I have used both Warn and Ramsey Extensively. I use Warn and the Fire Department on our staff trucks and rescue truck. I have never had a failure or eve a quirk from Warn even in emergency situations. If it has to get moved the Warn will move it. My wife bought me a Ramsey for my birthday about 5 years ago and its mounted on my personal vehicle. It to has given me great service. It just works no questions ask. I would recommend either. I also recommend synthetic winch line. We run steel at the FD and I run synthetic on my personal. It is so much easier on you in the long run and safer for you and bystanders. If you do look at synthetic then steer away form manufacture's offerings. They are way overpriced for what you get. I did a search for AmSteel Blue. This is a marine docking line for the big ships. I replaced my steel with synthetic for about 125 dollars. This was a great upgrade to me. Chris

 

I wouldnt just buy a cheap winch. With my luck i would go that route and it would puke out on me when i needed it most.

My personal choice is warn. They make the powerplant. thats what i want.

 

I'm most likely going Warn, and the Viking winch line.

 

I'm going Champion from Costco. $299 baby!!

 

Well I was in the process of stripping the Xterra todaygetting ready for the JK. I removed my Ramsey Rep Profile 8000 and under the rubber boots on the motor found lots of rust. I sprayed with PB Blaster and WD40 to loosen the nuts. In the process of trying to remove nuts I broke one of the copper studs on the motor. I just hope their replacable. Any one know if the copper studs are infact replacable or will I have to replace the motor. Thanks Chris

 

this was very informative thank you for this post chris

 

im going with the Mile Marker SE9500

this site sells all the winches with free shipping

check it out

http://www.winchdepot.com/winchesdisplay.asp?make=Mile

Bamo

 

I got the Warn M8000 based on the Warn reputation. I got it from Winchdepot.com because the price was good and the shipping was free.

 

On a related topic, how do you determine what you need for weight rating? 9000 seems to be pretty popular, but is it really necessary? I'm sure it depends on where you're going/what you're doing. I'm new to this and want something that will be versatile enough to get the job done just about anywhere without breaking my whole budget in one shot. Thanks.

 

Well you really have to question where your going to ride and what you expect to get into. The general rule of thumb is to double the vehicle weight of your vehicle. However if your in a wooded area you can do a double line pull with a snatchblock and effectively double the pulling power of your winch. The draw back to this is you can cut your pulling length in half with this technique. I have ran a 8000 lbs winch and safly pulled up to 12,000lbs vehicles out using the double line pull with the winch not even slowing up. Hope this helps. Chris