I need to get a winch but I don't know witch is the best one. I know that Warn is very good but very pricey. Is superwinch a very good winch I don't know much about them are they as reliable as the warn or is it worth the $179 vs $315 for the warn. all your help will be great.

 

You will get many opinions as to which winch is better. Alot depends on how often and and how you use it. I rebuild winches often and all brands have their good and bad points. I will only attempt to give you facts about both so you can decide. They all seem to hold up ok under normal use. Its usually the misuse that brings out the bad in any of them. I have owned (and broken) Warn and Superwinch units. I wont go into Rule brand because you didnt mention them and I see very few of them. Either one is prone to damage if you jerk on them. The Warns weak point (I think) is the plastic gear housing. The Superwinch's weak point is (again my opinion) the cast aluminum drum that turns the spool. Either unit will eat up brushes especially when used heavily for plowing and such.
The Superwinch uses a greater gear reduction and smaller HP motor resulting in less battery drain. The Warn uses a lesser gear reduction but a larger HP motor resulting in quicker pulls. The use of a ****** block will also help protect and extend the life of your winch. Superwinch has been especially good (at least with me) for customer service. But Warn parts are more widely available.
I wont make the call as to which is better because it will just start the usual flaming. But now armed with information about both you can make a better more informed choice!
Good Luck

 

trailboss450,

This forum is all about opinions.........and people usually take into account past experience. For example, if some guy with a warn winch says, "I've had my warn for 3 years.......no problems, so warn must be the best"........compared to your experience with warn and superwinch, I would pick your opinion. More experience with particular products yields a better backed opinion. So, please tell us which you think is the best and why.

I'm the type who always goes for quality......even if it costs more. With this mindset, back in '98, I bought the Rule 3300 lb winch. The local winch shop told me it was by far superior, and that the warn was not a very good winch. So, with my purchase of a '98 grizzly 600, I opted for the Rule winch. My own experience with Rule was not that good.......it apparently has more gearing (slower retract), but I stalled it often. I guess my battery/charging system wasn't up to pulling it good. I also had problems with the spring brake and squealing noises. When new, it did operate very smoothly, and I liked that....but I rode with lots of people with the warn winch, and theirs had a quicker retract speed, and I have never seen one strip out the plastic housing. I do believe the plastic housing strips, because I've seen housings stripped at the local winch dealer. Since polaris uses lower wattage charging systems, I kind of think that that my bike doesn't produce enough amperage to give full pull and strip the housing.......as other people have done........still, I have yet to see one strip on any make or model.

I ended up selling the grizzly 600 after owning it for a year, and moved the Rule over to the new sp500, but when I sold the sp500, I let the winch go with it. Then, when I purchased the xplorer, I went with a warn 2000. I've been pleased with it.........the only thing that has gone wrong is that the freespool no longer works..........I think I broke something in the cam release. Other than that, it has been trouble free.

So, again, let us know your opinion, and include the rule winch.

Thanks,

Waylan

 

