who has what winch, pros and cons

[bonecollecter11]

I have gotten started with my winch bumper for the new BR, also gonna make a battery box to hold large battery. i am thinking about either a Superwinch, or a promark 4500. whats yalls experience with these or warn, pros and cons

[sfrankland]

Everyone I ride with has a Warn winch but everyone had them installed at the dealer and they were the recommend winch from the manufacture. Having said that no one has had any issues with the Warns so far other than cables needing to be replaced after a few years of hard use.

I have another buddy who has a Superwinch on his old bike and it is constantly acting up. The problem seems to be electrical in nature and not mechanical. Not knowing where the problem lies in the system makes it hard to say if it is an issue with the winch or the bike. Parts are easy to get and the electrical seems fairly easy to work on.

The Promark is not very common around here so I cannot comment.

[bonecollecter11]

i started to get the factory installed warn, but i had already decided to make a front winch bumper because i don't like digging a winch outta the mud when i need it. I used to run mile marker winches on my trucks, but i can't find a 4500lb mile marker. and i had always heard good things about super winch not to mention its $350 verses the $800 from honda with out the battery or box

[BigLakeBR]

Warn XT with wireless remote and rope here, awesome winch! The wireless option is worth it's weight in gold! I have installed an Optima Red Top battery also, I never run out of power even on a LONG pull!

[BIGBONVI]

i got the 4000# warn with the mounting plate off ebay for $351. i installed it myself. install was fairly straight forward. i have had it under water in use with no problems. i made my own battery box and filled it with a second stock battery. i tried to pull out my 4 door f-150 with it, the battery was not an issue but with about 35' of rope out it just was too much for the winch.
i have had it for a year with no issues so far. i did upgrade to the synthetic cable. wireless would be really cool and useful, but the 10' corded remote is not that bad as long as you have a second person.

[Mamou]

I installed the 4500 promark and like it so far. I have not used it much. I also have a warn on another atv and like it fine as well. If you get the promark, i do have advise about installation. let me know if i can help.

[mjbuck]

Go to motoalliance.com and purchase a Viper Maxx winch. Everything you need for a fraction of the cost of a Warn and other brands. My brother installs winches on ORV's and 4x4's for people and he uses these winches and swears by them. The prices are outstanding and their customer service and install assistance (if you need it) is second to none. Don't buy anything without checking out their prices.

[BigRed Tiger]

Promark 4000....been on for several months. Never used on a bad stick...pulls the BR out from a "high center" stick with ease. Been under water a number of times. No electrical or mechanical problems....yet.

[OFRC boy]

Warn 4,000 no problems

[bonecollecter11]

Well this is what i got so far, i still not 100% happy with the style. i think i gonna give the brush wings a lil more tilt back and trim some plate off the bottom to keep it from looking so massive.

[sfrankland]

I like where you are going with the bumper but agree it's a liitle massive looking. This style is just what I had in mind building this summer when I have some free time.

[bonecollecter11]

does this look better to ya?? think there would be enough interest in me setting up a jig to turn out a few??

works really well. got stuck in creek today with a 1000lbs of rock in the bed. came right out.

[Horticattleman]

I have had both Warn and Promark/Gorilla. I never had problems with either. I just this weekend installed an Outback 3500 on my new Big Red and used it once to move some trees. It took me about 3 hrs for installation. My winches get submerged regularly and have always seemed to hold up well. I got the Outback 3500 for 169.99 delivered. Hard to beat.

[sfrankland]

Do you have any other pictures of the finished bumper?

[bonecollecter11]

here are a few more

[sfrankland]

I like the idea and I have to say the changes you made are a lot better but I think if you followed the slope of the front hood under the lights it would look better. Also I would add a plate to cover in the lower front end and in that plate i would add a 2" front receiver. Over all I really like it.

Does it flex any when the winch is under strain pulling

[bonecollecter11]

nah, there is zero flex under strain. there is a 2" angle iron frame under the metal that the bumper is bolted to. it has the four winch bolts though angle iron, and four bolts across the front. that baby is solid.

the front plate is coming. the wife was ready for me to wrap it up, so i could take her hunting sand rocks for her flower beds. i have some 2.5 in square tubing in my shop, i may add it in, would definatly be handy.


as far as the slope of the hood, that was my original thought so i tried one like that, ended up scraping it and going with these lines they follow the headlights . gave it a better look over all. at least to me. after primer and 4 coats of semi gloss black epoxy paint it'll knock the brush and still look good.

[sfrankland]

Makes sense following the headlights now that you mention it. May have to copy your plans when I get a chance to get back out in the shop.

[bonecollecter11]

plans, what plans, i rednecked it.


seriously, i started out with a picture of something similar, and made an over sized bumper, and trimmed and fitted until i got the look i wanted.

i could email you a high res photo of what i got and attach measurmentsand approximate angles. the real trick is the frame it mounts to and the odd angles coming from the frame.