winch debate

[ladywolf]

yea......i'm debating on a winch. the 3 manufacturers i'm looking at are Warn, Mile Marker, and Ramsey. the debate is, which one will give me the best option for the money. Obviously Warn is the most spendy, w/ all their cool do dads and what not, but has anyone ever had issues or failure problems with a Ramsey or a Mile Marker?


opinions are most welcome. Thanks guys!

-Kris

 

[Kejtar]

yea......i'm debating on a winch. the 3 manufacturers i'm looking at are Warn, Mile Marker, and Ramsey. the debate is, which one will give me the best option for the money. Obviously Warn is the most spendy, w/ all their cool do dads and what not, but has anyone ever had issues or failure problems with a Ramsey or a Mile Marker?


opinions are most welcome. Thanks guys!

-Kris

I got a warn m8000 for myself and it's been working out real good for me. I've wheeled with folks who run milemarkers and they haven't had any issues either. IMHO if you stikc wiht those two you'll be fine (no experience with Ramsey so I can't really comment there).

It all comes down to how much $ you wanna spend, how fast you want your line to spool and how much pulling power you want it to have. Oh yeah, stay away from the non brand names.

 

[ladywolf]

I got a warn m8000 for myself and it's been working out real good for me. I've wheeled with folks who run milemarkers and they haven't had any issues either. IMHO if you stikc wiht those two you'll be fine (no experience with Ramsey so I can't really comment there).

It all comes down to how much $ you wanna spend, how fast you want your line to spool and how much pulling power you want it to have. Oh yeah, stay away from the non brand names.

i'm not looking at any but the "big 3" (mentioned above). i dont mind cheapo tools for trail use, if i break it or lose it no big deal, but when it comes down to safety of me and my jeepin cohorts, i go full measure, no cuttin corners.

 

[HaleYes]

Kris, I was in the same boat as you. I researched quite a bit on the net. Long story made short: I ended up going with Tmax. I know you said you're not straying from what you called "the big 3", but I thought I should throw that out there. I bought it from 's Rough Country Sponsor. He gave me a great deal and free shipping. I couldn't find much negative at all about the Tmax, so I went with it. I've yet to really have a hard pull with it, but so far I'm pleased.

Hale

 

[Kejtar]

i'm not looking at any but the "big 3" (mentioned above). i dont mind cheapo tools for trail use, if i break it or lose it no big deal, but when it comes down to safety of me and my jeepin cohorts, i go full measure, no cuttin corners.

Btw, one up definate upgrade that's good no matter what you get is synthetic line. I'm tired of having to "floss" my jeep after I use the winch. Also it's easy to damage the steel winch line (crossed and kinked) as it wraps itself onto itself during pulls.

 

[DrMoab]

I have known several people with Ramseys that have burned them up.

There are also a ton of people who own them that will tell you they have no problems. I think if it were me, I would spend the extra money for a Warn.

I have no experience with Mile Marker other then their hydraulic winches are s-l-o-w

 

[WB9YZU]

I used to think Milemarker was alright.

...but I was wrong.

What soured me was the service on a E8000 winch I bought.
About 3 years into the "lifetime warranty" <yah, the first ones off the line had a lifetime warranty> I got crossed up on a pull, and all the line bunched on one side and broke one of the side frames. My bad.

I wrote the company and tried to get a part, which I would have paid for. 3 weeks, and many dodges later, they sent me a used part, for a different winch.

The problem is that Milemarker e series winches are the same exact winches that you get a Harbour Freight, and winches are made in China.

Not a bad winch overall, but a tad on the sloooowwwwww side, and replacement parts appear to be hard to come by. It will recover your vehicle.

If you are looking at the Milemarker, consider that the extra cost is for the warranty; then go buy the sane winch on-sale at HF, then buy the exchange warranty. You will be money ahead and not have the headaches of working with a company that can not support what it sells.

I am looking into getting synthetic line also. The Milemarker/HF winches came with 3/8" line, which is overkill for a 8000lb winch and tends to be hard to handle.

My friends who own a Warn 9500i just love them! Good speed, and they seem to know when to up the RPMs for line recovery. Also, they use a much lighter line.

Ron

 

[Jeepsloth]

My experience has been with Warn and Milemarker Hydraulic winches.

The Warn X8000i has a no load line speed of 42 fpm and load line speed of 8 fpm. The Milemarker 10,500 Hydraulic that my buddy uses and that I have sitting in a box in the garage has a higher line speed in high gear but pulls a lot less depending cable layer.

The X8000i weighs in at 74 pounds and the Milemarker weighs 93 pounds.

