Gorilla Winch Review

[mxvet354]

First of all I wish I had the cash for a 10K or 12K Warn...

With that statement out of the way, I searched for a long time before I made my mind up to try something else. I looked at all options and read all the reviews I could find. At the end of the day I choose to try a Gorilla winch, 10K flavor. I liked the specifications and look of the winch and it had favorable reviews. The only thing I read was it is very slow, that is a very true statement. I made (3) FULL pulls on a very, very steep hill that was so slick you could barely stand up on it. It pulled a loaded 80 up that hill one full pull after another.

So far I was very impressed, I may be sorry later but so far so good.

Curt

 

[snowcamo80]

Thanks for the review on your choice of winch.

I don't have a winch yet. But a winch is my next addition on my 80.

Not all of us in MUD have the luxury of having a close to $1K bolted to our bumper. And reviews like this gives us another option other than WARN.

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

As the saying goes, "this thread is worthless without photos!"

Get busy, "MXVET354!"

Regards,

Alan

---------------------------------------------------------------

First of all I wish I had the cash for a 10K or 12K Warn...

With that statement out of the way, I searched for a long time before I made my mind up to try something else. I looked at all options and read all the reviews I could find. At the end of the day I choose to try a Gorilla winch, 10K flavor. I liked the specifications and look of the winch and it had favorable reviews. The only thing I read was it is very slow, that is a very true statement. I made (3) FULL pulls on a very, very steep hill that was so slick you could barely stand up on it. It pulled a loaded 80 up that hill one full pull after another.

So far I was very impressed, I may be sorry later but so far so good.

Curt

 

[Mace]

I ahve one of the 3K gorilla winches as a suck winch on my 40. Seems to work very well

 

[Awl_TEQ]

I am glad to hear you are thus far happy with your Gorilla, but I'd like to mention that you don't HAVE TO spend huge dollars on a Warn - deals can be had in your local classifieds. Guys that sold their rig and kept the winch etc....

Keep it right side up

 

[Milkwagon]

Just bought one... is in transit. I will let you know how it works when pulling little jeeps! Since "the milkwagon has never been stuck." I only bought it to pull little jeeps on the trail.

 

[Niner]

Slow pull is always better than No PULL

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Just pulled the trigger on this Gorilla winch with 12k pull for much cheaper than a Warn or a milemarker 10k or 8k.

eBay Motors: GORILLA 12000 LB H.D. Self Recovery Winch 12000LB SF (item 200306822510 end time Feb-08-09 09:29:05 PST)

For this price I am below well below budget and have enough still to hunt a decent bargain on a hydraulic. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

 

[e9999]

Glad you got it. Hope it serves you well. Much better to have an inexpensive one than none at all (usually).

That said, don't go out there betting your life on the winch until you're really really sure it's reliable. Otherwise it may be better to have none and wheel accordingly. But then, you already knew that...

 

[mxvet354]

Sorry I have been slacking on the pictures. Actually I do not have a good one of the winch on my truck, it is pretty much covered up now

Here it is now...

I know it is not a Warn, when it lets me down, I will let all the "non-Warn haters" know. I know a Warn is a Warn, I don't bet my life on any piece of equipment, period and I build machinery for a living. Anything can and will eventually fail. I test everytime before we head off road only if we are camping only. Like i said I figured I would burn it up that day on that hill but slow and steady seemed to not bother it at all. It wasn't even that hot when I finally got to the top of the hill. I just thought I would post a review of a non Warn winch that's all.....

Curt

 

[smkymntn]

Do you think it would fit on ARB on a 60 without problems?

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Glad you got it. Hope it serves you well. Much better to have an inexpensive one than none at all (usually).

That said, don't go out there betting your life on the winch until you're really really sure it's reliable. Otherwise it may be better to have none and wheel accordingly. But then, you already knew that...

I think that anyone who has been in a situation where you really depending on a piece of gear understands that better than most. Nothing goes on this rig or in my pack without extensive research and then testing. Did the research and it'll get the c r a p tested out of it once it gets here. I'll let you guys know as it all goes.
John

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Sorry I have been slacking on the pictures. Actually I do not have a good one of the winch on my truck, it is pretty much covered up now

Here it is now...

