so after having to leave my xj in the woods overnight because my comalong broke trying to winch it out of a mud hole, I have deicded to to start shopping for a winch. found an older mopar winch (by ramsey) on CL and wondering if there any good, its rated for 8000 lbs. any input?

 

I would pass on that and keep shopping for a better winch.

 

If the price is right I'd buy it. For new winches, I prefer Warn for new winches because they've been around forever and I tend to think you'll always be able to get parts for them; or something cheap that you don't care if you throw it away and buy another.

 

X2 on the warn. I picked up the m8000 while they had a $100 rebate.
Cheap winches are fine, just do your research before you buy. I had an English that worked great until the day it didn't... luckily for me, I wasn't on the trail when it died.

 

Don't fool yourself with Warn your paying 25-30% for just the name Superwinch has a better warranty and been in business a long time. Warn parts are not all available as I have owned several over the years and replaced for that reason.

 

I guess I am fortunate enough to have a hook up to get them a bit cheaper. Mine was ~350 after the rebate. Haven't needed any parts yet, hopefully I don't run into the same issue you did. I have heard some good things about superwinch, just never used one myself.

Edit to my earlier post. That should say Engo, not English.

 

What happened to it? I'll be honest I only bought one because of the review in that magazine.

 

That's the same review that convinced me. I'm honestly not sure what happened. I was winding the cable up and it made a horrific grinding sound and immediately stopped. It sounded like the planetaries lost some teeth. I plan on digging into it and repairing it for a backup at some point.

 

Check out the Smittybilt winches, mine hasn't let me down and they are reasonably priced.

 

As I understand it, Engo is a relative newcomer and was started by one of the guys from MileMarker. My neighbor put one on his 4Runner two weeks ago. I have no idea how well it will pull out trees, but as a recovery winch it may be fine. ;^)