This probably doesn't answer any of your questions :roll: but I would look at things like how fast it is, how much it weighs, what kind of drive system it uses, and will there be parts available later if it breaks.

 

[Jeepsloth]

My experience has been with Warn and Milemarker Hydraulic winches.

The Warn X8000i has a no load line speed of 42 fpm and load line speed of 8 fpm. The Milemarker 10,500 Hydraulic that my buddy uses and that I have sitting in a box in the garage has a higher line speed in high gear but pulls a lot less depending cable layer.

The X8000i weighs in at 74 pounds and the Milemarker weighs 93 pounds.

This probably doesn't answer any of your questions :roll: but I would look at things like how fast it is, how much it weighs, what kind of drive system it uses, and will there be parts available later if it breaks.

 

[Jeepsloth]

Not sure how I managed a double post :looser:

 

[Kejtar]

The Milemarker 10,500 Hydraulic that my buddy uses and that I have sitting in a box in the garage has a higher line speed in high gear but pulls a lot less depending cable layer.

Also hydraulic will stop pulling when your engine dies.....

 

[Goatman]

When I first got my Warn 8000 I also damaged the winch from too much side pull, the line bunched up on one side and a wrap of line went between the drum and the case. It didn't split the case like I've seen on cheaper winches, but it bent the drum flange. I called Warn, they said to send it back and they fixed it for free. I've seen people with the occasional problem with a Warn winch and in every case that I know Warn's service was complete and no hassle. They make the best winches, they have the best warrenty, and they have the best service.

I've seen a number of the Harbor Freight winches burn up, don't know for sure what brand also sells the same winch. I'd get a Warn M8000 at the best price I could find. You could easily be happy with another winch, but you're guarenteed to be happy with the Warn.

 

[Gerr]

well I own 2 winches a warn 9.5 a mile marker 9500 and a ramsey 9000 all have served me well but all have short commings. im my opinon the best bang for the buck is the mile marker. it pulls verry strong and just as fast as the warn parts have been cheaper to replace when I damaged them and it has been ultimatly dependable.

Harbor freight winces are made from surplus parts from champion warn and mile marker hence they look simular

 

[IllianaXJ]

I fried a Ramsey REP 8k (which was a SLOW piece of crap), and went to replace it with a Ramsey Patriot 9k. UPS managed to break it in half (and tried to get out of paying for it, but that's a different story). I ended up going with a Tmax 9k shortly after they came out after hearing rave reviews on PBB. I have made several pulls with it and have had no problems. I used it just the other day to pull someone out of a ditch by the house.

If I had limitless $$$ I'd get a Warn, but I was on a budget, and after seeing Ramsey's quality, knew better than that. Milemarker gets mixed reviews. Superwinch actually makes a good product as well.

Check out this link, pretty informative. http://www.moabjeeper.com/articles/general/listing.cfm?articleID=353

If you are staying in the Big 3 you mentioned, go Warn. If I were you, I'd look a little farther past the Big 3 at some other options. My $.02.

 

[Ironmen77]

Order this http://milemarker.com/video.html

I did and after watching it bought a Ramsey because in the testing it beat all the electric winches (in my opinion). I bought the inexpensive REP8.5 and have had no problems with it as of yet. My2cents.

 

[RTicUL8]

well I own 2 winches...
a warn 9.5
a mile marker 9500
and a ramsey 9000...

Hmmm?
I used up this many fingers:

.

 

[ZacSquatch]

My aunt is a winch...

I just wants a R8000 with synthetic line..

 

[Kejtar]

Hmmm?
I used up this many fingers:

.

You haven't met Gerr, have ya?

 

[WB9YZU]

Harbor freight winces are made from surplus parts from champion warn and mile marker hence they look simular

Don't know where you got your info.

...but here is my experience with Milemarker E8000 winches.
My first Milemarker Winch came in a generic Chineese looking box and had a owners/parts manual inside. Guess where it said to get your replacement parts... go ahead and guess. That's right HF. When I called Milemarker, they owned up to the fact that they sourced though HF for that winch and put their name on it. In other words, it was a rebox.

The second winch I purchased a year later came in the same sort of box, generic, had the same winch in it, and had the same exact manual with the exception of where it said HF, it now said Milemarker.

If you look though the catalog of Chinese winch manufactures, you start to realize that these are not copies, but are actually the originals that importers like HF, Milemarker, Ramsey, T-Max, Superwinch and others use to get an entry level winch out to the public at a reasonable cost, and of course, a bit of profit to themselves.

Ron

 

[RTicUL8]

You haven't met Gerr, have ya?

No.

Should I ask?

Is he missing fingers or something like that? :dunno:

.