From first hand experience I think Ramsey makes the best winch, look at most working winches on tow trucks and hoists and they'll be Ramsey. PA_JERO has a Ramsey 6000 on his truck ('88 2 door) the winch should be underpowered for his truck but he's been running it for probably 8 years now and he bought it used. It's never been serviced, It's been submerged a lot, he used it as a bumper for a while, it's also been used way beyond it's duty cycle (motor got so hot that it burned off the paint) and to everyone's surprise it still works.

Lloyd have you looked into Worm drive units? They're about like the hydraulic winches as far as duty cycle and pulling power.

I have to agree with you that these things are rigged garbage. When I used to customize trucks for people, someone would always bring in 4wheeler or 4x4 and Off Road and try and show me what I "should" be doing. I would keep broken samples of things that "won" their shootouts, along with the many, many pages of ads for that same part from that same magazine. When you cut out the ads, it becomes quite obvious who will win even if you never read the shootout article.

Along the line of winches though, I am starting to lean more and more towards a hydraulic. I would love to know more about your experiences if I may. Also, is there any out there besides Mile Marker? Yes I know pros and cons... I think I have a unique solution to alter that equation just a bit though... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I would like to see a real mans challenge with the different brands of winch and it would be cool to do it at each level 6k 9-10k 12-15k pound winches. That would be a costly experiment. Some of the test could be timing a pull, how hot motors get over a certain duration, compare different remotes, etc

I have always been interested in the Tmax winches when they came out but winchs are still low on the list of things to do.

I have not looked at Ramseys lately. Back in the 90s they were good for 1-3 uses then burned up. Ramsey got me into Hydraulics.

The biggest downfall of hydraulics is there are painfully slow. Otherwise I love them.

I do feel PREMIUM electrics are mow the way to go, such as the un-mountable old fashioned Warn, the T-max and I am sure others. Low end brand name electric winches as this test proved are not worth bothering with. Save your money for a pricier unit.

I hope my xrc8 proves everyone wrong, but i haven't had to use it yet. When I do, I'll let you know how it did.

A hydraulic will run as fast as an electric, or faster, if it has enough oil at the right pressure. The Mitsu ps pump is a little too low on volume, even though the pressure is fine, and is thus a little slow. If you carry around a portable hydraulic pump, you have a portable winch that works if the motor doesn't...

Something thats overlooked alot of times by common folk is that they require alot of power and consistent power.
I feel that any truck using a winch should have a high output alternator if you're going to use it often and at least a yellow top battery or multiple battery set up.
Lack of voltage will burn up a winch quick! Ive always used hand throttles in my rigs that you can "tighten" down and maintain higher rpm's too.
And I know of a couple of guys that have used and been using the Harbor Freight winches for a long time at least once or twice a weekend.
But they waterproofed the solenoids too for when they do get submerged. Just my .02

I found this interesting. I just looked up the top of the line 16.5i Warn and the entry level 10000k warn, and both have about the same amp draw at 4000 and full load, 200amps and 500amps, respectively. Your alternator will never keep up unless it's big enough that it has to stick out a hole in the hood. Your total winching time is pretty much determined by how much battery reserve you have. The alternator only does a minor extension of that limit, perhaps 5-10%. If the engine is not runable, the winch will still pull as long as the battery is not drowned out, for a while, anyway.

A hydraulic will pull at full capacity as long as you don't boil the fluid and the engine is running, or at least crankable (with the plugs out, the motor will crank fast enough to get some hydraulic flow and thus some winch action, slow, slow, slow, though).

For me, a hydraulic is the ticket. I want a winch in a hitch receiver cradle, so I can pull from either end, and I don't have large voltage losses sending all those 'lectrons for an electric to the rear, and the cost of that oh $o large cable, just two pipes and quick disconnects like a bobcat. My winch can stay at home for a highway trip, and live in the back cargo all the time, not messing up my air flow and stuff...

Has anyone out there trail tested Warn's new VR line of winches?
As far as I can tell the only thing different from their premium line is less cable. The price is very affordable (for a Warn).

I have always wanted to try a hydraulic winch and this has me thinking???? Instead of using my AC compressor as my onboard air, what if I bolted up a high volume spare hydraulic pump in its place to feed the winch by ittself, and have a switched clutch assembly when needed??
But those I have had so many people brake when wheeling and end up using my onboard air and onboard welder, I dont think that in the end it will be worth it.
I had the top of the line ViAir compressor and it was worth a crap. One lug nut and you'd be waiting at least a minute for the tank pressure to come back up and that was with 2 tanks.