Four Wheeler mag winch shootout

Nonimouse

Cynical old bastard
The original electric MM's had an awful switch on the control box to make the sytem live

I often wonder what would have happened if these winches had been wired in with a kill switch/cut out and decent 50mm2 cable; then serviced on a regular basis...

The Red winches are like nothing else on the market, a thing of true beauty that is more reliable than a reliable thing. Even the pumps are beautiful
 

AA1PR

Disabled Explorer
I thought their results were impressive, I forget which one [harbor freight maybe] failed altogether
 

I Leak Oil

Expedition Leader
A friend of mine has an early mile marker. It died and when he dug into it he found the magnets in the motor had become detached. Apparently the glue failed....yes, glue.

Those Red Winches look nice but they are hydraulic and I think we've been discussing primarily electrics as that's what the articles have been based on. Lucky8 is listing the challenger at nearly $1800 and the terrier at a shade over $2400. Not sure if that includes all the pump stuff, lines etc. or not. I'm guessing not.

A hydraulic winch test article would be nice to see.
 

Antichrist

Expedition Leader
The 8274-50 and M8000; the two best winches Warn ever made still cut the mustard as well. Here in the UK a tired, rusty, beaten to hell and back 8274 is worth $1000!
:Wow1:
Ok, I know where I'm taking two of my 8274's when I get done rebuilding them.

Who upgrades the wiring for a more efficient supply?
I, for one. As far as I'm concerned that's mandatory with any electric winch installation. Stock power supply cables are generally pretty pitiful.
 
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Antichrist

Expedition Leader
To the comments about hydraulic (and I'll include PTO) winches, they are pretty typical as the vast majority of people aren't familiar with real ones. IMO a PS pump powered winch is a toy.
Proper control of a winch's operation is a safety issue and hydraulic and PTO winches offer the greatest control and thus safety. You can vary the speed as needed. As slow as needed all the way up to faster than most electric winches, especially under load.

The other major advantage of hydraulic and PTO is that they are, for all intents and purposes, 100% duty cycle. I don't know of any electric, no matter how well built, that matches that.
What this means is that there's seldom, if ever, any need to use vehicle tractive effort to assist the winch. Using vehicle assist is more often than not hard on the winch, the vehicle and definitely on the landscape.

As for being able to winch with an electric when your vehicle is not running, I don't see that as a particularly major argument. Mostly it's perhaps a big deal if you travel alone and, personally speaking, I'd never travel alone in a place I needed a winch unless I had a backup method of winching, like a hi-lift or hand winch.

As for hydraulic and PTO being more difficult to install, yes. But people upgrade axles, do engine conversions, gearbox conversions, and all sorts of other work like that, then they're going to complain that a hydraulic installation is too much work? I guess it depends on how much one values reliability.

These comments are relative to the theme of this site, traveling alone or in small groups, not things like competitive events or traveling in large groups for a couple of days off-roading.
 

Nonimouse

Cynical old bastard
I think that price on the RED is without the bits

I priced one up and it was about £2.2K - so still cheaper than a gigglepin and reliable!

BUT a TDS is £350 ex VAt (add 20%); add some 50mm2 (or even 70mm2), a big cut off switch, remote control from Draper, dash switch, split charger from X-eng and a nice big Numax battery; and there's change form £500 ($800?). And it won't go wrong, will pull all day etc
 

Balzer

Adventurer
Nonimouse, you mentioned that you do some work on warns before installing them care to share what you do to them and how it improves them? Im sure it would be helpful to warn winch owners.
I myself went from a ramsey 8k on a mid weight jeep TJ to a warn XD9000i and the difference is night and day. The biggest 2 differences I noticed was speed and power draw. The ramsey would nearly kill the engine on even light to moderate pulls.
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However I do realise that my own experiance is a flawed comparison. The ramesy was used and in unknown condition the power supply cables were smaller. I rebuilt the warn and upgraded the cables before installing it. Not to mention the additonal 1000lbs rating the warn had over the ramsey.
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I do know it was much easier to find parts for the warn. The ramsey winch was on the jeep when I got it and the switches did not work I had to replace them with parts house equilivents. When it came to warn there was a website with any and everything I could want with detailed and numbered exploded veiw of my excact winch model from the serial number.
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I sold the ramsey and paid for the warns rebuild and upgraded to sythetic rope, saving me aprox 50lbs compared to the ramsey
 

Nonimouse

Cynical old bastard
It's best to take the ratings (HP and lbs pull) with a very big pinch of salt {and maybe a slice of lime}

There are a number of '8K' Ramseys on the market - RE and REP come to mind and are as different as it's possible to get, one is at it's limit at 8k lbs the other is starting to get working!

Allowing for the fact that warrantee with WARN over here is not as simple (or as good) as in the US. I will take a WARN (and to be honest most winches) and strip it down to it's component parts. I clean the excess grease off the gear set, check the brake, check the bearings and the drum supports. I check the brushes and the brush springs, clean the armature... On an 8274 I drain the oil, flush it and re-fill with quality correct grade oil. I replace gaskets, use a decent sealent to locate the gaskets. If there are no gaskets then a smear of sealant or waterproof grease. I check connections and connectors, cables and switches. It's just a PDI with a service and some TLC. Very few winches are checked as they are put together.
 

ebg18t

Adventurer
How is the Engo 12k holding up? Also thanks for the person who posted the RED winches, those look very interesting.

I have been running a 9k Engo with synthetic line. Has worked well and with the exception of a intermintly stiff clutch lever it has been flawless. I use the wireless remote with it, so I can give an opinion of the wired remote that is still in the back of the rover.
 

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