ATV winch

[Piker]

Costco has a Champion winch on sale with roller fairlead,remote control and 4 other accessories for $78.95. Before we get into a discussion on winches just let me say that I hope I never have to use it but its there just in case. So my philosophy is to buy the best deal. If I used the winch a lot I would probably buy a better known grand but this will do me fine. On the last atv I had had a warn worth $389.00 and in 10 yrs. I used it maybe 15 times. I hope you can see my reasoniong Thks Dave

[huntinggr81]

I wouldn't waste my money on that Champion piece of crap. My buddy had one & as the old saying goes you get what you pay for. When you do get in a situation where you need a winch, you will want one that is strong & reliable. My buddies didn't last for 6 months. Buy a Warn, and be done with it.

[mud slug]

got or should i say had (sold the truck last week)a champion winch mounted in the back of the mud slug (hunting off road buggy), that i bought at costco for three years to help load big game into the back of the box. worked great bought a new one last week now i'm trying to figure out how to mount it in the rangers box.for $80 how can you go wrong.

[moosemad]

I've got two and figure if they work once they paid for themselves. Used mine half a dozen times with no issues yet.

[recce43]

had warn winch two of them both not working

[Mike_W]

I would pay $389 just to not get stuck in some or the remote areas I go....even with a winch you aint invincible (5 hours and 25 k later I came to this realization)

Those little champions are great for shop hoist trailer hoist.... anything and like you said for that price you cant go wrong.

[ctd]

my Warren winch like many others now is broken after only a few pulls.
Been looking at those winches at Costco, if they work lets say 4 out of 10 times they are doing better then the Warren.

Go ahead and buy it, for $80 buy two and keep one as a spare. Still cheaper then another brand name winch which may or may not work anyways.,

[Walleyes]

Had one on the old 350 Honda,, I wouldn't even waste my time and effort ever puttin another one on a machine... Pay a coule extra bucks and put on good equipment.. Crappy equipment leaves you stranded plain and simple...

[stand junkie]

same story with the warn winches. had two different ones on a honda and now have put a 2500 a 3000 and now a 4000 on my kawasaki 700 when this one is done im done with warn. I think I will end up going with the costco ones just cause I can get four for the price of one

[stubblejumper]

Any winch can fail,and they are much more likely to do so if they are abused.The majority of people really don't know enough about winches to operate them properly,and not abuse them.A classic example is when people continue winching until the battery voltage is run down excessively.Operating a winch at a lower voltage results in increased amperage that will overheat and damage a winch in short order.Another problem is that the older non contactor warn switches often get submerged and the corrosion causes problems.
However my experiences have been that a good quality winch like a warn,is much more reliable if properly used and maintained.

[WTHunter]

I've had two warn wiches on my Honda 300- one broke fast, the other one now only works correctly about 1/2 the time. I'd try the cheap one.

Whatever you get- mount it up high.

[BigBuck$]

Get a WARN!!! Don't cheap out there are two models out there (at least), get the one with the metal gears. Guys who have problems with their Warns are the ones that will kick the winch in with it in the freespool mode, strips the plastic gears instantly (judging from experience here). Had mine for over a year now it's been under water, it's pulled till it smoked but yet it still works. :cool:

[ctd]

I have never kicked my winch in during free spool, That is like blanketing all stupid people drive Fords. If your a Dodge or Chvy fan.

Sorry but the other winches out there such as Superwinch, Ramsy Power fist etc all all about the same boat,
They either work or they dontthey also all have a life span, neothe rone of them is really any better or worse.
You can buy a $80,000 truck and still have it in the shop every day, or you can buy a $500 wreck and never have a problem with it.

I maintained my winch, changed out three solinoids and still not working like it should. All the wiring is good. so now I have to jump the solinoid to make the winch work. Tell me why.

Yes I understand electricity and how solinoids work etc. It worked one day and now it doesn't.

Get off your high horses.
Everyone is an expert yet most stick to what they know and or use.

For the $400 you spend on a Warn you can buy a super winch from Princess auto and if it does fail over the counter replacement. Unlike other brands who will try to sell you the parts to fix and or make you send it to them.

By what ever brand you want theyall have benifits and such.
What Warn has going for them is the speed of their line pull. That is it.
This is liek comparing Dodge, Chevy and Ford. one goes faster here but one tows better there the other has better fuel milage. Which one do I buy???

