Which Winch

[Dano97471]

I want a winch for my Arctic Cat 300 ATV. I'm looking on Ebay at 2000lb to 5000lb Venom brand winch.

My question is: what are the disadvantages to the larger winch. I'm I correct in thinking that bigger may not be better because more amps needed. Or is this something I shouldn't be concerned with.

My uses will be getting the ATV out of places I shouldn't be and occasional light log skidding.

 

[qstott]

Do yourself a favor, and buy a Warn. I know they cost more, but they are much better made. 2500 lbs or so would get the Artic Cat out of any bind. I don't think anything larger than 3000 would be of any benefit. I had a 2500 lb on my Honda Rancher 420, and now have a 4000 lb on my Yamaha Rhino. Maybe you could skid light logs, but most of the time I drug the ATV to the log, instead of the other way around.

 

[namesray]

i agree. unless the artic cat has exceptional brakes and something achoring it, over 3000lb will just drag it to the log. i do firewood for a business and started out with a 3000lb winch i rigged up on a 3 point hitch "A" frame and with the tractor brakes locked and front bucket down and dug in, my 2000lb kubota b7800 would go backwards if the log snagged something. as far as for what brand of winch mine was a chicago electric from harbor freight. worked 3 years and a couple hundred face cord for me. warn is a good brand though.

 

[Ken45101]

The advantage of going with a heavier duty winch is that you are less likely to destroy it. I have a WARN winch on my Kubota RTV900 and every time I use it, I worry about stripping the plastic gears...and that's just for the few times the RTV gets stuck. I am really afraid of trying to pull logs with it although with a ATV, I doubt that you have enough weight to pull any significant log.

From what I hear, if a WARN winch dies, you have pay a significant "inspection fee" under warranty. If they find the gears stripped, they will disallow the warranty, saying that you abused it. So then you are out both the winch as well as the inspection fee and shipping.

Just last night I ordered a 9000# winch from Harbor Freight for dragging logs with the tractor. Of course that would be too much for an ATV.

I have heard that the 3000# WARN winches use metal gears. I don't know if that's true or not.

Ken

 

[Happyman]

I have a 3000# winch on my Mule 3010 Trans 4. Never had a problem winching logs out of the way or winching the Mule out of mud. Go for the Warn. It's a proven, reliable product.

 

[Ken45101]

I have a 3000# winch on my Mule 3010 Trans 4. Never had a problem winching logs out of the way or winching the Mule out of mud. Go for the Warn. It's a proven, reliable product.

I don't know if it is true, but someone said that the 3000# and up WARN winches have metal gears but the smaller ones have plastic gears. My Kubota RTV only has a 2500# winch and I am careful about using it. YMMV.

If I were buying a new winch, I would investigate that 3000#/metal gear rumor and would go that way if it's true.

Ken

 

[gregkabob]

I have a 3000 lb Venom on my Outlander 400 for the past 3 years. No problems with it at all. Great winch for a great price.

 

[samandmax]

I had a Warn product(424) that I broke due to my ignorance. I called warn thinking I might be able to purchase just the part I broke and they sent me everything new. When I needed two 2500lb winches, I chose Warn. They are four years old and have seen plenty of work. Been under water and in the mud lots. If you are stuck out in the woods with a broken 150 dollar winch the money difference wont seem worth it. I have one cable and the other with rope. So far I like the rope better.

 

[plumbstraight]

I had a 1500 lb winch on my rincon and it wouldn't pull me with the brakes on in the snow. I had hold of another quad smaller than mine and it just didn't have the nuts.

I changed it out to a 4500lb venom, works fine now. Only thing I had to change out is the solenoid box. It needs to be kept dry. I would recommend presealing it before use. Not too impressed with that part of the system, but replacement is not to much as some others.

I built a 3pt winch for my wifes kioti. It is a 10,000lb chicago. For what use she will need it will work great. Is a bit slow, but that is great as she won't get into as much trouble with it.

One thing to be aware of when pulling logs. It is good to winch the logs to the pulling unit, but then chain to the unit relieving the winch. If you have a good load and are going with good forward speed and have a hangup you can easily overload the winch with the forward momentum of the pulling unit.

Somewhere in here I put up some pics of an arch I use behind my quad to pull logs with. Just uses a boat winch, but works well and is cheap to make. Will put pics up again if anyone is interested

 

[F250DSLPWR]

Have you thought about trying out a HF 2500lb winch? I have a Warn winch on my 4 wheeler. I have used it only a few times. I skidded some logs with it and have used it for stretching fence. My brother gave me a HF $50 winch and I have used it with my Toyota ranch truck. It is only the 2500lb winch but has worked just as well as the Warn so far and is much cheaper. Now if I needed a serious winch and knew I needed it to do heavy duty work, I would buy a much larger name brand Warn or Mile Marker winch.