What is the best weight for our jeeps? I've been looking at 9,000 pounds, will that be a good practical size? What is the best winch plate for the stock bumper? I'm looking to keep the total cost below $500 because I'm on a college kid budget.
Whatever you like that is in your price range. They have some that are raised to go over the stock sway bars, and others that are flat if you have aftermarket sway bars like the Anti-Rock. Other than that, they're pretty much all very similar; not much to go wrong with.
I bought the Engo 9K about 3 months ago. Not happy, gear end was getting boiling hot the day after installation ( they sent me a new end to install myself) remote went bad, sent new remote that worked 2 times. I repaired the original one. Now the plug that the remote plugs into is falling out of the control box so I guess ill have to open it up to repair it. Save up and buy a warn. Just mt .02
If you want a cheap one that works, go Smittybilt. That's what I did because I'm also in college. But the quality is definitely lacking. If you want a cheap one that works, go cheap. If you want one that will last and you never have to worry about, go Warn.
For what it's worth, on most JKUs, we recommend a 9,500 lb. winch due to the fact they have more weight. Most TJs will be OK with an 8,000 lb. winch, unless you start really adding on weighty items.
If you are just "casually" winching and not using it all the time for long hard pulls Quadratec has a decent one. You can get their Q series and a plate within your price range. You get free shipping for being a forum member. I have the Q series and so far it is good, I have used it twice no problems yet. It came with a 1 year electrical and a lifetime mechanical warranty. If you are a more frequent wheeler and you will be winching a lot I would save up and get a Warn winch.
An 8 or 9K pound winch will be perfect for your Jeep. A good baseline for winching is GVW multiplied by 1.5. That way you have the weight of the Jeep covered as well as gear and the muck you'll be stuck in.
Smittybilt Winches are a good choice for the price. I recommend these winches if you plan on using it every once in a while and just want a little extra security off road.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
Picked that one up last month with a plate and wireless remote for about $370 total. I haven't got it installed yet, but hopefully in the next few weeks... I wasn't really planing on buying one anytime soon, but putting on a heavy rear bumper and swing mount, and saw that deal...it was easy to convince myself that I needed something up front to balance all the weight I was adding to the back
for 150 more you can get an M8000. I rolled the same question around in my head for 6 months and finally decided that good ol US of A was worth an extra 150 bucks and I just saved a little longer. Now, I have to save a little longer for my tummy tuck....
I was seriously debating the Smittybilt synthetic vrs the Warn M8000 steel. I am content with my decision, I just wish I had more disposable dough for Jeep mods.
I will run the steel until I get the TT, then I will save for the synthetic line.
Don't have a lot of personal first hand experience with the Badlands winch, but I have used a fellow wheeler's once to get him off the trail. I won't bother to get into the story, but essentially it was two hours of pulling him forward and backward to get him positioned off the trail enough to where we could safely work on his XJ. We worked his 9K lb Badlands winch pretty hard over those two hours, and it kept up although it was pretty slow.
That being said, it was supposedly a brand new winch seeing it's first bit of daylight that day, so how well it would hold up over time I'm not sure.
You can buy One Warn 9,000lb winch that will last the lifetime of your Jeep ( maybe even more I have one thats 10 years old still winchin ) and never let you down......Or you can buy a bunch of cheap wannabes that fail constantly and when most needed....Your Choice.
I always go with a 9000lb rating because I seem to wind up winching out alot of Hummers and their heavy piles of stuff.
I dont get stuck often where i go with mine, but its been in mud, water, pull it sideways and straight out. So for the price and weight limit, its pretty nice. But obviously everyone says warn, so depends on your budget.
The cliff notes version is:
Stuck to sidewalls, multiply vehicle weight by 1
Stuck to wheels, multiply by 2
Stuck to frame, multiply by 3
Flat surface, don't add anything more
Up a 15 degree hill, add again 25% vehicle weight
30 degree hill, add again 50% vehicle weight
45 degree hill, add again 75% vehicle weight
Of course the link has much more info than just that : )
Me and every other friend i have locally have smitty XRC8. Mostly light wheeling. I know one guy with the one from quadratech but never have I seen it in action.
My two cents: Warn is a solid choice if you have the cash. If, like me, you find too much stuff to buy, the new Superwinch Tiger Shark is a really good choice. We've got them for $349 with free shipping - that leaves $150 for your mount.
It's better than the Smitty or Quads in that it's over-built by folks that know winching (it's not a cookie cutter, knock off like the others). Stainless steel hardware and fairlead rollers, contactor solenoid. It's a well built beast.
Whatever you choose, practice with it a few times before you need to use it.
Derp, nevermind, just saw you were a paying vendor.
I've heard good things about the "tiger" series from Superwinch but I've never seen it in person.
Another winch I'd like to see in person is the one Viking came out with not long ago. Not sure who they have making it for them, but it looks like a very nice winch. Haven't found anyone running it yet.
I bought a winch from Harbor Freight because of the great price. After a couple years it quit. The entire insides were corroded and frozen up. I have a Warn now - 'Nuff said!
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