Im gonna be buying a winch soon and curious why/ how the 9500 rough country has the same specs as the 10000xtc smittybilt except reduction. 265:1 vs 218:1? Big difference for everything else being the same.

 

Number of wraps. More wraps equals less capacity....?

 

I had a SmittyBuilt XRC8 on mine for a little while - decent winch if you only need it once in a great while, but underpowered and burned out quickly for me being someone who does a good amount of somewhat extreme 4-wheeling. After replacing several relays, and misc. parts, (which SmittyBuilt was good for), I had to replace mine and went with a Warn 10k. Have heard from quite a few sources about the same results as mine.. Good winch if you use it very sparingly. Good luck!

 

Anyone using a winch from Harbor Freight Tools? Would a 8klb winch be enough for wheeling in the mud? Not planning on extreme rock crawling.

 

When I worked at 4WheelParts I sold a good bit of winches, mostly smittybilt and they are ok for what they are, But when you need dependability You can't beat Warn. I've always ran Warn winches my Jeep's, Once I get a Winch bumper and winch for the XJ it will be a Warn .

 

what about Ramsey or Mile Marker are they any good....im asking bc iv seen both on all tha city and state trucks round here so that tells me there pretty good but idk

 

The military uses Milemarker Winches, Ramsey is good also. I've grown up with everyone in my Family having Warn on their rigs, I've had Warn on 2 of my Jeeps . So I Like Warn. They are Reliable and faster than Ramsey, and Mile Marker

 

Ramsey has a lifetime limited warranty the same as warn does, and I'm thinking that they are made in America also.

 

I'm thinking ........Not!

 

I'm thinking ........Not!

 

I have the harbor freight chicago electric 10k winch and am happy with it. It is slow but it gets the job done every time. I got it from my brother that used it on his full size k5 blazer with a 6.2 turbo diesel, and at one time he rolled it in Elbe, lifted his blazer straight up and pushed it back over with another truck. I myself wind up having to use it once to twice a month, either to pull myself out or someone needs something moved around and they happen to know I have a winch, lol..

On a side note, I heard the engineer for warn quite about a year ago and went to work for harbor freight. He designed the new Badland winch brand that harbor freight now carries. Peterson's 4x4 and offroad did a side by side with warn and said they tested just as well in every category. The only thing they have not had enough time to test, is how long the winch will last in terms of years of wheeling. That is the next winch im going to get.

Here is the link for the winch,

http://www.harborfreight.com/12000-l...6-001b2166c2c0

-Phil

 

Funny cause fourwheeler magazine tested a whole bunch of winches including this one and it either wouldn't work out of the box or didn't even pass the first test if I remember right.

 

I have that one on the front of my XJ with a Nates4x4 bumper. It was on sale for $349 and then I used a 20% off coupon. It is slow but it works. That thing would hang an XJ from a tree!
I wheel alone most often and having a winch is a huge comfort. They are all made in China so ......... If I had to pay $1000 I would not have a winch and a $300 winch beats no winch every time.

 

Thats true but now you can pick up warns for around 450 500.

 

Cant believe what you read in magazines.