there both the same. my buddy has a warn2.5 i have a gorilla 2.5. got bored this winter took them both apart. THEY ARE THE SAME winch.

 

Here's my story with a Gorilla winch:

I got a Gorilla 3000 lb winch for my Ranger. What a peice of junk. Got it last Sept. 06 used it a few times with a Swisher dump setup. Lasted about 8 trips hauling a load of road rock around the building. The gears were completely stripped. This was early Oct, notified them it failed they sent a replacement unit. Installed it hauled a few more loads of rock, a few days later had a good snowfall, 4 inches of fluff. Put the plow on and proceeded to clean up the drive. Got about half way done and the unit locked up. Took it apart and the planetary gears were shattered. Contacted them again, no response. Tried numerous times they just ignored me. Even tried to BUY the replacement parts, no response. It is now March 07, they won't honor their warranty they don't have or won't offer parts. Crappy outfit to do business with. According to other posts many people have used 1500 and 2000 lb winches with utility dumps on their atvs/utvs without any problems.

 

I have a 2500 gorilla and have had it for well over a year with no problems. I play in teh mud alot and it works great. Not sure how you can shatter the planetary gears considering they are steel. Thats too bad you have had such problems.

 

Was wondering what the warranties were on my Warn winches so I went to their site to look. LIFETIME WARRANTY We might pay a little more for their product but I know they stand behind them. Even though I have not had to use their service in 5 plow seasons and 6000 miles on my polaris ATVs. Not to nock gorilla or venom as I have never owned one. I am just pointing out some benifits to the warn as gorila owners are doing here as well. I bought warn because I know they will be around next year if I need service.

 

What I meant by shattered is the 3 gears are basically held in place by two plates. When I went to remove the unit it came out as the top plate, then the 3 gears (floating free) and then the bottom plate.