If you use the winch to raise and lower a snowplow the cable can break because it wears in one small area. One of mine had a kink in it and I had to cut some cable off to get rid of it. Ropes don't have as many problems as cables.

 

That is something else to consider as I do use my plow. But realistically, it was an average winter here, and I only used it 3 times. So I don't think it will get the kind of wear needed to break down the cable.

 

I also had a wire cable at the start of the winter. I bought the Can-Am kit to mount the plow and it included a winch shutoff switch that stopped the winch when a switch mounted on top of a skid plate senses a magnet mounted on the plow frame. Nice kit but I didn't get to that part before the snow started to fly. Had a regular fairlead and the cable snapped on the roller when I winched it up to high. Happened twice. Got the Warn synthetic rope kit and installed that with a fairlead that came with it that had a larger diameter roller on the bottom. Over winched the rope more than a few times and the rope didn't even come near breaking. Since then I finally got the shutoff kit installed and it works perfect now. Love the rope and if I can afford it I'll never go back to the wire.

 

Ive had warn on three machines and i only use one every year for plowing, the others are there just in case on my other atvs. Warn has a limited lifetime warranty and 3 yrs on electrical. The winches are sealed as well. I also will vouch for the rope,no kinks or cables shredding apart and cutting my hands anymore.
also,even though a 2,000 lbs winch will do most or probably everything you want just to let you know the winch will only pull 2,000 lbs when ALL the cable is out and its on its 1st wrap around the drum. Once it starts to wraps the second layer the weight pulled is dropped since the gearing has now changed. Then a third wrap,and the last 4th wrap. heres what the weigh will be with each layer. the first pull is 2500lbs,the 4th layer is 1500lbs

Pull by layer
1/2500lbs (1134)
2/2125lbs (964)
3/1806lbs (819)
4/1535lbs (696)

If you need to use a pulley,it will double the pulling weight but it will pull twice as slow.

 

^ Good info. Thank you.

 

Okay, so new question; where is the best place to buy both the winch and the mounting kit for my quad?

WARN is offering a $50 rebate on the winch for about 1 more week, so I'd like to take advantage of that now, but I would like to ultimately order both the winch and the mounting kit in the same place.

I PM'd the WARN sponser on this, but would like to take suggestions as well.

 

If you went the eBay route it probably wouldn't get to you in time for the rebate. Not sure, otherwise where you can get a deal on one. Try your local ATV dealer to see if they have any sales going on. Winches are one of those things that you don't see in too many retail outlets.

 

As far as I know, only authorized WARN dealers are giving the rebate. For the deal, the winch has to be purchased before April 30th, and then the rebate form must be mailed no later than May 31st.

Its a great deal, and I am ready to buy today, but the catch is I want to order the mounting hardware also.