Post your Winch choices/costs and other related info only.

[white90]

This thread is so people wanting to make a choice can read a post not littered with anything but fact.

please list your winch your reason for choosing it and the costs involved plus any related info.

As per the title unrelated posts off the Topic as per the title will be removed to keep in on course.

[V8CAMEL]

8274 - coz i already have one on the camel so it gives me a hot swap when the series one fails. I have used a tmax 11000 but too slow. cost at the time 1200squids

2 replacement solenoids both the ones from PG winches. First set failed because a tree went through them. Tried to claim warranty but failed.

runs plasma from marlow ropes which breaks quite often usually pulling at 90 degrees on full ish load. The winch has never failed but the batteries did until upgraded to odessy 1700.

this is all based on competing. if the winch was for general use the tmax would have been fine.

paul

[Andy]

Good plan for a thread as its asked a lot.

Ive got a T-Max EW-11000. got it a couple of years ago when they were new out for about £450. i went for it as i wanted a cheap winch with decent power. its got 5.5hp motor & 256:1 gearing, so it might be slow but I've never managed to stall it yet. also you can winch for ages before it gets warm. thats more important to me than recovery speed. i think the max current drain is 410Amp which on a Tdi disco with a 130amp alt & single battery never seems to overload the electrics.

i cant really fault the winch, i fitted it & never had to do a thing to it. well once i had to tap a solenoid a few times to make it work & occasionally i have to tap the motor to make it start, i think its got dirt in the brushes. one day i will strip it down & seal it up properly.

my overall opinion, its a good low cost option for a winch. it does the job without any fuss whenever i require it too. wont win winch comps, but then thats not what i was looking for when i got it.

[white90]

Front Warn 8274/albright solenoid/amsteel blue rope/XP motor/breather/stainless fairlead

Winch £830

solenoid £50

rope £140

Motor £200

Breather £3

stainless fairlead £40

mainshaft £180

brake pads £25

cables to connect £20

crimps £5

switches for in cab control inc cables £15

sale of old 4.6 motor/solenoids/wire rope/fairlead £175 off of above total

£1345 approx total for the front

Rear was 2nd hand Husky/XP motor/albright/amsteel blue rope/stainless fairlead

winch £400

motor/albright as above

rope as above

fairlead as above

£850 approx for the rear

Batteries

£100 for 2

cut offs £20 for 2

alternator upgrade to a 100amp version £100 (brand new)

[JST]

rear

old recovery vehicle Husky - 2nd hand - £400

then the obvious (as it was an old commercial one) rebuild after a year including 5.5hp Bowmotor - £350 IIRC

Goowinch ali fairlead £30

Dyneema 11mm 100ft.

£780 + Dyneema

front

8274-50 - £850 (Muddy trout)

upgraded mainshaft - Gigglepin £180?

Upgraded brake pads - Gigglepin £30

Goodwinch ali fairlead £30

Dyneema 11mm 125ft.

£1040 + dyneema

both run off warn isolator and original cables.

in cab switches - £20?

std solenoids.

Mole Valley x2 Batteries on parrallel setup (£50 including cables (but only as they only charged me for one Battery!!!)

vehcile already had disco alternator fitted.

Wolf hand throttle setup - £11

£1890 + dyneemas

scary when you look at it like that.

[SiWhite]

I've gone for 8274s for the simplicity of design / ease of srtipping and maintanance / fast no load speed.

Front one was £400 for winch, £200 for 6hp Bowmotor, £120 for Dyneema, £60 for Albrights, £40 for fairlead and £20 for wiring, breathers etc.

Rear one was £80 but needs a bit of fixing.

Alts are twin 90a Mondeo jobs - £30 the pair, and a pair of Optimas.

Suit me very well.

If I was doing it again I'd go hydraulic - electric winches always seem to be working at near to maximum capacity to me.

