Winch recommendations

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Soylent

New member
What about Superwinch or Ramsey? Those used to be top shelf too. I see Wardell mentioned a recent failure. Anyone else with experiences with these?
 
4x4Jesus

4x4Jesus

Caught the Bug
Soylent said:
What about Superwinch or Ramsey? Those used to be top shelf too. I see Wardell mentioned a recent failure. Anyone else with experiences with these?
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I think superwinch and Ramsey are still great winches, definitely better than a smitty or harbor freight winch. I just think that warn in the last few years has run away with the jeep market. I haven't seen any new advances in Ramsey or superwinch while warn seems to always be bettering their products and winch technology as a whole.

My brother has been running a Ramsey winch for probably 10 years and it hasn't ever let him down.
 
Wardell

Wardell

New member
4x4Jesus said:
I just think that warn in the last few years has run away with the jeep market. I haven't seen any new advances in Ramsey or superwinch while warn seems to always be bettering their products and winch technology as a whole.
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Yup, I have to agree with this. I'd say that Superwinch used to be on par with Warn, but since the Camel Trophy days they've slowly gone down hill and failed to keep up with the competition (and the same can be said for Land Rover too - though it's a bit different for them since they also decided to focus on the luxury market, which somewhat contradicts the qualities that make a vehicle a good SUV... I guess that could be another discussion though). Warn on the other hand has been very innovative with their new products while keeping a very good reputation for reliability. Just look at their PowerPlant winches that have an integrated air compressor, the Zeons that are waterproof, or even the new Zeon Platinums with the wireless remote and display. You don't see much of that with other companies right now.


I'll give you a bit more info on the problems my friend had too. Interesting story since it was a bit of a comedy of errors. I'm not sure which Superwinch he had, but it was one of their mid range winches with a steel line. It was probably about 5 years old and came on his TJ when he bought it used. I don't think it's ever worked right for him. Apparently he had a problem with it last year too (bad solenoid IIRC) and had it fixed by the mechanic in town.

He was taking the lead along the Berry Hill Trail, mainly because we thought he would be able to winch himself forward if he got in any trouble, then pull me along if I got stuck (like I mentioned, I don't have my winch mounted yet). Well, we inevitably hit one muddy part that he just didn't have the momentum to clear through. He bottomed out, with his front right tire was spinning against a rock and rear left tire was spinning in the mud. I think if he didn't have open diffs or had just a touch more speed going in he might not have got stuck, but it didn't matter any more. Time to winch.

So first things first, he tries to turn the clutch handle to let it free spool. The handle is seized up a bit and neither one of us had a hammer (after all the Top Gear I've watched, I'll admit I have no excuse for leaving this out of my tool kit!), but we were eventually able to get it to free spool. After the line is strung out and hooked up to a tree saver, he can't lock the clutch... or at least we assumed it wasn't locking. The handle did turn, but the winch only clicked when he tried to spool in or out. So, we did the only thing we could... he wrapped the winch cable around his stinger, and I pulled him out backwards with the tow rope. It didn't take much of a pull to get him out either, after the first foot he was able to back out on his own power. At that point we turned around, and we honestly didn't expect to get much further for the day anyway since there was a big field of muskeg not much further in.

When we got to the road, he pulled off the line, tossed it in the back, and drove straight back to the mechanic. As it turned out, the motor itself was shot, and there's nothing he could do to fix it. Time to buy a new winch. He almost went with a Zeon, but ended up getting another cheap Superwinch instead (both due to budget and finding it locally on sale). I've heard stories like this before, and after this first hand experience I'd definitely have stayed clear of buying another one. I finally have my winch mount ordered though, so at least if it does fail next time I'll be able to get him out with my Warn. :)

Also, another lesson learned is to test your winch before hitting the trail. I think he tested it out in the spring, but he definitely didn't try it before we set out. At least if we knew it wasn't going to work we could have picked another trail.
 
JohnnyD

JohnnyD

New member
I personally have a warn zeon 10s. It has saved my ass a few times, paid for itself already.

I have another friend who has a harbor freight special, he installed and it sat on his bumper two months before we were able to get out to wheel, he got stuck, bad, up to the fenders in mud...guess what? It didn't work...I should say it failed , pulled him about 10 ft then snap crackle pop it basically imploded....

Just get the warn.....

I will say that if you can find a QUALITY winch on Craigslist for a couple Hundy or whatever by all means take a good look at it...

My warn is all I really have experience with so you got my two cents...
 
