As above really, Im thinking of getting a winch for my disco just in case I get stuck on my mountain trips but know very little technically about them, any advice on which one/what specifications to go for would be greatly appreciated.

How much would be a reasonable price to pay for one?

would like to go for the "discreet" mount as opposed to buying a winch bumper if this helps.

Cheers

It's an inmotive question this. Mainly depends on budget and severity of use.

I have a champion 12000lb winch with steel rope. I brought it second hand as it needed repair. Good item to service as its simple, as most are. I paid £150 for it and built a winch bumper specifically for it. Sat it right back in the chassis.

I have used it now for over a year and it comes in handy but I have really needed it tbh. Most useful in the snow as it happen and for pulling my kit car out of the garage when it had no engine lol

It's a slimline unit so under bumper fitting is easy.

I would 100% suggest a synthetic rope as it is hugely useful when throwing it across water. My steel rope is too heavy to pull and will be getting a synthetic rope when I can afford it

Yep, more info required.

I would consider myself to have a balanced view of vehicle winches and more experience with them than most.

The simple answer is: Buy Warn.

They simply are the best build quality. And as such, the best winches.

Superwinch make some very good high end, and some very **** low end winches.

Goodwinch are a very good brand, you get the impression all the winches are fettled by David and I have only ever seen them operating quickly and quietly.

You can't spend less than about £400 to get something decent.

The problem here is not everyone can afford a £750 winch.

Including myself!

I was looking at a Warn 9.5XP and the used price for them is approx £400, for winch alone, no controls or line.

Buy Albright solenoid or equivalent, and synthetic line, the more you spend the better but I have run the cheapest eBay line for a few years and it has been excellent.

I actually have a Warrior 9.5HS which used to be a Champion brand.

I did lots of research and it looked good on paper, and speaking to the supplier he said its actually a very good unit and is a Warn copy. This matters hugely as the brake design is important to the ****ness of the winch.

As such, I bought one, brand new. I had a few winches to sell so the steel wire, controls, wireless, fairlead etc it was bundled with we're useful for other winches in stock.

I stripped it down when I unboxed it and cleaned out/altered the gearbox lube and checked it through and sure enough it had a warn type brake fitted, this made me very happy.

It has been used plenty since and it is a cracker, my main reason for choosing was this has a belting 60 ft/min free speed, this REALLY helps when you're winching all day to make progress.

I could say buy the Warrior and that's that BUT the only thing in the back of my mind is that I can rebuild my winches easily whereas someone who can't is probably better off with the Warn that wont really need tearing down ever.

Recently had a 1986 Warn M8000 and it was as smooth as a new one, the gearbox components were made out of a different class of material to all the cheaper stuff.

Hope that helps.

I run a Superwinch Tiger shark, it was a cheap enough deal, its been on for nearly a year now used at least 4 or 5 times every weekend and is holding up well, its strong enough for my disco in deep mud and when things are really ****ty i just use a pulley block. before that i had a superwinch EPi9 it was good and it was me that killed the motor not use.

It all depends what you want it for and how often you will be using it, you have to get the cost benefit ratio right or you will be left with a very expensive bumper ornament.

The talk of synthetic is bang on IMO opinion, i run in very sandy conditions so i dont know how that will effect the line as far as incorporated abrasion is concerned so currently i still have the steel line on, it takes less maintenance than the synthetic which is used in the conditions i run in should be spooled out and cleaned regularly, but again with a synthetic that operation is a lot easier than cleaning steel lines so maybe its a 50/50 thing, i personally cant justify the cost at the moment so am sticking with steel.

Steel wire is easy to damage on one bad winch pull but will last a very long time if you are careful with it.

Synthetic is more resistant to damage there and then but won't last long if it is not looked after and can easily become shabby.

Mr Noisy said:

Recently had a 1986 Warn M8000 and it was as smooth as a new one, the gearbox components were made out of a different class of material to all the cheaper stuff.

Hope that helps.

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I'm assuming that's the one now sat on my disco?

It's a good solid winch that one. Although didn't you take the brake off that one Sam? Noticed it pulls back out when I put some strain on it.

For me I run a warn 9.5 ti with marlow 10 mm rope
Think hard abought a winch bumper as you will need it
Shadow make a good solid one
Ave price for a warn 1200 + bumper 450 + marlow 400 =£2000 apx

8274.... end of

cheers fellas thats a lot for me to think about, its just something to give me confidence when I go up the mountains, we go up with only the one vehicle (I know but its my only choice) and have never got stuck as of yet but quite often I see an unknown track but dont chance it as if we get stuck on our own its a long walk back to civilisation.
I doubt it will be used loads (at first!) and its just something to give me the feel of it, if I get proper into it I will buy a better one then.

RobRainford said:

I'm assuming that's the one now sat on my disco?

It's a good solid winch that one. Although didn't you take the brake off that one Sam? Noticed it pulls back out when I put some strain on it.

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Yeah that's the one Rob, the brake had died and it would have been quite expensive to get a brake kit. Really it wants a new brake kit fitting but you can imagine the price of warn parts, plus it originally had the Mk1 brake and they're now onto Mk3 so you need some conversion bits also.

I was hoping it wouldn't cause too much trouble without the brake but it was just too unreliable with the dodgy brake fitted.

Hope it's doing the job ok for you

wiltshire landyman said:

8274.... end of

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Not at all!

Too expensive and too big for the vast majority of people!

wiltshire landyman said:

8274.... end of

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Mr Noisy said:

Not at all!

Too expensive and too big for the vast majority of people!

Click to expand...

Yep ........ A good 10,000 lb winch with steel cable, (make sure there is no kinks), leather gloves and a few pulleys to increase the pulling power/ mechanical advantage will get you out of anything. Keep oiled and will last a life time. And a good double battery system is a must, low power will cause over heating, as well as under size power cables

If you were in a contest then different requirements

8274 bow 2 motor and twin alternator setup works for me..and 70mm cable all round

Just to add more spam



I've got a husky EW8 for sale proper worm drive winch, slow but will get you out of anything!

Following on from this - does any one else have experience of the samurai 9500i hs? I'm on a budget, but willing to wait and grow the buget .... to a point. I've already had to knock on a farmers door (hang head in shame)

Buy a second hand husky, slow but reliable and wont let you down if you look after it

I've been looking at those, as well as second hand warn winches. Main issue is that people sell them miles away from me (Devon), or keep pulling them before the auction ends on eBay 😬 If I have to put a 300-400 mile round trip minimum to get me towards civilization, the cost of fuel (and probable repairs ;-) ) starts putting me into the cheap end of the reasonable market - which then means warranties

I bought my husky for £230 I think or £200 cant remember which......worked fine, came with rope and everything

Worst case is you pay for delivery but they're pretty much bulletproof as they're worm drive

I've heard seen read good things about them (that's a really good price). Plus it comes with the camel trophy rep. Did you get yours of eBay? Thanks for your replies Dr

Also do you use synthetic? I'm really sold by that one because every now and then I might bring kids with me, and I'm terrified of the idea that a heavy steel cable is going to snap and fling back at speed!