I tipped it over twice that day. Those RR ties were heavy and the inside of the trailer was loaded with tools.

We had to chain another ATV to trees to anchor it so we could winch it back upright.

I had to push another ATV along with the load I was towing plus the same load up a steep muddy hill.
That 850 was actually pretty powerful.

The trailer belongs to the Forest Service. Back then I was part of a 4 man trail crew working for
Utah State Parks OHV Program under the direction of the USFS.

We were building a new trail in 1000 Lakes Mountain.

One of the funnest jobs I've ever had.


It ranks right up there with grooming snowmobile trails. LOL

 

If you use low when you should and don't burn it up, a belt should last thousands of miles. I've heard of a lot of people putting a new belt on when they don't need to and saving the old one for a spare. I did that a long time ago. Then I started leaving the old belt on and carrying a new one for a spare. Now I don't carry a spare belt at all. I don't ride much anymore and may never have to change mine.

 

I change mine once a year whether it needs it or not.

They probably have between 2000 and 2500 miles on them.

Can't tell the old one from the new one.

That's the biggest thing I dislike about my Kawasaki, it has a rubber band for a transmission.







I replaced my old winch with a new one today. I wish the tether was blue.

I have no idea why but I'm pretty hard on winches. Doug just rolls his eyes at me.

This is the second one for my BF and I think I had 3 on my old Honda.

 

Was the old one the, "We don't build our winches as well as the other guys", company?

 

The KFI I took off was a 2500 lb and this Warn is a 2000 lb. And I could care less.

Last spring I went down a trail and rode on top of the snow - not so lucky coming back up. I easily winched well over 400 ft in deep wet snow. I could smell my belt. Did I ever mention that I'm not a fan of belts either?? That was the day I realized that I hated that little yellow lever because I was unable to keep the front end locked and operate my winch at the same time. That was also the last day that my winch would freewheel to pull the rope out. And one of the terminals on the winch turned blue that day too.

Is it repairable?? Who knows and who cares?

I got all my KFI winches and this Warn for free so I really don't care what brand they are. I have zero complaints about any of the KFI winches I've had. I have a tendency to be really hard on everything that I'v ever owned that leaves the pavement. My friend asked me, "what is it with you and winches?"

I would never hesitate to recommend a KFI to any of my friends.

My friends 2014 Can Am came from the factory with a Warn winch and it wont freewheel either. So there's one KFI and one Warn that won't freewheel anymore and I can tell you that its really annoying. I knew ahead of time that this Warn had a steel cable so I already had a synthetic rope to replaced the cable. I prefer the KFI hook to the one that came with the Warn.

Just to set the KFI next to the Warn the Warn does appear to be of "higher quality and more heavy duty" than the KFI. I have no idea what the insides of either one looks like and probably never will.

I am just happy to once again having a fully functional winch.

The ONLY thing I don't like about the Warn so far is that the tether is red and not blue.

Long live the winch.

The single most important upgrade you can make to an ATV.

 

I had one of those Warn A2000 winches 20 years ago on my first ATV. Even though it had enough power to hang my ATV from a big tree branch, it just didn't seem like enough winch. I bought an upgrade kit to turn it into an A2500 winch. It replaces the little "tin can" solenoid with a big heavy duty contactor, the troublesome rotary switch with a rocker switch on the handlebar, and some wimpy wires with much thicker wires. After I took the winch off, but before I got the upgrade installed, someone stole my ATV. Years later I realized I was never going to use that winch and gave everything to a friend I rode with. He liked his free new (to him) Warn A2500 winch. I even gave him a sturdy steel bumper to go on the mount that I gave to the previous owner.

https://www.warn.com/atv/accessories...UpgradeKit.jsp

I can see a slot in the mounting tab on one side of your solenoid. If the picture hasn't been flipped I think you're okay. But if it had a hole there and a slot on the other side, instead slots on both sides, it would be part of the 2001 recall. Some of them caught on fire. I doubt it was still new in the box for 17 years.

https://www.warn.com/atv/a2000_recall_notice.jsp

 

You're right. Its not 17 years old and still new in the box.

Its 18 years old and still new in the box.

I was the first to open it. I had to cut the straps off the box. The solenoid has two slots.

A ****** block easily doubles their pulling power.

I used the solenoid and switch that were already mounted from the KFI winch I took off. It was a 2500 lb winch.

The switch that came with it looked pretty pathetic and stupid and I wasn't about to mount it on my fender.

 

Agreed on the most important upgrade to a quad or side by side being a winch. When we go on snow rides in NH we use them most. Doesn't take much for a tire to grab a small rut in the snow and get dragged off the trail. You're not going to get a quad out of waist deep snow without either a good winch or a bunch of quads or sleds daisy chained together. Took 12 wheels turning to get me out of ice that broke with a foot of water above the second layer of ice. I left two trenches in the ice about 100 ft. long but it would not climb out. Was not fun getting wet when it was 18 degrees out. Had a nice lunch at a restaurant where we could sit by the wood stove and dry off.

 

Not at all Moose.

Nothing is worse than being wet and cold.

Glad you found a warm fire to warm you up.

We had a guy break thru the ice one time out on a January ride in Wyoming.

Boy was he happy when I pulled a nice pair of dry wool socks out of my rear box.

You just never know when you might need a dry pair.

 

I was right. Sort of. Used correctly a ****** will double your pulling power but take twice as long. It's still the best option lots of times. A friend and I both had that stupid dial switch on our old Warn 2000 pound winches. He U-bolted his to the very back of the left side of his front rack. I had a 5" deep Polaris cargo box that covered my whole front rack, so I drilled 4 holes on the back of my left front fender and bolted the switch on there with a sheet metal backing plate I made inside the fender. With the right contortions we could each reach our switch and throttle at the same time, but it was nothing like having a rocker switch by your thumb. If it got snow on it that melted it could get inside the switch, plus if you screwed it down too hard it could warp the plastic enough that it didn't make very good contact. And if you mount it on the rack it's easy for something to hit it.