Winches - What do you trust out on the ice?

revolutionz

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Had a very eye-opening experience at LOTW last weekend, hit a slush pocket about 5mi off shore. Luckily we took my buddy's can am defender and remembered to throw the recovery bar in the box. The front right track fell through into about 1.5ft of water under the snow. We were finally able to winch out after about an hour of drilling holes, winching, and digging and nothing broke. The 4500lb Superwinch that came on it factory did great, although it seems we bent the mounting bracket (I think we pulled at too much of an angle the first time) so that will maybe need to be replaced.

I need to put a winch on my Ranger. Prices are all over the place, from $150 for a 5k lb badlands winch from harbor freight to $750 for a Warn. Expensive doesn't always equal best, so lets hear some feedback on winches!
 


MULEDEER

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I have a 4500 pro Zs from Polaris it has the rope not the cable on my 2016 ranger. I am putting the same one only 2019 ranger they have been great for my use and I have a plow so lots of up and down
 

SDMF

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Warn. I’ve got a 9yr old 2500# on my ATV, never an issue, use it mostly for plowing. Also had an 8K Warn for my last 1/2tn no issues ever with either of them.
 

guywhofishes

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word on the interweb is that Warn winches manufactured recently are sucking and Badlands is the new standard.
 

guywhofishes

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the place to look is on southern side-by-side trail rider group web pages

include the term "forums" in your searches so you can get opinons... not adverts

these people spend days riding muddy trails on purpose and winch so damn often (for fun apparently?) they need backup batteries etc. I figure if people are going to find out which winches are crappy and which are solid it's these yahoos
 


SDMF

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word on the interweb is that Warn winches manufactured recently are sucking and Badlands is the new standard.

Well, that's disappointing. I haven't looked at a winch since 2010 when I sold my last 1/2tn and decided to forgo adding a winch to my 1st F250. I find it shameful when a company begins to degrade their own name for profit rather than either innovating or standing on the principle that they're worth the extra $$ and then proving it. :mad:
 

guywhofishes

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Well, that's disappointing. I haven't looked at a winch since 2010 when I sold my last 1/2tn and decided to forgo adding a winch to my 1st F250. I find it shameful when a company begins to degrade their own name for profit rather than either innovating or standing on the principle that they're worth the extra $$ and then proving it. :mad:

Right? Danner comes to mind too. I'm still coveting my made in usa pronghorns and fume when I think you can't buy another pair because some pinheaded exec decided to go cheap. Makes no sense to me whatsoever.
 

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