Seriously, unless you are hard core wheeling or using it for work, there is no reason to buy a stupid expensive winch. I wheel a lot and I have entry level warn winch, a tabor winch, a smitty built and the Badlands winch from Harbor freight. In all my years wheeling/off-roading (over 20) I have only need a winch a handful of times. As a result I see absolutely no reason to pay extra for a name when the Badlands, Smitty builts both work very well. Now if you have a rig and every weekend you are beating the snot out of it on the trails then get the higher end unit.
THe biggest factor when using a winch is heat control. The electricty needed to turn a winch is a lot, electric motors moving slow build a ton of heat. The Badlands winch does great but will get hot (they all will). So if you need to winch do not get in a hurry let the winch rest and any winch with the proper rating will do the job. Oh and as a general rule you want a winch that is rated at least 1.5 times the vehicles GVWR. I prefer to push that to 2xs when ever possible as the cost typically for the same winch in a higher rating is not that much different.
Lastly, cable vs rope. Again if you are pulling a ton and often the rope is worth the price. If you think you might use the winch 1-2 times a year stick with the cable to save
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The biggest difference I see between electric and pto winches are the duty cycle and how much they will pull for how long. Electric winches run into heat problems long before a hydraulic one will, which is probably why most wreckers use hydraulic or straight mechanical winches. Electric just doesn't handle the heaviest loads for the long haul without plenty of over-engineering.
There are plenty of military style winches on the market, and adapting a hydraulic motor to one isn't that big a deal. I think the pto winch I have is a 20ton Bradenton. The reason I snagged it was it had a lever on it for reverse, which if you run straight mechanical, comes in handy. Using hydraulic, it is easier to just use a valve to reverse the drum.
If you go with one of these large pto winches, most have larger cables, which can be changed out to allow more room for the same size cable your currently using.
David from jax
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