If you want a winch to put on a tow truck then buy the warn. If you want a good quality winch for less than $150 dollars then the gorilla is your winch. I've had mine for about a year and never had any problems with it. Pulled several ATV out of the mud, as well as myself a few times. Good winch for the money.

 

Okay, this topic has my interest! First, I would say YES, Jimpet, buy the Gorilla. It sounds like it will do everything you need and is much cheaper than a Warn. I'm not sure how the rope would do with plowing. Seems to me someone once said it is not good for them, but not sure. Maybe someone here can add to that.

Nowadays there are a lot of new winch manufacturers out there that are giving Warn a run for the money! They are cheaper and comparable. They may be louder and slower, but then again, who here is racing? I do think Warn and Ramsey are better, but just how much is that worth to you if money is an issue? I think if Gorilla has such good customer service, that says alot. They plan to stick around and want to prove themselves. Most people seldom use a winch. If I'm not getting stuck, I'm not riding hard. Conincedentally, I get stuck alot and rely on my winch. I hate digging and lifting the sportsmans wears me out. I still have bruises up and down my arms from the last time I was stuck (no trees around!).

BTW, there was a recent winch shootout (not atv's, but 4wd trucks) and Warn won it, with Superwinch right behind them at half the price! I think they were the only ones to finish...the rules were if it broke it's done! So, I guess if your the "best", then you can name your price! I do see a lot of old warn winches running around and still in service, still able to get parts! I do think warn will be the first and last winch you will ever have to buy and will likely outlast your atv!

 

yea and tow truck companies use warn because they have right offs and alot of them are hydrolic not even electric. so thats totaly different. but as i said people took apart warn and gorrilla side by side and they had the same parts. now yes i still like the more well know brand name and i might have thought about buying one if i had tons of money to throw around.

 

I got less than 20 hours out of my my polaris winch just using it to plow snow, if you want to replace it every year than go ahead and get a cheap one. It was made in china and the gears stripped out. If you only occasionaly use it, you may get more life out of yours. But it just might let you down when you need it the most, like mine did.

 

i know warn winches that break 2 everything can break and more than 50 percent of the people ive heard have had tehre polaris winches break.

 

I don't like to dredge up old threads but I can't resist this one. Do you guy's realize that the "Polaris Winch" is a Warn with a Polaris sticker on it?

I have used Warn, Mile Marker and Gorilla. The Gorilla is so far the best one. It is the only 2500 ATV winch with a sealed motor. If you compare the one I have to the Warn I have they are the SAME. ALL of the parts are interchangeable. Same with the Mile Marker. I broke the freespool off of the Gorilla trying to release it under a load and I just took the whole end off of my Mile Marker and bolted it right on the Gorilla.

Why pay for the Warn name when you are getting the identicle winch from Gorilla? All of the parts are made exactly the same out of the same material. Heck I may take all three of them apart and see if they have the same part numbers on them.

 

I used mine new Gorilla XT 3000lb for the first time other than for lifting my plow for one snow storm last week and it failed! I was up north by Green Bay WI March 27th 2008 on a atv trip and got stuck in 3+ feet of snow. The winch pulled me all of maybe 2-3 feet and the gears started to slip. It did not have the power after that to get me out. I was lucky enough that there was a hard packed trail next to me so I went and got the pickup and was able to pull myself out with it. Man what a problem i would have had if I was not able to drive the truck down! I did contact the site on EBay that sold me the Gorilla and received a email that a new motor is on the way. I had tested the first motor several times prior to the trip to check on its power. I pulled my Honda Rincon into my pickup and also lifted the front of the quad by connecting it to the rafters in the garage. It worked find then.

Gorilla sent me a new winch and when I installed it and went to test it this one was worse! It skipped even more than my first one. On top of it on the new one when you push the button to release the rope it comes out very slow and kills the motor. Now mind you this is the same wiring as the first winch. Nothing changed. The first worked fine when you used the in and out buttons. Just to be 100% sure I connected the 1st one again to the red/black wire and it did not kill the motor on the atv like the 2nd one did. I have to say after having these issues and worst of all being stuck in 3 feet of snow in the middle of "Bufuville" even with good customer service and so far 2 bad winches I will not trust the 3rd winch when it arrives. Customer service may be a great selling point but will they come out and help you in the middle of no where when there product fails? I will be changing to a Warn winch.

Thor

 

everyone has broken something warn break 2 but it is true like bad2wd said all of teh parts are interchangeble and are the same and they all will have problems.

 

idk you just got a motor? i would get the whole winch because it could be stripping on teh outside of teh spool were teh free spool lever is it got hirt in shipping? idk 2 out of 2 i have are good and they are teh same parts as warn no different.

 

No they sent me the whole winch.