Which ever one fits my budget at the time.

[yote1956]

Had 2 warn winches, both burned out. One was a 2000lb and the other a 2500lb.
The 2500 did not last very long at all, very disappointed with performance. They were not even used hard. I went to CT and bought a champion, so far so good. I use it on the 400 foreman for plowing snow. I have another warn 3000lb, but haven't used it yet, its on my Rhino and the winch came with the machine. I find warns are OK and probably a good winch,but the cost and the performance don't match up. I can buy a number of cheap champion winches for the same cost. The champion has not let me down like the warn has.

[ABwhitetail]

I am no expert.....

But I have to agree with stubblejumper....

More winches fail from improper use, than from being "NO GOOD"

The biggest difference in them all is....the better parts that are used to build them, the longer they will handle improper use...

I personally run WARN on both my quads and my truck....and in my experience they have been relatively trouble free...

No matter what winch brand you use, there are a few things to avoid to have them last longer...

THE BIGGEST MISTAKE guys make is, they unwind their winch, hook up to a buddy, then have their buddy pull using the quad or truck in essence using the winch as a tow strap....Gears in a winch are not designed to take this reverse force! Now there are winches that are...they have brakes in them....most vertical hoist winches (I THINK) and a couple specialty recovery winches....BUT I am pretty sure none of the ATV size winches do....ALWAYS let the winch do the work....there is no problem hooking up to buddies quad with your winch cable and having him pull you, but make sure your powering the winch forward....

Like SJ mentioned....unnecessarily over working your winch will decrease the life too....I carry a snatch block....for the amount of time it takes to hook it up, it makes all the difference in the world....every time I use the winch on my truck (if I can) I use my SB....

On quads, where you mount your winch can add to its life.....The higher you can get it up in the front...THE LESS....it will be submerged in water.....mine is mounted high, and yes...it still gets wet...but I have seen some mounted VERY low....and are definitely submerged more often...

I know warn had issues with the old ATV switches...they were always exposed to the elements and moisture can penetrate them so easily....I also found with these older winches...the solenoids were a week spot.....

I have a 2000 Honda 350 ....it has about 15000 bush, mud, muskeg Km's on it....and I am still running the original M2000 WARN....I changed the switch and solenoid to the newer style winch not only solved my problems with those components, but with the new solenoid it actually bumps the winch to a M2500.....

One last thing.....with WARN winches, they are very simply rebuilt....you strip a set a gears, it is very easy to replace....need a new drum....no prob...

Bottom line, you get what you pay for....but regardless, you look after it, and use it properly...you'll get more life out of it....

for guys who are having issues with their older M2000's...seriously....up grade the switch and solenoid from the old grey circular rack mounted switch and silver solenoid...to the thumb toggle and black box solenoid....you'll increase your winches power and get rid of the annoying intermittent operation....

[srp71]

I am also on my third 2500 warn on my third Foreman(1-450,2-500's)and have had no trouble's.Yet!The worst I've done to mine though is dragging my quad and whole moose on to my quad trailer and the line jumped the drum.Fixed it on the spot,finished loading,got mr. moose home so we could use the tractor to dress him out.I thought for sure that I buggered the winch but she's still pullin' to this day.

[gunslinger]

all nine of our quads have warn winches on them, jut bought two more quads yesterday and they are also getting warn on them, but on the ohter hand we did buy a couple of them costco ones for spares.

[Piker]

Thanks for all the replies all very informative. I realize the warn is a better winch but at my age I dont go places where I can get stuck unless its necessary. Also I never go alone in areas like that so my chances of getting stuck are pretty slim. I am going to set mine up as a portable with 1 1/2 in.tubing front and rear so I can keep the winch in the tool box. I have a 9500 champion set up the same way for my truck. I was 200 km. n.w. of Manning last fall and got stuck bad and the winch got me out. It pretty well paid for itself right there. Its 2 yrs. old and that the only time I have used other than to pull out 2 moose from 100 yds in the bush. worked great.

[ctd]

Most of my friends have the old uprate Warn 8000lb winches mounted on their truck or jeeps. Most have had very few problems other then buring out a motor or leaking gaskets.
Two of my friends bought those new low profile winches and nothing but problems with them, not pulling what they were rated for and burning out motors, stripping gears.

It seems they all do a function, Warn winch is the cadillac of winches. It has one of the fatest line pulls, it looks the nicest and so on, But all the other winches do the job. Most are comparable to older Warn winches and such are just a good.

