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What winch ?

Shayne

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Helen has threatened to buy me a winch for x-mas and quite frankly i have no idea because i have never used one . Obviously i'm a typical bloke so my first thought was i want a V12 million bhp all bells and whistles so i said nothing and took some time to think about it .

A winch for me is a necessary evil so the lighter and smaller it is the easier it will be to live with the other 364 days of the year when i don't need it . I assume smaller means less powerful and obviously there's no point in fitting one that isn't powerful enough , free spool and remote control would be nice but ..........

Any suggestions ?
 
I have a Superwinch 9000 which is strong enough.

It's not got bells and whistles and I only use it when I'm stuck, which is about 6 times a year. The freespool is manually engaged (or disengaged depending on how you look at it) and it's a bit fiddly when you jump into the truck with the cable remote, then find you've left the freespool engaged! :icon-rolleyes:

The later model looks much more sophisticated.

These days, there's wireless remotes, with a freespool button, different speeds, all sorts of stuff to make life easier.

For your less occasional use, you could go with something simple like mine.

What will you mount it on? That should really be your biggest concern before buying one.

(it's slippery slope time lads...:lol:)
 
Look at either a goodwinch or a comeup shayne these are both great winches at great prices. I was going to go comeup but goodwinch was on the way home from the beach so i saved on carriage and vat!! Its a insurance policy and the end of the day.
Stu
 
Had my goodwinch 9.5 tds for over 5 years now, it's had a fairly hard life in that time. The paint finish was a bit poor so has been re painted and I've had to replace the motor before. Now runs a bow motor 2 and apart from the original motor failing it's never let me down. I use plasma as not a fan of steel. It gets a strip and service every so often. Using a quality solenoid is important, cheap ones fail when you need them most. I quite highly recommend these winches and would buy another (Emma bought mine as an engagement present) budget for a decent solenoid and if comes with a cheaper one it'll be a handy emergency spare.
 
I want it hidden behind the bumper Clive that's why size is important the smaller it is the easier it will be to fit .
 
Most winchs fit in a standard space for what you require.
You would want something between 8000 -9500lbs anything bigger starts to get very sloooooow.
Stu
 
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Had my goodwinch 9.5 tds for over 5 years now, it's had a fairly hard life in that time. The paint finish was a bit poor so has been re painted and I've had to replace the motor before. Now runs a bow motor 2 and apart from the original motor failing it's never let me down. I use plasma as not a fan of steel. It gets a strip and service every so often. Using a quality solenoid is important, cheap ones fail when you need them most. I quite highly recommend these winches and would buy another (Emma bought mine as an engagement present) budget for a decent solenoid and if comes with a cheaper one it'll be a handy emergency spare.

I'm with Gary, I've had no mechanical issues with mine in 7 years, but the paint peeled off just the same and the most annoying thing was the chrome peeling off the tie dowels (the 2 bars that connect one side of the winch assy to the other). I had Stainless replacements made.

I don't go wading and only once have I stripped it down for greasing but it didn't really need it.

Plasma is the way to go too, wire rope is extra weight and an almost unmanageable PITA, IMHO.

They're all much the same size and fitting dimensions AFAIK, until you go for a big competition Warn or something more sophisticated.

You should carry some minimum extras IMO:

A hook, of course;
A tree protection strap;
A snatch-block;
Some extra rope;
A bunch of proper shackles;
A pair of good leather work gloves;.
A shovel.

I have 4 shackles fixed, one at each corner of the truck (all the time), with another 4 in the box. A Snatch-block is great when you can't get a straight pull, almost nothing else can work in those situations. It's also fine for halving the loading on the winch and line, especially when you're really stuck. It's slow, but who's in a hurry? Be gentle on your kit, when you can be.

Normally, you winch 'cos you're stuck in mud (my experience) so after wading around in the mud and handling the gear in the mud, the gloves are useful because they keep you hands clean.

I'm no cleanliness freak, but there's nothing worse than trying to drive with your hands and wheel plastered in heavy clay mud. Enough gets into the truck anyway :icon-rolleyes:

Also, carry a water bottle, not just for drinking, but for washing off.

Other good kit to carry is more of the above (especially rope and straps), a chain, a ground anchor (that should be easy for you Shayne :lol:) and so on, the list can get endless and less necessary stuff, but these are some ideas.
 
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You can get plasma cheap now, goodwinch do a budget one now which will still be good to use.
Like Clive says don't forget the other bits you might need too.
 
Thanks lads i spent some time researching last night and concluded that Warn are the best but for double the price of the rest and aren't particularly special anyway , but ultimately regardless of brand you get what you pay for . If it cost a small fortune or was cheap as chips it will rust and the solenoid will fail at the worst possible time , am reading things right ?

The only thing of interest my research suggested was some allow the electronics to be housed elsewhere making changing the solenoid less of a pita but i couldn't find a winch that advertised this ? is this a retro mod or can it be got off the shelf ?
 
You can buy the wiring to move the solenoid, few places do a kit.

Can see the wiring and solenoid next to the battery, got the kill switch mounted in the engine bay too.

20131102_221937.jpg
 
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My solenoid is still mounted on the winch and I haven't had a problem with it in the 7 years on the truck. As I said, no wading, so it might be an idea to raise the solenoid if you have a snorkel and use it.
 
I've put my solenoids on the transmission tunnel in the passenger footwell to keep it dry.
 
No intention of getting a snorkel Clive but i was thinking of Lincomb when Chas winched me out , the pics don't do it justice i was up to mid thigh in sludge to shackle the tow strap on to my tow bar and she was nose down . If i was alone (i wouldn't have tried it without back up but if i had a winch i might) then sods law dictates that is exactly where i'd be when the solenoid failed .
 
Looks OK Shayne, don't know the brand, but I think they're much the same components between brands, TBH.

Its not the cheapest I've seen, but that may not be a bad thing. There's no wasted steel rope like I had, mine came with steel on and I swapped it for dyneema and you have a wireless remote as well I see. Nice.
 
It was the price that made me stop and look at it , the 9500lb i'm seeing are a similar price so i thought why not have the extra power . Of course i don't know much about what i'm looking at but the pics suggest to me the solenoid is intended to be housed elsewhere too ?

What sort of price should i be looking for ?
 
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Hey lads. As a complete noob can someone explain what a solenoid does when it comes to winching? I know what a solenoid is, and I presume it's somehow switching the winch on ... But why? I could understand for something hydraulic. But a winch is electric. I'm confused. ;-)


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Its basically a trip switch as far as i'm concerned but i'm sure someone will be along to correct me .
 
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