Walexa, You do make a good point. However I wish it held true all the time. On every board there are posts about which quad is best and which this or which that is the best. In reality it still boils down to the fact that it is only their opinion based on their personal experience. Your own experience with the Rule would tell you this. The winch shop said it was superior and you found in your case it was not. We both know that no two guys will use their stuff in the same way. What is constituted as "abuse" to one guy is just "normal use" to the next. But if you insist on an endorsement from me about which one is best, all that I can do is explain further why I choose one brand over the other. My choice is not necessarily what would be the best for somebody else. Also my ability to afford one or the other may not be the same as the next guys. Most times we just have to choose the best value for our intended use. Again I won't venture an opinion on the Rule because I just don't have enough personal experience with them. My opinion would be nothing more than hearsay which would be unfair to all .
Ok then, my take on winches is this..... I personally own at this time a Superwinch ATV2000. The reason I have this unit is that I do quite alot of mud and water riding. I take my winch off 2 times a year and service it. COMPLETELY...take everything apart...clean and inspect ....replace any worn parts .....regrease and reassemble. For me this is about a half hour job....I stock the parts so its no big deal. I am fairly tough on my winches but only because I use them frequently. Its worked well for me but I also attribute this to frequent care. My decision, unlike yours is based solely on economics. I can buy a Superwinch for one half to almost one third of the Warn price and repair parts to fix it are usually under 15 dollars. If the higher price of the Warn would free me of the task of maintaining it I would buy it. But it doesnt...They too require maintainance and repair which I find to be slightly higher average cost for my type of use. The average guy may not be willing to do this though. So in that case the Warn might be a better choice. I believe in "normal" use or should I say "average" use the Warn would require less maintainance but have a higher initial cost. So you have to balance your choice on a lot of factors ......none of which I know about his (or your) situation.
As far as the stripped housings go on the Warns....I dont believe that they are stripped while doing a winching operation. I would say they are damaged more by the shock from a jerk or from using them to hold down a quad on a trailer. Warn specificly recommends not doing this. The same holds true on the Superwinch...never tug or jerk on a loose cable. It can only mean disaster..if not immediate, then very soon. Also the support bushing on the Superwinch is exposed to the elements and is prone to wear. The resulting loosness can cause misalignment in the gear housing and can result in a snapped gear hub. The bushing is only a 75 cent part so I put them in often. Both brands have "turn style " switches to activate them which I also feel is a weak point of both. I always upgrade to a contactor type switch so all I need to operate the winch is a small rocker or toggle switch.
Hopefully I have cleared up why I made my choice, but still I cannot say which is truly the BEST.
That has to be left to the proud new owner of whichever he chooses!
Winch safe and winch often.........Trailboss450

 

the warn winch looks more sturdy

 

I will be useing it for my snow plow and when out on the trail if I get stuck. Also I have the double tube front bumper on my SP500ho so I don't know if the superwinch will have a mounting kit for that or not.

 

trailboss450,

Thanks for the input. You gave me all I was looking for: your choice and why.

It is kinda funny at the local winch shop........after I had my Rule for about a year, it started this squalling and wouldn't operate as quickly or smoothly as before, so I took it in for the $45 service. I believe the bushing for the drum is like the superwinch......exposed to the elements. Anyway, they told me that if I wanted to avoid working on the winch....that I needed to stay out of the mud. It made sense to me, but if I was going to stay out of the mud, I wouldn't really need a winch. Besides, one of their main selling points on the Rule was that it was a marine-grade winch, and supposedly the most waterproof. Once you have purchased one and begin experiencing problems with it, they tell you to stay out of the water. Just seemed contradicting, like a typical sales pitch. And I'm not saying that the Rule winch wasn't any good........it was extremely smooth, however, I still had problems with it very soon after they serviced it. The reason I went with the warn was for a couple reasons.......it was cheaper, and it seems they do require little maintenance.......at least less than the Rule.

BTW, what rocker switch do you use/recommend? My twist type continually acts up, and doesn't want to make contact. I've been thinking of replacing it, but if there is something better I would be interested in it.

Thanks,

Waylan

Oh yeah.........what is your hearsay on the Rule. I don't like to rely on hearsay, but if it agrees with my experience, then I feel more confident that my problems were typical. If it disagrees, then maybe I got a bad one.

 

For years I have made solenoid packs myself out of two DPDT wired together to create a high current switch and operated it with a common momentary toggle switch. The solenoids are readily available. (used in electric golf carts and such) They are inexpensive (under 10 bucks) and small enough to be practical for use on a quad. I wired them all up then dipped them in sealer and then put them inside a watertight electrical box. All that was exposed was the wiring. It always worked well but the mounting of the box was always the problem. Since then Warn came out with the Contacter unit made specificly for winches. I bit the bullet and bought one. They are very nice, compact, waterproof and easy to install units. A little spendy, but well worth the price. I just keep transferring it to my next quad when I update and put the brand new twist control back on when I sell. It has performed flawlessly so far.
The extent of my experience with the Rule winches comes maily from this forum. There just are not that many out there in use on quads. I have actually only seen one on a 4 wheeler. I was a little disappointed that the owner wasnt there so I could ask him about it. Most of what I have read was positive but most also mentioned high price.
Another model that is overlooked often and will possibly be my next purchase is the Ramsey winch. It is the first ATV winch that has a wireless remote to operate it. They are also not as common now but I think they will make a run with this new feature. You can see it here:
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I highly recommend the use of a contactor or solenoid setup over the twist control. They give a better more sure contact and make it much easier to locate the control switch.
Trailboss450