If you add everything up, especially getting everything new, hydraulic seems a bit of a no brainer to me. I really like the reliability they offer, and if you can set up drive assist, they seem close to ideal. I might yet go hydro!

[Bull Bar Cowboy]

MM H12 filled with 12mm Dyneema, driven from a 60L/min PTO pump and controlled via a manual spool valve.

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=6086

The Rear will also be a MM H12, and activated via a manual 6 port changeover valve.

The cost is a shade under £2200 ………….. approximately another £800 will be added to that total when the rear is fitted. This does not include the cost of the rope.

For those interested in hydraulic winches, do not under estimate the cost of quality hose, hose fittings, and valves …….. front and rear will cost around £500 for these items alone.

For me the choice was always going to be hydraulic …………..the sheer simplicity of the mechanicals, together with the ability to winch at max load all day long, and lets not forget the chassis cracking power that is available.

If I were to build a new vehicle tomorrow, then again my choice would be the same.

Ian

[honitonhobbit]

EP9 - 350quid. Strong, quicker than most on high load without messing about with motors. Also has awesomly reliable external brake. Very small amount of 'Run On' and draws a snadge less than 375amps at it's most inefficient. Will be upgrading it to 'G' spec in the spring.

Dyneema Bowrope 10mm for work/marshalling (120quid/100') Plasma 12 9mm (?) for play/fun (on 'Long Term Test' so Andy might want it back oneday)

Cables - EHD from OEC £20.00

Cut off switch - from my own stock

Spare Control and Wander Lead - 2 pints of rough cider so say £3.00

MF Tractor Battery 980CCA - £34.00

Winch Mount - £30.00

Bolts - £6.00

Ali Hawse - two Pekin Bantam pullets so say £12.00 all in

New Disco 200Tdi Alternator from Challis, Challis & Challis so very cheap indeed

So about £575.00

If I had the funds I would go Hydraulic - similar system to BBC but with an H8 (slower but more balls and a nicer colour)

For what I do, with my budget the EP9 is the only option, I can't afford low reliability or non standard stuff and high current draw is simply a waste and a liability

[pugwash]

First winch i had was an 9000i which was fine as it was only used for recovery.

Now have a hydraulic setup.

One Front Milemarker a la Alfred Murrey

Twin Spool Block

32l/m PTO pump

PTo take off

MM hydrualic tank- the really posh one!

This cost £900, and i will have to add £200 for plumbing, and a bit for a new filter and some fluid.

Rear winch will cost £430 then i will have a working setup. Air operated valves on all the winches should allow me to swap between ratios.

So about £1600 + Dyneemas all in for me.

[landrover598]

Superwinch EP9 £340

Dyneema £120

Alli fairlead £20

Longer battery cables and connectors £15

Cut off switch £6

Switches for in cab and biatch switch £9

Winch light/wire/switch £5

Winch cover nothing

£515

[Guest WALFY]

Front

New G10 £900 inc. (right place right time)

Amsteel blue £120

Ally failead £35

Standard everything else

Rear

2nd hand Husky £350

Albrights £60 I think

Winch web Waste of £30. Amsteel blue on order £140

Ally faileads X2 £70

70mm sq cable. Cos it was free

Again not built for winning anything but enough to get me out of trouble.

[Mark90]

8274 with 5.6hp motor, uprated brake pads, bolted brake disk/circlip mod, lovingly wrapped in 120' of 10mm marlow dynaline.

Why 8274? Well I had an X9 sat in the garage but a bumper that had been well modified to take an 8274, sit above the chassis rails, had an integral steering guard, and mounting points for wing bars. I reckoned if I got a bumper to fit the X9 I'd only regret not fitting an 8274 so (eventually) sourced an 8274.