[BigBuck$]

I have never kicked my winch in during free spool, That is like blanketing all stupid people drive Fords. If your a Dodge or Chvy fan.

Sorry but the other winches out there such as Superwinch, Ramsy Power fist etc all all about the same boat,
They either work or they dontthey also all have a life span, neothe rone of them is really any better or worse.
You can buy a $80,000 truck and still have it in the shop every day, or you can buy a $500 wreck and never have a problem with it.

I maintained my winch, changed out three solinoids and still not working like it should. All the wiring is good. so now I have to jump the solinoid to make the winch work. Tell me why.

Yes I understand electricity and how solinoids work etc. It worked one day and now it doesn't.

Get off your high horses.
Everyone is an expert yet most stick to what they know and or use.

For the $400 you spend on a Warn you can buy a super winch from Princess auto and if it does fail over the counter replacement. Unlike other brands who will try to sell you the parts to fix and or make you send it to them.

By what ever brand you want theyall have benifits and such.
What Warn has going for them is the speed of their line pull. That is it.
This is liek comparing Dodge, Chevy and Ford. one goes faster here but one tows better there the other has better fuel milage. Which one do I buy???

Which ever one fits my budget at the time.

My FORD has WARN on it as well.......

All I'm saying is when we go quading we tend to get stuck, most of the time stupidity is a factor (see attatched photo), if you want a winch for your quad for hunting and light trail riding get the cheep one, it will work fine. I'm just saying mine has never let me down in the most adverse of situations, $400 is a whole lot cheaper than hiring a Cat or a helicopter.

[Jamie]

The warn on my quad pulled a truck up a 45' slope.
Works just fine.
I can understand the staments about not trying to get stuck anymore....
MAN DID I GET OLD!!
Whats up with that?

Jamie

[lilsundance]

I picked up a 2500 Pro winch at Liquidation Station last year for my new Honda 420 for $129.95 I have had no problems, but only used it a couple times to get out of holes. Getting stuck was my fault not the quads. lol my partner has the same quad and winch combo and we used them for lifting deer into trees etc. with no problems. Heck we even had to lift the quad up over a log using the winch attached high up in a tree. We just didn't feel like turning around and back tracking 5 miles when we were only 3/4 of a mile from camp(chainsaw was in camp). Besides we were soaking wet in mid Oct from rain and both of us were getting really cold with the danger of hypothermia setting in. We learned a lot that weekend, like never leave the rain gear, chainsaw etc in camp. Not even if your going for a quick run to look around after you get camp set up. You just never what will happen or what kind of trouble you can get yourself into. The pro winch works great for us.

[hunter tyson]

I picked up a 2500 Pro winch at Liquidation Station last year for my new Honda 420 for $129.95 I have had no problems, but only used it a couple times to get out of holes. Getting stuck was my fault not the quads. lol my partner has the same quad and winch combo and we used them for lifting deer into trees etc. with no problems. Heck we even had to lift the quad up over a log using the winch attached high up in a tree. We just didn't feel like turning around and back tracking 5 miles when we were only 3/4 of a mile from camp(chainsaw was in camp). Besides we were soaking wet in mid Oct from rain and both of us were getting really cold with the danger of hypothermia setting in. We learned a lot that weekend, like never leave the rain gear, chainsaw etc in camp. Not even if your going for a quick run to look around after you get camp set up. You just never what will happen or what kind of trouble you can get yourself into. The pro winch works great for us.
__________________
was wondering how those winches worked out for ya? just bought one off kijiji new still in the box for $60.00 and was wondering if its worth the effort to bolt it up, or repost it for $80.00, thanks

Tyson

[hunter tyson]

will its bolted on, hope i have some good luck with it because i know its not a waren

[ishootbambi]

if anyone thinks they are all the same....crack one open and look for yourself. warn is built better, period. they could be improved by making the case from steel rather than plastic though. at least the part of it that serves as the anchor for the planetary gear set.

[Ken07AOVette]

The warn 2500 on my griz is 9 years old, only trouble it has ever given me is the external contacts corroding. It has been used lots, mostly plowing snow.

I also have a 10,000lb warn on my F350 that used to be on my F250, the only way I would switch it out is for another warn.

I have a cheap champion 2500 mounted to the ceiling of my garage for waketower installation, lifting deer, working on sleds, etc.