Twin gearboxed 8274 works really well, especially with twin 24v motors. It just doesnt slow down, and on the test bed when the first one was made it pulled 14.2 tonnes single line pull, when we were trying to rate it to know what cable to run. You can winch if nothing is moving though, because something is going to give, it is a very powerful tool.
We turn the second gearbox around, run the 2 motors beside each other, we make a new drum longer, and larger centre dia to wind on faster, and we are now working on new gear sets to go from 134 to 1 to around 100 to 1 to make them even faster, .
12v version pulls 10 tonne single line pull, and doesnt slow down when winching either.
Running 24v through a 12v motor works ok, until it fries, when it does, it cooks the whole motor, so best thing to do is carry a spare motor if going down this road. A 24v system requires 2 alternators, one for 24 and one for 12, and 4 batteries, one for 12v system,a nd one lot for 24v.
The Gigglepin twin motor 8274's just break all the time.
The suzooks from the outback this year ran datsun 120y diff centres driven by the pto so they were stepped up 3 to 1 in speed.