Why electric? Cost, ease of fitting, drive assist, speed (yes I know hyd can be fast but that's £££)

Cost (approx)

8274 - £250 (second hand)

Full rebuild kit - £100 (new)

5.6hp motor - £70 (second hand)

Brake pads - £25 (new)

Albright solenoid - £60 (new)

10mm Marlow - £120 (new)

Fairlead - £40 (new)

Wire/cables/switches - £40 (new)

Drum guard - £25 (new)

Cut off switch - £10 (new)

bolts and other sundries - £10 (new)

A type 664 small truck battery, about 110AH and 800CCA for about 60 quid

Total £750+battery

That's less than a new 8274 from Muddytrout which wouldn't have the extras.

Oh and I nearly forgot about a tenner for the winch Chav^TM light

[BogMonster]

Milemarker H12 std kit on a Bikini mount, with ZF74 pump and 90ft of Dyneema 10mm.

Why?

Had an 8274 and Husky in the past. Husky was good but too heavy. 8274 I always thought felt short of puff when things got iffy.

Pro's of a Milemarker for me

- Speed doesn't really matter to me due to needing to rig ground anchors etc which takes more time than winching anyway!

- 100% reliability and duty cycle is there if required

- 100% independence of any vehicle systems apart from electrics which are on a 5 amp fuse - if you blow the thing to bits (unlikely) all you need to do is cut the belt off with a penknife and you still have a 100% operational vehicle. Not so with electric unless spending £££ on multi alternator multi battery setups.

- Cannot be overloaded, get to full load and it just opens the PRV. Not that I have ever found full load yet (only in high range)

- Awesome power, the tortoise and the hare.... seems that it will shift anything on a single line pull which may be quicker than messing around double lining an electric winch

- Starts when you say Go and stops when you say Stop no run-on

Cost - well there was some duplication (cables and fairleads and of course freight to the moon which increases costs a fair bit but about £1200 for the winch/mount landed here with wire and roller fairleads, then another £200 or so for the Dyneema and the alli fairlead, about £50 for a Husky wired remote and another £100 or so for the Milemarker wireless remote. So about £1550 all in. Still to come, a Lodar one of these days as the MM wireless is not that great.

I like it because it is bulletproof and when you are in the middle of nowhere that is the most important thing of all

[Steve 90]

Used for comp and play days.

Front 8274 with 5.6hp bowmotor, 125" x 11mm dynema, albright. Fitted as I found the warn9000 I had before too slow and continually had trouble with overheating the brake when lowering out.

I looked round and it seemed like the best option. Simple design, simple to maintain and repair. trying Emergency repairs are no problem thanks to its simple design. good speed, easy to use.

So pleased with it I went out and bought one to replace my rear winch the very next week. Still have a 4.6HP warn motor on rear and I think the warn motor pulls slightly stronger if anything.

Even tho my main reason for buying a second 8274 for the rear was I liked the winch im also pleased with having two the same so I only need one lot of spares and I can always rob a bit off one to repair the other if needed.

And probably the best mod would be the winch bitch and in cab controls, saves all the hastle of getting the remote out and having leads everywhere etc etc.

[nas90]

When I bought the NAS, Landrover had fitted a Warn M8000 under-slung with a standard LR bumper. It was difficult to clean, nigh-on impossible to see the cable for spooling and proved to be very impracticable. Very soon the M8000 was sitting on a proper winch bumper and the reliabilty increased. However, after a while the winch filled with water needed regular cleaning and every use needed a test to see if it would work! Perhaps if Landrover had fitted a decent electric winch the rest of the story would be different.

Fed-up with electric winches I purchased a Milemarker H12 with ZF74 pump, in May 2001, manufactured my own bracketry for driving the pump, modified the winch bumper. Since it has been fitted it has never failed, I have never taken it apart, apart from washing the exterior no other cleaning, it sits on the front of the NAS and works, everytime, I do not need to check if it will work because it will! The only downside is the speed, which is excruciatingly slow and proved to be a handicap on competitions. The next upgrade will be a pto driven pump to increase the line speed. However, most of my winching is at Slindon whilst marshalling and for the job of pulling all sorts of vehicles out of deep holes speed is not critical, reliability, line pull and control are the critical factors.

