Last weekend I was in a bad predicament to where I was stuck and only a winch would have pulled me out. Since I do not have one, I was rescued by one (Warn 9000). Shortly after I was out, he burned up his winch getting himself back out and was rescued by a Warn 8274-50.

Since I do not have an advanced understanding about winches I do not comprehend how he roasted his solenoid. He kept his RPMs up and he was only pulling 1 truck/Jeep at a time. He did use it about 10 times but I would think that this Warn winch should have handled this duty cycle.

The reason for asking this is I am in the market for a winch and I hate seeing (or hearing) horror stories about how a so-called “dependable” winch can fail when you need it the most. I have always like the look and design of the Warn9500ti, but I saw one yesterday that has been broken 3 times and still is non-operational. However, it could likely be operator error.

So my question is what had been demonstrated as a reliable winch that sees frequent duty?

Thanks

 

Im no winch guru myself, but if you run any winch on 10 back to back hard pulls, its going to nedd some time in between to cool down. There is alot going on inside that thing. How long were the pulls? Most all (well known) winch brands that I have seen/used in the field are pretty reliable when used properly. I know that might not be the answer your looking for but dont let someone elses mistakes affect your decisions. Talk to those who use their winch the right way(proper maint, cleaned) give you more input. I personally run a Superwinch 9000lb and love it and have never experienced any reliability issues.

 

A quality winch will out last your Jeep, if used properly and maintained.

I bought a Warn Powerplant for my JK, but on the front of my daily driver F250 I have a Warn 9000Xdi. I bought the Xdi when they were introduced (1993?). The F250 is the 5th vehicle I have had the winch on and it still works as good as the day I bought it. Over the years I have replaced the cable on it 3 or 4 times due to abuse, but nothing else other than an occasional cleaning.

I also have a 8274 clone (rebadged Warn sold as Sears Roebuck 8000) that was bought new by my grandfather in the mid 70's. He gave it to my dad to use on our ranch truck in the early 80's. My dad gave it to me for my first CJ (1986). I've had the motor rewound by a local alternator shop and a few parts replaced here and there (parts bought directly from Warn), but its still working fine and its around 35 years old.

 

http://www.jeepreviews.com/


http://www.moabjeeper.com/articles/g...?articleID=353

the first link will take you to all kind of reviews including winches, the second link is an article '' winches of hell'' I decided to go with the Superwinch after reading this article.

Hope this help,
JL

 

ive had 3 warn winches, never had any trouble with any one of them
i have an xd9000i on my jk. i have always used an optima yellow top.
and let the winch cool down between pulls.
how long did it run would you guess?
like 15 minutes out of 45?
or 5 out of 45?
it sounds like he heated it up as he depleted his battery reserves, that makes it heat up faster, which makes it draw more, this is a chain reaction, that burns up the windings
if you think you would overwork your winch, get one with the temp. feedback
in the remote, it will be the little voice in your head telling you to stop and let you winch cool and your battery charge.
10 pulls in a short amount of time is more than i have ever seen.
tell him to bring the mototr to an auto electrical repair place, the guy will tell him exactly what happened.
iiicheaper than a new winch, un less he broke the gearing, than this reply is a waste of time....

 

another tip is to have as much cable out as possible, This gives the winch the mechanical advantage by way of gear ratio. The more cable out the harder it pulls. So if you are trying to free a stuck jeep with only a few winds of cable out the winch will work very hard.

 

If you want the ultimate in reliability, then it seems that hydraulic is the way to go. All the wreckers seem to use them. The disadvantage is that they require the motor to be running, where an electric does not.

 

The winch reviews are really good.

 

The problem with the hydraulics, is that they are run off our power steering pumps...which means that the flow rate of the pump controls the line speed, and the PSI controls the load capacity.

So - if the winch is rated to pull 10 k lb at 4'/min....on a JK, it MIGHT pull less weight, at an even more glacial pace, etc.



Hydraulic winches tend to be very slow...and when the power steering pump over heats...the winch stops, just like the electrics stop when THEY overheat, etc.

The MileMarkers, etc...work best on the larger rigs with massive steering pumps, etc.

 

I have to tell you - I disagree with this. had a 10,500 lb hydraulic Mile Marker on my last 2006 Jeep Rubicon and while it pulled much slower than an electric winch when unloaded, it pulled far faster when loaded. It never got hot like an electric and it would pull all day long without worrying about it.

I went with hydraulic because of the mud we have here - my friend's warn fried his battery pulling himself out and he fried the winch the next time he used it (to pull me from the mud).

I used that Milemarker with my Rubicon to pull out all sorts of stuck vehicles and never had a lick of problems, except when I accidentally ran over the winch control cord (oops).

My next winch will be the same 10,500 lb as my last Rubicon.