bought a 2006 rancher 350,first mod i'm putting on is a winch,after being pulled out of deep mud twice the first time i rode i figure i should probably get one,my question is would warn 2.5 be big enough,i got stuck in some really goey/deep stuff i just want to make sure i get a big enough winch to get out ,and do these winches put a huge load on the battery?,thanks in advance

 

warn 2.5 will be more than enough...but if you are worried about it get the 3.0 because it also has a lifetime warranty.

The 2.5 pulls my Polaris SP 500 out of alot of muck.

Ty

 

Agreed, the 2.5 is a great winch and more thn enough for a Rancher. Proper set up is the key, learn as much as you can from an experienced winch user.

Some good tips are, when your really bogged down in a mud hole, try to attach the cable high up on a big tree to pull the bike up and out. If you attach it too low, it will be pulling the bike into the wall of the mud hole bogging your winch (not an issue if the wall of the hole is inclined). Granted, if there are only small trees around you have to hook onto whats available!!!

Also when your hooking onto an object, you should use a tree save style strap. Basically its a very strong 3-4 foot long strap with loops on either end. You warp the strap around the tree, or chassis of another bike and hook your winch hook to both of the loops, or you can wrap the strap around the object, feed one end through the opposite loop "choking" the object and hook the winch hook to the free end.

What this does is prevent you from wrapping the cable around an object and hooking back on its own cable, this creates alot of stress on one point of the cable, can cause a kink, both of which can lead to a premature failure of the cable- very dangerous.

If you find that your often maxing out the power of your winch, you can buy a ****** block kit from warn (also comes with a tree saver strap). It has many uses such as redirecting the cable around something, but most common you would attach the block/pully to the tree, run the winch cable through it, and attach the hook back onto your bike (on a solid location). This will double your winch pulling power.

 

Buy (2) 2 ton come a longs at walmart. 19.99 each If the battery is dead guess what they still work! Better than any electric winch you will find. Say you flip over on your top and need to be turned over? well a comealong can do that . An electric winch will just drag your quad on its seat and handle bars.

What if you buy aa 300 electric winch and mount it to the front? Say you drive in to a hole and the only place to winch too is behind you. Now your screwed you need another 300 winch in the back. Welll say next time you get stuck in that same hole ,flood the engine, and your winch drains the battery before you get free. Your walking. But your $20 come a long from wal mart would have never failed you.

 

The warn 2.5 winch will be great for you.

 

I had a 1.5 winch for my honda it got out of every thing i had it up to the rack of nasty stuff. took it's toll on my battery but i also did plowing I would go with the 2.5 that way your set and the 2.5 is much longer as well which is a bad thing about the smaller ones

 

a rule of thumb with winches is take the weight of the vehicle of which ou are mounting it to multiplied by 2.5 That should get you out of pretty much any jam.

My jeep weighs 3840 pounds. I run a 9K winch.

 

2.5 Warn is a great investment...and pick up a come along just in case. The winch will work 90% of the time, if not your buddies will, key to winching is proper set up when rigging the cable. Sometimes you need to get the cable high up on a tree to lift and pull the same time...sometimes the tree doesnt give you that option!!!

 

The Warn 2.5 is a great winch. Just about anything you can get into, it will pull you out. Stay away from the Warn 2.0. It may be a little cheaper but you will have to buy an $80 break to keep the line from spooling out.