Winches for Rangers

[ranger4hunting]

For what it's worth to anyone purchasing a winch. I'm specking out a new Ranger 6x6 for later this year and have been doing a lot of research on accessories and a winch is one of the major accessories I've looked at. Doing some reading one of the key factors in the price of winches is the motor. The lower priced winches have permanent magnet motors that tend to heat up faster causing it to slow down (something to watch for when winching) and if not given time to cool during heavy pulls can shorten the life of the winch or worse kill it completely. Higher priced units have series wound motors that stay cooler longer under heavy loads and are more durable if you do a lot of winching. Gearing makes a difference also but most are in the same ball park these day's. The bottom line is the average person going out on a Saturday using the lower priced winch won't usually have a problem as long as they pay attention to what the winch is doing and if you run into a heavy pull then give the winch a break between pulls. If you do a lot of winching you may be better off with a higher priced unit. Again, for what it's worth.

[wildbill23c]

Originally Posted by ranger4hunting

For what it's worth to anyone purchasing a winch. I'm specking out a new Ranger 6x6 for later this year and have been doing a lot of research on accessories and a winch is one of the major accessories I've looked at. Doing some reading one of the key factors in the price of winches is the motor. The lower priced winches have permanent magnet motors that tend to heat up faster causing it to slow down (something to watch for when winching) and if not given time to cool during heavy pulls can shorten the life of the winch or worse kill it completely. Higher priced units have series wound motors that stay cooler longer under heavy loads and are more durable if you do a lot of winching. Gearing makes a difference also but most are in the same ball park these day's. The bottom line is the average person going out on a Saturday using the lower priced winch won't usually have a problem as long as they pay attention to what the winch is doing and if you run into a heavy pull then give the winch a break between pulls. If you do a lot of winching you may be better off with a higher priced unit. Again, for what it's worth.

I agree. However, I've noticed that a lot of the cheap winches like Harbor Freight models aren't exactly very weather tolerant so that's another thing to be careful of. If you drive through a lot of mud, sand, etc. make sure you spool out the winch cable completely and clean all of the debris out of it to keep from causing rust issues, plus helps keep the winch cable untangled too. Another thing is to lightly lubricate the winch cable while it is spooled all the way out, this helps prevent water and debris getting into the cable as bad and creating problems.

[ranger4hunting]

I was looking at the Warn XT40 winch today and noticed on the spec sheet it has a "permanent magnet motor". So I went back and double checked on the site I had gotten the info from Warn Winches, Ramsey Winches, ATV Winches, Winch Parts – Winch Reviews.com - Winch Reviews and it say's. "Higher end winches like Warn and Ramsey's have the series wound motors and lower end winches have permanent magnet motors". So I guess the author didn't do there home work before writing the article or Warn has changed the motor they had been using.

[VictoryRider]

I went with the Superwinch Terra 45 when Cabelas had them on sale. I am very satisfied with the winch.

[Nine5Three]

I'm still looking to see which winch I'll get for my new 2012 Ranger XP but I have had the Viper Max 3500 with synthetic cable on my Grizzly for over a year now and it works great. It gets fully submerged multiple times on every ride and has yet to fail me. Pulled a RZR up a steep bank after we had been riding in a pond all day. He managed to turn the RZR on it's side, and the only things you could see out of the water were his two driver side wheels. Viper is the way to go as far as I'm concerned.

[falcody]

How do you reach the clutch knob if the winch is mounted behind the grill? Not being an ass, my winch is on it's way and I would just like to know. Thanks

C

[redmoose]

My winch is behind the grill on my 500, and it is very easy to reach the clutch knob around the side of the grill, below/around the factory bumper and forward of the left front tire. You can't quite see the red knob in this photo, but you can see how you can reach it with no trouble.

[Russ Chastain]

Originally Posted by falcody

How do you reach the clutch knob if the winch is mounted behind the grill? Not being an ass, my winch is on it's way and I would just like to know. Thanks

C

The Venom kit that I bought came with a winch mounting plate (necessary) and a replacement grill. The new grill has a cutout in the front which allows easy access to the knob.

[lorneinmt]

Originally Posted by Slacker

If it was an ATV I'd throw a 2500lb warn on it and be done. This is however my first Ranger and the Crew is, um, gerthy, to say the least. To my real suprise I've found that there is some crawling to be done in my new home state of California This machine is going to need a winch What is commonly used? 3500lb, 4000lb? I'm not one to go cheap but Warn is not as highly spoken of as it used to be and people seem to have good things to say about the Viper line. At 1/3 the price it's tempting but seems like a price point winch, not really what you want in a pinch. Again people are kind of raving about them though. What do you guys run? What ever brand I get will be on a plate and a front upper 2" receiver so I can pull from the rear as well.

i have the warn xt4000 i beleave ... i know its a 4000 lb warn w/ a receiver system . its great ive used it a couple of times i figure going big is the way if you need it and if you cheap out you might be walking out.