, a failure should not result in injury, let alone death.
 
Yes, you are correct. I was more trying to make the point that a winch isnt used under ideal conditions, the winch comes out when everything else goes to $hit.
 
got my warn 8274 on the cheap it's rediculously stout. It's old as hell and didn't need to be rebuilt but I did it anyway..

mine even has a jeep brand logo (cheese) along with the big w on the controller box!

anyway it was abused for like 20 or more years from what I was told. Works like a life saving charm for me.
 
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