Originally Posted by
Psimpson7
Most winch life is going to be directly related to how you treat it.
For example if you submerge it a few times in muddy water and dont service it, it will break. That is the same if its a $400 Aldi one or a $3k Hi Mount.
Loading themm up with low batteries wont help either!
IMO the best std electric winch you can buy is the Hi Mount. If you have the budget swap the 4.6hp for the 6hp from the XP. The reason that this is the best, is not just because its a Warn, it is incredibly quick, both under load and on load. They are probably the most widely used winch in competition
IMO The best low mount winch available is the XP. It is massively powerful, but draws a fair bit of current.
Not sure what Dave means by going to an industrial rigging store as I would be suprised if they have anything suitable atall, and they wont be cheap!
There are problems with the cheap winches. the gear set seem to be generally ok, but they have things like the motor casing pressed into one set of legs so you cant easily swap motors, where-as on a Warn or Superwinch you can pretty much swap the motors around relativley easily.
I originally had an XD9000 on mine, which I then swapped to run XP's front and rear, and after about 3 months swapped the front one for a Hi Mount. I wish now I had done Hi mounts both ends, but thats not really a viable option anymore for me.
Try and buy the right one the first time:)