T

tommybahama

New member
Wardell said:
Yup, I have to agree with this. I'd say that Superwinch used to be on par with Warn, but since the Camel Trophy days they've slowly gone down hill and failed to keep up with the competition (and the same can be said for Land Rover too - though it's a bit different for them since they also decided to focus on the luxury market, which somewhat contradicts the qualities that make a vehicle a good SUV... I guess that could be another discussion though). Warn on the other hand has been very innovative with their new products while keeping a very good reputation for reliability. Just look at their PowerPlant winches that have an integrated air compressor, the Zeons that are waterproof, or even the new Zeon Platinums with the wireless remote and display. You don't see much of that with other companies right now.


I'll give you a bit more info on the problems my friend had too. Interesting story since it was a bit of a comedy of errors. I'm not sure which Superwinch he had, but it was one of their mid range winches with a steel line. It was probably about 5 years old and came on his TJ when he bought it used. I don't think it's ever worked right for him. Apparently he had a problem with it last year too (bad solenoid IIRC) and had it fixed by the mechanic in town.

He was taking the lead along the Berry Hill Trail, mainly because we thought he would be able to winch himself forward if he got in any trouble, then pull me along if I got stuck (like I mentioned, I don't have my winch mounted yet). Well, we inevitably hit one muddy part that he just didn't have the momentum to clear through. He bottomed out, with his front right tire was spinning against a rock and rear left tire was spinning in the mud. I think if he didn't have open diffs or had just a touch more speed going in he might not have got stuck, but it didn't matter any more. Time to winch.

So first things first, he tries to turn the clutch handle to let it free spool. The handle is seized up a bit and neither one of us had a hammer (after all the Top Gear I've watched, I'll admit I have no excuse for leaving this out of my tool kit!), but we were eventually able to get it to free spool. After the line is strung out and hooked up to a tree saver, he can't lock the clutch... or at least we assumed it wasn't locking. The handle did turn, but the winch only clicked when he tried to spool in or out. So, we did the only thing we could... he wrapped the winch cable around his stinger, and I pulled him out backwards with the tow rope. It didn't take much of a pull to get him out either, after the first foot he was able to back out on his own power. At that point we turned around, and we honestly didn't expect to get much further for the day anyway since there was a big field of muskeg not much further in.

When we got to the road, he pulled off the line, tossed it in the back, and drove straight back to the mechanic. As it turned out, the motor itself was shot, and there's nothing he could do to fix it. Time to buy a new winch. He almost went with a Zeon, but ended up getting another cheap Superwinch instead (both due to budget and finding it locally on sale). I've heard stories like this before, and after this first hand experience I'd definitely have stayed clear of buying another one. I finally have my winch mount ordered though, so at least if it does fail next time I'll be able to get him out with my Warn. :)

Also, another lesson learned is to test your winch before hitting the trail. I think he tested it out in the spring, but he definitely didn't try it before we set out. At least if we knew it wasn't going to work we could have picked another trail.
Click to expand...

Probably the most helpful post. Thank you for not makin me feel like a jackass for asking. I know warn is the best out there its why they are so damn expensive.
 
JK_Dave

JK_Dave

Caught the Bug
Soylent said:
What about Superwinch or Ramsey? Those used to be top shelf too. I see Wardell mentioned a recent failure. Anyone else with experiences with these?
Click to expand...

I went with the Superwinch Tigershark 11.5K because of the price and it's made in the USA. I haven't had to use it yet so I can't give any real world feedback on how it is. My guess is that because not many people have them, you don't hear more stories about them. And while it's always great to hear horror stories about products, you have to figure there's probably plenty of people who have them and have no issues.

BUT, as many wiser, more experienced people have said, it's a crucial piece of equipment that in most cases can't fail at the wrong time or it could be disastrous. I just figured, it's better than nothing and I always try to wheel with others just in case. But the day I decide to do some solo overlanding in the middle of nowhere, I'm swapping it out for a Warn just so I don't have to worry.
 
Utah_Jay

Utah_Jay

Member
I went with the Smitty and while I have used it a few times to get me out of a pickle and it works fine, I have to admit the thought is going through the back of my mind while winching up a ledge "what if it fails on me now?". Pony the money up and get the warn, do it right the first time and save yourself the $400+ on a lower end one and put it towards the Warn. Switching mine out to a Warn Zeon is on my short list, plust the Zeon looks great on the front of a Jeep.
 
sjd78

sjd78

New member
I just ordered a Warn Zeon 10s over the weekend. Rivercityoffroad had a 15% off sale on Warn winches. I figured with 15% off and the free recovery kit from Warn now was the time to buy.
 
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