Colorado B.S. Thread

My understanding is that some recent model lines of Warn winches are really nice and others are not so great. Can anyone enlighten me on which lines are the good ones or have I been misinformed?

 

I haven't see this information myself but as Brett stated it is probably due to the amount of electronics now in winches and the reliance of a wireless remote that a lot of today's end users use. Wireless winching is great and has advantages over a wired remote in some cases, but I would make sure that whatever you purchase has a wired backup remote. I know the ComeUp Gen2 does but I am not sure which Warn models do.

 

My 9.5ti is an old design and is very robust. My old M8000 were always great but I consider them undersized for vehicles over 4klbs. I come from the old school winch needs to be very close to 2x the weight of the vehicle. This helps for pulls when you are not on the last line of the spool (where maximum pulling force happens).

Know that the VR line is the entry level line from Warn. It almost looks like a knockoff of their M lineup. Have heard you don't have access to parts as readily as the traditional lineup.

I'd keep it simple, the less frills, likely the better it will be in the long run.

 

The PowerPlant model incorporates an air compressor, I would avoid that, too much crap to fail. Get a good ARB or , lol, a smittybilt compressor
And there are a few models in the Zeon line, which is quite popular, some use a handheld wireless remote and has no external controls. Avoid that for the reasons I listed.

https://www.warn.com/truck/winches/line.jsp

 

Wireless with Smittybilt can be funny when multiple winches are running, they start talking over each other. The Colorado 4x4 recovery guys found that out. They have a bypass though, the new Smittybilts have a controller that is both wireless and wired so if it messes up they can be plugged in.

Honestly, I was looking at the newest smittybilts because of some of the reviews. If I knew I could get parts, I might look that way harder.

A winch should be a "vehicle" lifetime purchase. With little maintenance and repair much like owning a vehicle it could last forever. Would you by a car that the day you took it off the lot they stopped making parts for it? This is why I look to Warn. Kinda why I stay away from the newer companies, they are just unknown.

 

And they weigh 5bazillion pounds. You'll need 800lb springs to haul that heavy bitch around

 

This is the model I'm leaning towards for the Tundra when it comes time.
https://www.warn.com/truck/winches/ZEON_10-S.jsp

 

True story.

Just for clarification, while ComeUp appears new to the market now they have actually been around for 42 years making winches for other world markets and also manufacture huge industrial winches. They used to make Superwinch which is why the ComeUp name was never in the US market. That agreement went away and Superwinch quality has gone downhill since then. ComeUp has a full supply of parts for new(if needed) and older winches and a full US customer service dept. I needed a outer cone cover for my older DV-9S earlier this year. Had the part in a week.

 

That's too flashy for you. Unless you add a Factor55 closed winching system to it.

 

I couldn't hit that "like" button hard enough.

 

Are you aware of failures with the HF?
I havent heard of any first hand.
I have heard first hand accounts of failures with warn, superwinch, smittybilt, etc.
Granted, that may just be because they're more prevalent?
I've had mine apart (just because, not due to failure) and everything looked good after years of use, weather, submersion, etc.
Planetary gears and it hasnt failed me yet. Happy with my purchase.
If it broke down tomorrow for some reason (I have no reason to suspect it would) I'd probably buy another. I've used it enough and had it long enough that it wouldn't bother me.

 

Finally got my topper!

 

Looks good man! You going to put a rack on the top?

 

Thats the plan! We shall see was thinking prinsu but ill look at the others a little but 95% sure ill order that.

 

Looks awesome, Coop!

 

Goodbye friend. At least she's staying in the taco family.

 

Never stated I had seen a failure. Simply stated they were disposable because there is ZERO parts support. Sort of like buying a Hugo.

 

Technically, every single part can be replaced for $300

 

Funny. So can a Yugo!

 

Dig those windoors.