I am looking to get a winch for my 01 Rubicon and was looking at the Viper/Extreme/Gorilla winches on eBay..

If anyone has them how do you like them? Have you had problems with them?

Should I splurge and get a Warn? Are they really worth it?

Thanks!!

 

there is a wonderful rageing debate on winches. usually once a month or better people argue about ebay winches vs warn/ramsey.

i personally have a viper. my viper 2500 has the same warranty as warn use to. in fact its an old warn design! its fully waterproof and guarantees it. iv hade mine for 2ish years now with no major problems, just my own stupidity lol. I would buy the viper over the gorilla or venom. venom is made by a nock-off company of viper and are not quality controled. gorilla is just a diffirent design, idk if i would trust it. best $158 iv ever spent on my quad!

there is a plus side to getting a warn or ramsey winch. if the warranty expires and you need it repaired they make rebuild kits and im pretty sure they offer mail-in-repair of some sort. idk if they last any longer in the field or not, but they are repairable. if your gonna be happy haveing the same winch for years and years and haveing it fixed, then splurge and buy a warn.

hope this helps.

 

I dont know the best winch for sure, but warn has been leading the winch market for several years,and have proved them selfs again and again.....but any fuctional winch will be handy when your stuck miles from home...it's not a good feeling leaving the quad behind to go for help...i'd staw away from the cheap harbor freight junk

 

I can't comment on the quality of the ebay Winches just yet, as I have yet to use my Gorilla to pull anything out. What I can say though is that the Gorilla Winch I bought came with terrible installation instructions. If your good with google, you can find the Warn instructions online in pdf format, they helped a lot. If you cant find them, just let me know, I can email them to you or post a link for you to download them yourself.

I looked really hard at getting a Warn Winch, but I just can't justify the kind of money they want to charge. The Gorilla I bought is waterproof, just like the Warn. It has all metal gears, just like the Warn. The only thing different about it is the Warn has a mechanical hard break, and the Gorilla has an electric brake. I paid less than $200 for a 3000lbs Winch complete with the mounting plate, synthetic Rope, aluminum fairhead, and ****** block. To get all that with the Warn name printed across it would have cost over $500. At that price I can buy two of the Gorilla Winches and still have money left over.

 

That depends do you want to do be walking or riding? To me the winch is the 2nd most important accessory you put on your bike (first being a skid plate) therefore you want something that wont leave you stranded in the time of need. Go Warn/Ramsey or go home!

 

Have a gorilla on both of my 420's. A 2500 water proof with syn rope on the 4X4 and a 1500 water proof on the 4X2. Haven't had any problems at all and using them quite-a-bit in the last two seasons. However I didn't buy them off e-bay, but rather from the gorilla web site. Payed a little more for them that way but satisfied. I do have a friend that bought a gorilla off e-bay and he has had nothing but troubles. Don't know if something is different from the web site and the ones sold on e-bay?????

 

Im with dodge57hemi. The winch is what is going to decide whether you are walking out of the woods, so imo, you should buy the best one you can afford. I do think it is funny that this debate comes up so often from those of us who have just spent about $8,000 on a new atv and want to save a couple hundred bucks on what may be the most important piece of equipment you can add to your atv. It will last for years and years and mount to any new atv you buy. However, I do agree that warn wants too much money for their winches. I paid it, I don't regret it...but it is robbery! LOL!

 

Though it was tough to part with that kind of change, I am very happy with my Warn XT30. The wireless remote is really handy.

 

shop around, i got a entire warn 2500lb winch kit on ebay for $220 shipped. It was worth the extra money to me to get a warn.

 

IMO $220 for a warn is an exelent buy, too bad they are normally $200-$300 more than that. price is what stops people from buying them. most of the time you cound buy 2 ebay winches for the price of one warn, granted you may be buying 2 ebay winches.