The prices in 2001, from memory, were about £1200 for all the bits, I have not kept any records.

[western]

2nd hand Superwinch Husky EW8 [8500lb] wanted one of these for rally car recovery work & because it has a irreverseible worm drive, so will hold a load without any worries, it's powered by a dedicated Odyssey PC1700 12v battery & feed by a split charge system & a Marrelli 100amp alternator, controlled by the standard Superwinch remote wander hand control & Lodar radio remote both of these switch a Allbright 12v waterproof solenoid system, winch has 150foot of 8mm steel cable, I prefer this to Plasma or other types of winch rope for the work & conditions I use the winch in.

as for cost ---------

winch was £400 with matching LR bumper

roller fairlead [from Dave Bowyer] £58

cable tensioner [to stop cable bird nesting] £40

Allbright solenoids around £58

Lodar remote £125

Odyssey PC1700 12V battery around £220

150 foot steel cable around £57

LR split charge relay system IIRC around £60

100amp Marrelli alternator [from Sodbury sortout] £70

[miketomcat]

superwinch EP9 with soloniods moved to behind the grille £399

dyneema 12mm comp hook £110

50mm2 welding cable borrowed from work

110amp gel marine battery being thrown out at work (red top optima £90 for truck electrics)

home made bumper about £60 for materials

70amp split charge diode again being replaced at work

extra internal and external switches had kicking around

wander lead socket moved into cab

good cheap reliable system works for me will probably add a second at the rear when money allows

mike

[madmatt]

I run a MileMarker H12 off a PTO driven Pump with a proper Valve block not the MM supplied version, Had a big Hyd tank fitted and as well as the winch circuit had a double and single acting services fitted to the rear cross member for running other Hyd kit.

The winch,solenoid operated Valve Block and overcentre valve were about £850

MaxiDrive PTO and Pump £300

Hyd Hoses and fittings about £600 (its on a 130 mind)

Tank 20 quid from a mate

Still run standard steel cable £35

Upgraded to proper safety hook £40

Lodar Radio Control for winch valve £199

I dare not add it all up and hope the folks never read this, My winch is used for commercial tree work, self recovery when the trailer bogs us down and trailer loading of immobile plant. I chose Hyd over electric as I wanted to be able to winch all day without cooking motors and solenoids.

Matt

[Les Henson]

I have a Warn XD9000. Paid about £650 for it I think. It pulled my 109" S3 and a few other vehicles many times and never let me down. Used to eat batteries though, but I think it was because they were unsuitable for winch applications. I'm in the process of rebuilding it at the minute so I'll know if there's any damage.

Les.

[LR90]

Excellent thread.

Mines a very early 8274 that came with the 90 but in poor state with rusty 2HP motor (shows its age).

Brake overhaul (£20 ?)

Albrights fitted (£60)

XP motor (swapsie)

H/D cables, in cab controls, twin Exides and isolator (lots but can't recall exactly, prob circa £400)

Total £500 ish.

Now working very well, simple to work on, robust and now very effectie.

Considering the options for a rear winch but low line might help me to keep the load bay clear..

[Matt Neale]

Superwinch X9 from Sir David of Bowyer.

Bought new at Billing a good few years ago with a show discount. As originally purchased it was mounted in a DB winch bumper and fitted with 9mm wire rope. Say £450 all in.

Fast forward to current setup -

Same winch, now fitted in a second hand ARB winch bumper/nudge bar ('cos I got offered it at silly money and always wanted one - by far the best looking bumper mount on the market! ) and now fitted with 100 ft of Dyneema Bowrope (mustn't call it plasma James! )

Twin FIAMM batteries wired in parallel and running off a rebuilt Lucas 90amp alternator.

Heavy duty Superwinch hand control bought aftermarket, internal switch hardwired, and rope fitted with a decent swivel hook and connector from Recovery Equipment Direct.

