Which winch?

[manhunter]

I am looking at purchasing a winch for the next addition to my 02 runner. Alot of the guys I wheel with drive Jeeps, so I wanted to be prepared to help them out - LOL!!! I was wondering what the consensus is on Brands - I see some off-brands on ebay that are much cheaper than name brands from 4wheelparts and other off-road places, but wanted to see what anybody's experiences were and what the recommendation would be.

 

[JeremyH]

That's funny.....

I have a Superwinch EPI9.0 on my....jeep! Here's a picture after I installed it:

I am not a fan of steel cable and have since switched to synthetic line from Viking Offroad. The winch has handled everything perfectly so far and was about half the price of it's Warn counterpart...shipped it cost me ~$500. I bought it from Amazon.com.

Edit-- It looks like they've slightly increased the price, but still not bad:
http://www.amazon.com/Superwinch-09..._1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1253648052&sr=8-1

I swapped out the roller fairlead for a Delrin Hawse from Sky Manufacturing (~$20)...but if you plan to keep the steel cable, then the rollers will work best.

 

[manhunter]

Thanks for replying, I thought my thread had been deleted or something. Anyway, I am a Jeep fan also, used to have one. I was looking at either the Superwinch, Gorilla, Tuff Stuff, or Smittybilt. I agree that the synthetic is the way to go now. I will have to wait until the boss will let me spend some $$$, ...., she already thinks I have spent way too much. Women.

By the way, nice looking Jeep.

 

[ric]

I am looking at purchasing a winch for the next addition to my 02 runner. Alot of the guys I wheel with drive Jeeps, so I wanted to be prepared to help them out - LOL!!! I was wondering what the consensus is on Brands - I see some off-brands on ebay that are much cheaper than name brands from 4wheelparts and other off-road places, but wanted to see what anybody's experiences were and what the recommendation would be.

IMHO go WARN, they are proven, and have GREAT customer service.. BTW Warn does have the Tabor line :beer:
I had the 9.5TI on my 99, and will get a new one when I get my bumper..

 

[JeremyH]

Thanks for the compliment. I've had that jeep for almost 11 years now and it has been wheeled all over the southern states...

One of my favorite wheeling spots in Okalhoma:

Anyway, back to business...

I've never heard of Gorilla or Tuff Stuff winches, but I'd stay away from Smittybuilt. I've owned a few of their products and they were complete crap. And these were products that I didnt need to rely upon in recovery situations.

When it comes to winches, generally the cheaper models will work fine, they just wont have the line speed that the higher models do. You just have to decide whether or not that is important to you. The Superwinch has a line speed that is decent. You can see the figures here:
http://www.superwinch.com/EPi9_9_000_lbs.html

BTW, I also installed one of these 12VoltGuy in cab winch controls:
http://12voltguy.com/web/index.php?...category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=43

It's nice to be able to control the winch without having to use the remote...

 

[manhunter]

Thanks for the advice, and I will probably just go with the Warn M8000 when I get one. Also, where is the place in Ok? I may want to try it.

 

[JeremyH]

You cant go wrong with Warn....


That is Green Acres Off Road Park near a town called Clayton, OK, just south of Sardis Lake. It's about a 3 hour drive from DFW (well, I used to live in Denton and that's how long it took me to get there).
Click Here for a link to a map.

http://www.offroadatlas.com/green-acres-offroad-park

That park is lots of fun....a TON of big rocks. Here are a few more pics:

(a buddy's buggy Exploder)

That last trail is called "Cake Walk"....and it isn't! The first pic of my heap above makes it look easy...

 

[manhunter]

That is some big rocks, not sure if my 4runner could handle some of those. Thanks for the info, I may try to make it up there sometime (after I get a winch). 3 hours is no big deal, ....., I drive 2 hours to my spot in east Texas.

Thanks again.

 

[JeremyH]

3 hours is no big deal, ....., I drive 2 hours to my spot in east Texas.

Yeah, I saw one of your pics from Gilmer....I used to head out there a lot when I lived up there....but haven't been since Clyde left.

I have heard that Katemcy will soon be opening back up!:frog: