Overland Winch Test?

[1911]

And of course, like most of these tests -and admittedly it's not easy- nothing on long-term reliability which is the main thing for most buyers I assume.

There is one observation you can make about the long-term reliability of the winches in the test: of them all, only the Warn 8274 has units still in service up to 37 years old, with the mechanics of the winch essentially unchanged across all those years. Granted that none of the others have been in production that long, but still it counts for something in my book. When all the others have been in production that long and old rusty ones are still much sought-after in the used market, then we'll have a more accurate comparison.

 

[Mark W]

Or the older Belleviews which were the forerunner of the Warn 8274. You can still find those working just fine too.


Mark...

 

[t-o]

yep, my belleview is older than the '75 40 where it is mounted. still use it once a month pulling stumps/downing trees the right direction. pulls great and is fast. downfall are the little 40-yo components, like the clutch engagement that i need to operate with pliers...

 

[SWITAWI]

The winch comparison in the July 2011 issue of Four Wheeler magazine is now online...

Massive Multi-Winch Shootout - Four Wheeler Magazine

 

[1911]

The winch comparison in the July 2011 issue of Four Wheeler magazine is now online...

Massive Multi-Winch Shootout - Four Wheeler Magazine

I've never even heard of most of the winches in that test. I guess many choices is a good thing for the marketplace, though personally I would never buy a winch that wasn't from one of the major brand names. YMMV.

 

[40zen]

that winch test in 4wheeler was a bit odd. The testing was pretty good and revealing in some ways actually, like the dunking tests. But they had a couple of DoA winches, which is disturbing but good to know. And more bizarrely, their scoring system put a huge weight on fluff things like packaging, labeling, etc and very little on actual operation. And of course, like most of these tests -and admittedly it's not easy- nothing on long-term reliability which is the main thing for most buyers I assume.

I felt the same after reading the 4wheeler bit. After all the failures, I'm glad I researched my product reviews on MUD first (as per SOP) and picked up an old 8274 on CL for a couple hundred bucks.