For what I use it for (marshalling, self recovery) it's ideal - robust, cheap and reliable. Maybe tempting fate, but I've never had any problems with the winch - I can't recall ever having to touch the winch or solonoids because they've failed.

Overall cost about £800

Matt

[Mark]

I have a Warn 8074 - which is something of an oddity. It is the rpedecessor to the 8274, and shares a lot of the design characteristics, if not the components!

This is it fitted to my Disco. Setup is a scrapiron Bumper, modified to suit the winch, Warn 8074, 2nd Battery, Split Charge

I found it at Sodbury and got it because it was cheap compared to anything else that was available at sodbury that time. It ended up needing a new motor and a complete rebuild, but was still cheaper than buying new. It was somewhat more labour intensive though, as I had to rebuild or remake certain bits of it, and modify things to suit. Installing the EP9 onto Oranges Rangie was far simpler, and took a fraction of the time.

I went Electric as it is the easiest and cheapest to install and use. I use it mostly for self recovery, and have done a few winch challenges with it. Doing similar Mods to the Brake Disc as for an 8274 has made it much more reliable.

Warn 8074 - £80

Bearings for rebuild - £30

Other Stuff for Rebuild / manufacture - £ ?? (from stock and/or Scrapyard)

38m (125') Dyneema Bowrope 11m & Ally fairlead - £160

Warn 5.6HP Motor - £150

Winch Wiring 35mm^2 Cable - £ not much (came from the scrap yard)

Second Battery - £Free (From a mate's scrap pile)

Split Charge Relay - £11

Split Charge Wiring - £ ?? From Stock

Total £431 + some other bits from stock...

Rear Winch will be:

Husky EW8 - £170

Plasma Rope of some description (prob 11mm Dynema, to keep it the same as the front) - £150ish

35mm^2 cable - £as little as possible

Some kind of mounting Hardware - £as little as poss, again probably from scrapyard

Control Cabling/ Switch - £5

Rear winch will be electric as I already have the second battery and split charge. The Husky will pull all day and get me out of trouble. I can lower out on it safely, worrying about heat build up degrading the Plasma.

If I was going to go out and buy a brand new winch, I would almost certainly go for an EP9 for sheer value.

Cheers

Mark

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Ok

Why what I have ?

have had various Electric winches over the years, found that in std form some better than others, but for something really HD in the pulling Dept things get expensive and complex, and batteries / motors etc can fail and let you down.

Wanted a seriously HD set up, that always worked, and that didn't reduce when I had been pulling long and hard as often can happen with electrics, mainly used for recovery work at competetions and the odd comp etc.

Drawn to hydraulic as although a REAL PITA to fit (big time do NOT underestimate the complexity of fitting and fabrication) once done other than an oil change and rope check the simplicity and massive reliability beats anything IMHO INC Mech PTOs which have the UJs as the accilles heels...

So, I ended up with

Front :

An Industrial 15000 lbs recovery winch, (Bitsa model ) coupled to a Superwinch H14W tank, PTO with a 40 LPM pump, uprated winch motor, Motor Mounted Dual pilot Check Valve (OCV) 1/2 BSP dual briaded pipe throughout welded clamps to chassis 1.5 inch port feed coupled to a 2 spool hyd directional control valve 1/2 ported 70 lpm ability PRV at 2500 PSI with Filter system on return pipe and squirl potted tank (30 litres) oil cooler removed as not needed and split under heavy continous use

Rear MileMarker Winch Only coupled into the above 2 spool block and with a dual in line OCV

Downsides equal costs and time to fit, do not underestimate either, and line speed is the same as to spooling back on drum or pulling at full pull (electric slows as load increases), and masses of fabrication inc bumper as NOTHING avaiable

Pros are immensely powerfull , will run all day long and controllabvle speed via gearbox (runs 500-1500 RPM 1 2 3 4 5 gear - 1500 rpm and 5th = flat out and thats quick on the MM by ANY standards...and quickish (Husky speed + a bit quicker) on the front do not assume all MMs are slow ...tend to use 3rd and 1500 rpm for most work, MM 2nd and 1500 rpm.

