dieselcarpenter

I am deciding on a winch, which brand and type would you suggest? I am partial to Warn's, and I am thinking about a 12k lb'er. I like the look of the Ramsey's and the superwinche's are ok. Are hydraulic winches worth while? Any preferences?

megajoltman

I have a Warn 9K and it has always worked perfectly.

bnold

Milemarker 15k hydro... If I could justify the cost and weight that would be the one no questions asked... Should be a test vid around here somewhere.. hydro all the way for these heavy trucks!

u.s mma

im looking at a mile marker when the pocketbook affords, i have a hs9500 on my 87 1/2 ton, its allright, but the hydralic looks like the ticket from what ive read.

displacedtexan

Only problem with the hydro is if your engine ain't running, you aint winching.

jp8819

Warn 12k is more than enough winch for most applications unless you are going into tow truck business.

LanceD

I am thinking about doing a pierce 12 or 15k hydraulic in the front and a 12k electric in the rear.

Conn

i think if you stay with the big top 3, warn, milemarker, or ramsey, you'll be fine. parts availablility is worth it's weight in gold. i've NEVER had a problem getting replacement parts from warn. i never had to get anythign from ramsey or milemarker.

i had a REP8000 on the front of my jeep that probably had 10,000 miles on it.....50 feet at a time. it was slow as christmas, but i never stalled it out.

finding parts for a t-max was a challenge for me one time, as the only "distributor" for t-max was out of the parts I needed.

summit racing sells a re-labeled t-max for uber cheap. but. you get what you pay for.

i'm on the fence as well. the general rule I always heard was the vehicle weight x 1.5 would give you a general idea as to what size winch you'd need. regardless of that rule, i'm hunting for a 12k or 15k.

warn makes the "tabor" brand winch in a 12k for signifigantly less than a genuine warn brand.

Fred Swanson

Warn all the way. But again, it depends on what your intending to use it for. The 12K is a solid winch, and works great.

Hintz

electric- warn, and if you have a PTO drive then a PTO winch

dieselcarpenter

I may sound stupid bit I had never really thought about the motor being off in the case of a PTO /hydraulic setup. An electric sounds like the way to go. For security that is, but even then if your out in the Boony's and brake down while being stuck your walking out anyway (never well alone!) unless your a great mechanic and carry a spare truck with you and a shops worth of tools. But something like getting stuck on a rock and losing a hose or the pan would force you to kill the motor and then the electric winch would be a life saver, at least have it as a back-up. couple of optima yellows beyond the red cranking batteries and your good to go!

Still can't decide on a brand anymore opinions out there? Please!

Need95-00CTD

I run a Mile-Marker 12K on my truck, mounted on a multi-mount hitch plate...The nicest part is that I have cable leads run to both the front and the rear (was actually pretty cheap for what you get) so all I have to do is pull the power lead and move the winch from the front to the back...its heavy, so you risk dropping a nut getting it moved, but when your only tie point is behind you...its a life saver. Try doing that with hydraulics!

PaulDaisy

If your engine ain't running, an electric winch ain't taking you much closer to your destination, maybe two feet? It draws 400 amps! Even two Red Tops are not going to help much here.
I have a very nice printed report that was with my Milemarker hydraulic about how long of a line pull can an electric winch support, both in time and distance. Hydraulic all the way for me. I bought mine (10,500# but it was a great price!) from an experienced friend who jeeped all over the place and sold out his toys as he was no longer jeeping. He told me he went hydraulic after burning up two electric ones (did not get out using them, as a matter of fact), and never looked back.

Aha, found the report. Here is an excerpt:
Testing using Optima 800 CCA battery fully charged for each pull for electrics.
Testing was to go until winch stall or distance of 20 feet (MM was the only one that completed 20').
Load was 75% of capacity, 6,400 lbs on a Dyno.
Real world test results of :
MileMarker 9000, Ramsey Pro+9000, SuperWinch S9000 and WarnXD900i
Distance: MM: 20'; RP: 5'; SW: 4'4"; WXD: 4'7"
Time: MM: 2 min 30 s; RP: 1 min 15 s; SW: 1 min 30 s; WXD: 1 min 36 s
Line speed: MM: 8 fpm; RP: 4 fpm, SW: 2.83 fpm; WXD: 2.86 fpm
Amp draw: MM: 2 amp; RP: 404 amps; SW: 280 amps; WXD: 335 amps

Mind you, these tests are on jeeps. From it I gather, max time I could hope to winch with an electric is 5 minutes, intermittently.
Again, hydraulic for me.
-P

soulezoo

I didn't have to do the testing to completely agree with Paul above... I have had, over the years, 6 winches. One Ramsey PTO, One Ramsey electric, Two Warn M-8271 (?), another Warn 9000 and a MM 12k hydraulic. The PTO could be dangerous!! A bad blip of the throttle could snap the cable in a heartbeat. But it eventually broke a gear and I went to the electrics. The first three electrics all burned up one way or another... that does not even get into the number of batteries and alternators they took out with them. The whole engine ain't runnin' argument is largely bogus. For every instance you can show me where that came into play (like drowning out engine in water stream) and the winch "saved" you, I can show you ten where it didn't matter! (Like in said water stream, winch gets you out then you don't have enough battery left to even crank the engine). I remember one Jeep like that and drew down the battery fast enough that the winch couldn't get him up the bank as he didn't have enough battery left to do it. Look, you shouldn't be out wheeling alone anyway and others will be around to help. The hydraulic winch though, has by far lasted the longest,for me, and been the most reliable. You can use it far beyond the scope of any electric too. And my batteries and alternators have lasted so much longer too!!!

SolarYellow05

If you're wanting this to go on a CTD. Buy the biggest winch you can afford. You can never have a winch too big. Some guys will tell you a 9k or 12k is big enough. Sure they might be in some situations. You gotta think tho, truck weighs 6000 to 9 or 10000. A good rule of thumb is capacity at least twice the weight of the vehicle if you're gonna be offroad. If the winch you have is only rated for the weight of the truck, then you add the force of suction or resistance of a big mud hole, a big rock, or a steep hill, then the winch that is rated to pull the weight of your truck is not going to cut it. Sure you can get a ****** block and double your pull capacity, which is always a good idea because it is VERY easy to burn up an electric winch. I'm putting a 12k on my truck but only because it's costing me $200. If I were buying a new winch, it would be a 15k or 16.5k warn or t-max (6.6 horsepower with any t-max over 9,000). No doubt about it. The T-max is a newer company in the winch market but they have proven themselves in the rockcrawling world to be one of the best there is. They have a very high horsepower rating. 2 horsepower more than a warn, and are still affordable.