I know it is not a Warn, when it lets me down, I will let all the "non-Warn haters" know. I know a Warn is a Warn, I don't bet my life on any piece of equipment, period and I build machinery for a living. Anything can and will eventually fail. I test everytime before we head off road only if we are camping only. Like i said I figured I would burn it up that day on that hill but slow and steady seemed to not bother it at all. It wasn't even that hot when I finally got to the top of the hill. I just thought I would post a review of a non Warn winch that's all.....

Curt

Wow I don't have a 60 but that is a crazy cool looking bumper. Who makes it or was this a custom fab job. Sorry for the off topic riff.
John

 

[mxvet354]

I made the bumper because again, I just did not have $1K+ to throw down on a Slee or ARB bumper. I have about $120 in materials and roughly 38 hours of my time in the bumper. Total weight, including the winch is 162 lbs and it has been pushed on and into trees/rocks a couple of times so far. It did not turn out exactly like I wanted but close enough, it is plenty for my needs.

I am not sure if it would fit into an ARB or not. I got the winch first and then constructed the bumper around it. It does fit in between the frame rails very nice on my 80.

Curt

 

[Gappy]

I made the bumper because again, I just did not have $1K+ to throw down on a Slee or ARB bumper. I have about $120 in materials and roughly 38 hours of my time in the bumper. Total weight, including the winch is 162 lbs and it has been pushed on and into trees/rocks a couple of times so far. It did not turn out exactly like I wanted but close enough, it is plenty for my needs.

I am not sure if it would fit into an ARB or not. I got the winch first and then constructed the bumper around it. It does fit in between the frame rails very nice on my 80.

Curt

Nothing against the Slee or ARB but, to have built a bad ass bumper like you did and just the fact that you built it your self, you are WAY ahead!!
That thing looks like a stealth bomber, very, very nice!!
How thick of material did you use?

 

[mxvet354]

Center section is 1/4" and outer sections are 10ga steel. I also added enforcement angles from the back. It has held up pretty good so far. I built it in (3) sections and then decided at the last minute to weld them all together.

Thanks - Curt

 

[mxvet354]

I thought I would revive this thread from a few months ago and see how the winch is holding up for everyone else. I had a scare with mine last weekend as mine sounded like the solenoids were shot, it was trying to go but would not. Took the cover off and it worked like a champ, I had a very, very loose connection. I broke my own rule about testing it before leaving the driveway... as I thought I wouldn't need it where we were going. Turns out I didn't but the truck in front of me did, we fixed it and were good to go.

Just curious how everyone else is liking their set-up and if any problems are to be reported. I did notice they changed their name from Gorilla to "Pro Mark Off Road", maybe that's a good thing.

Curt

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Mine is still ok. I haven't had to use it much but when I have, no complaints. Did they really change the name? I thought that I just got another email promo from them as Gorilla. I wonder why the name change. Gorilla was distinctive and lent itself to a good logo and lots of easy promotional potential with Gorilla as their corporate identity.

 

[Motoalliance]

For whatever it's worth, look for our BLACK FRIDAY advertisement in the next day or so. We are offering one of our new VIPER ELITE recovery systems in 12k for $200 off of it's $899.99 price tag.....$699.99 including shipping. It's going to come with the patented AMSTEEL synthetic cable in BLACK (thus honoring Black Friday) and is a premium, fully integrated, lightweight submersible system. We'll post pictures of it tomorrow with some more specs. We may do the same promo for our 8k and 10k models too.

It's nice being a sponsor of this site. We've just made our major push into the 4x4 world after nearly 5 years of ramping up our ATV/UTV lineup that now sells thousands of winches per year.....we've done 4x4 winches too, but only on a limited basis until now. We believe we now have a top quality 4x4 winch without the massive price tag. Gorilla has been one of our competitors, so here we go again against them in the 4x4 world..... I know those guys over there....meet with them every once in awhile.....we just have very different business models and philosophies.

Hope you will have a good holiday.

Peter
CEO
Motoalliance
Moto Alliance - ATV Winch - ATV Accessories - Viper Winch
1-866-527-7637.