Also have made up Air clutches so as to have air freespool on both from switches in cab, run from ARB pump

Run 14mm Plasma front 12mm rear for safety

Costs ? work it out yourself, not admitting it here SWMBO may see it, lets just say if you go for any "exotic" winch be it Jim Twin motor etc etrc costs are in the <cough> Upper bands

Nige

Erm

From a PM or 2 edited to add another "Con" is trying to add 35 litres of Hyd fluid to the tank, slipping and doing an impression of an octopuss on roller skates......

[will_warne]

Have used:

- FRONT: M8274-50 £1000 (bought new)

XP motor £250 (bought before you could get them cheaply)

100' of 11mm Plasma 12 from Rufftrax

Gwyn Lewis pads brake pads

Warn contactor £130 (made by Albright, twice the size of standard)

Oil filler and drain plugs (make servicing much easier)

This is a really nice, fast, setup for a budget. I've never had reliability issues and have found the XP motor improved the performance significantly. Plasma is much easier to handle and 11mm was chosen after 9.5mm snapped. I'm upgrading further to give more speed and power in the worst situations although 90% of the time this sort of setup is more than adiquate.

- REAR: Superwinch Husky £300 (2nd hand)

Warn 4.6hp motor taken from the 8274

100' of 9.5mm Plasma 12

Warn contactor

A good, tough setup although it is slow (much improved by the 4.6hp motor with its higher no load line speed). Good control for lowering out and has been used to pull a dead, water filled, camel 110 (Guy) out up a 45 degree slope. Its only being swapped because I found it too slow, especially for respooling cable.

- POWER: 85 amp alternator running through a split charge and dedicated yellow top Optima for winches. All cables crimped

This has always prooved adiquate for the job. It is nice and simple and doesn't cost the earth. The battery charges quickly and holds charge well.

Planned inprovements:

- 8274 at the front will be run XP motors at 24V to give speed and power. 2 motors mean less load on each one and, hopefully, less heat build up. Heat build up maybe a potential issue with this setup but I will find out when I start running it. A Gigglepin top housing will be used as its much stronger than stock and well priced.

- Extended, freespooling drum with hydralic disk brake on one side. The longer, smaller diameter drum means the winch runs as if it has less cable on the drum meaning more pull. I will only run 125' - 150' of cable even though there is potentially the room for much more in order to maximise pull. Freespooling drum will minimise cable tangle on freespool while also reducing the amount of power the winch is using. Additional brake gives extra control over overrun as well as lowerng out in addition to being a failsafe.

- Gigglepin mainshaft kit. It does exactly what it says on the tin: Shims the internals, stops the brake flying appart and won't break on you.

- Power will come from a pair of yellow top Optimas charged by a military 90amp alternator (very tough and charges well however its rather large).

- The rear winch will be replaced with an 8274 and will be very simerlar to the front although is unlikely to have overvolted motors.

This will give a very powerful setup but price is a major issue - it will probably cost twice as much as what I ran when the truck came off the road.

[dollythelw]

Twin Type R Hydros, all hosing is Parker "no skive", burst pressure of 950bar, 100ltr/min filter, hand throttle, triple redundancy control, mechanical actuation for dog clutch.

Pros for me

drive assist

massive power

kinda fast

submersible

no over-run

100% reliable

infinately variable speed

All day 100% duty rating

upgradable for more power/speed

weight (or rather lack of)

Cons

Cost - list of £2500 ish, initially its a big hit

er

um

not very fashionable for serious competition use (not a problem for me)

no winch if the motor stops.... (easy to sort)

A few friends seem to find Come up good bits of kit on the leccy winch side of life