Winch size?

[MUDDING B-3000]

ya i have a 1994 mazda b3000 and i want to get a winch for it and im not sure what size would be the best? any ideas i was thinking like a 7000lb winch but ive heard that i would need like a 9000 to 10000lb winch?

[Muddycowboy]

check out www.harborfrieght.com they have alot of good deals i would go with a 8000LB

[metalmacguyver]

8000 is the best choice as far as selection of winch brands and variety of winches goes. Also, there is no such thing as too big of a winch. If thats your truck in your avatar, the short bed regular cab, then an 8000 would be more than sufficient.

[mkpecor]

dont buy a harbor fraight winch they are just under $4000 for a 8000, when you can get a mile marker 8000 for $399.99 and its a dam good winch and will be their when you need it most, smitty bilt just came out with a 8000 pounder and its only $299.99, the 4x4 shop that had the smitty bilt said no ones brought one back yet and they have ben selling pretty fast, you get what you pay for.

[Muddycowboy]

thats for a 10,000lb from harbor frieght and there are always good sales.

[MUDDING B-3000]

ya thats my truck in my avator ok ya im goin to look into getting a 8000lb one then just need to save up money. thanks alot

[colinrmitchell]

I bought the 8000lb winch from Harbour Freight when they were on sale for $300. Works pretty good, comes with a big mounting plate. Only thing is the solenoid box isn't watertight. If the solenoids freeze, your fugged. Other than that, pulls my truck out of the thickest stuff I've had the pleasure of being stuck in.

[Will]

The rating isn't the most important thing to me--the speed is. Most of the time you might pull out only a third of the cable maybe on a typical 100' spool--if that. It probably drops 1,000# in rating per layer of cable so if you take a 6,000# winch and cut the cable in half and crimp 2 loops onto it, then you are going to be where a typical 8,000# winch is most of the time and have the half cable for when you need it. ANother advantage to that idea is that the spool has a lot of free space so you can let it heap up on one side of the drum if you need to--like pulling across a slope.

I had a couple of those Harbor Freight deals. The first I had a long time before it died--the second died quickly. They are slow as hell and can be very frustrating to use. Their slowness contributes to their burning up I believe--you run them mercilessly because they are so slow. A fast winch only needs to run seconds at a time.

On my Harbor Freight winches I mounted the solenoids under the hood of the truck. The motor and gearbox are waterproof--I checked them occasionally since I leave my truck out in the rain. They just seem to grind themselves up. I use mine constantly for pulling logs and frequently have it stalled out. Pulling a truck free usually takes very little effort it's nice to have a fast winch so you don't roll over the cable.

http://www.superwinch.com/EPi9_9_000_lbs.html

I have an Epi 9.0 and it was only $600 shipped from some jeep site. Jegs has cose to that deal. They are very similar to Warns XD9000i http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/XD9000i.shtml but a lot cheap and a bit faster.

[MUDDING B-3000]

ok cool thanks alot ill check those out

[Will]

I would much rather have a Superwinch Epi 6.0 than a Harbor Freight 10,000#. If need be, you can snatchblock it to 12,000 (comes with it) but you'll rarely need to do that.