Warn 8s vs 10s

They are all made in China. From what I've seen the Harbor Freight winch is as good, if not better, and you can often catch them on sale at bargain prices. The people around here who are most likely to actually use a winch seem to use Harbor Freight.

The smaller winch is a lot less weight hanging off the front and usually a longer winch cable.

I've been wheeling for about 50 years now and have managed to get myself out of a few sticky situations and have never needed a winch yet. But at age 65 don't want to do it the hard way if I don't have to.

I'm not going to be burying my truck up to the frame in mud and need to drag 4000 lbs of mud + the truck. I'm more likely to slide into a ditch on a dirt farm or forest service road so something on the minimum strength is OK for me.

GVWR is 5600. That means after you add gear it will be LESS than 5600 lbs, not 7000. Your truck is closer to 4000 lbs empty.

My F150 has 7350 GVWR and the actual weight with a shell and gear I keep in it is around 6000. 6000 X 1.5= 9000. I but a 9500 lb winch on my Ford.

An 8000lb winch would be fine on a Tacoma. A realistic weight with is going to be 4500-5000 lbs. 5000 X 1.5= 7500.

 

casey ladelle/cascade recovery is very clear and upfront on product placement/free gear. HF sent him 1 winch when the badlands 12k was brand new, he updated all of his rigs with them with personal funds. said he's had nothing but problems from warns over the years(his buddy at 406 garage still runs warn, they rib each other all the time over it in each's videos), one time he stated that after purchasing multiple warn winches, he had a DOA warn, and was denied warranty replacement "because he uses it for professional use" as a recovery company.

i got the badlands sitting in my garage waiting to go on the truck because it was cheaper, hf supports a few youtubers that are very honest and upfront about it(cascade, and dirt lifestyle specifically), i'll use it just as much as i'll ever use the warn, and if idiots like MOR, fab rats, cascade, or dirt lifestyle are all using/abusing them with minimal problems, it'll work for everything i can imagine using it for.

 

Lets not get ahead of yourself here. Sure there are exceptions but most people buying the cheapest winch on the market are those who use it the least or have no plans to consistently use it. I don't run a Badland and neither do any of my wheeling buddies and I'm sure they work most of the time but like all things HF, it's not a question of IF but WHEN (especially anything electronic). Outside of a basic wrench I have broken every single item I have ever purchased at HF, the worst example was an air saw that died after 3" into some basic sheet metal.

From a cost perspective, I bought a Warn XD9000i for $800 about 15 years ago and that winch is still going strong and I have a second on another vehicle that's over 10 years old.. I would bet another Warn winch that a badland won't be going 15 years on winching it's weight 50+ times a year.

Secondly, your assumption about GVWR is completely wrong, the curb weight of a basic Tacoma (CCSB) without people is 4550, throw in a couple people and you are already at 5000, not including the bumper and winch you added or any gear. My truck empty parked in the driveway weighed 6100 lbs and with people and gear tipped in at 6800 so yes its absolutely possible to be that and you can see others here

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/are-you-a-fatty-truck-weight.780024/

The GVWR of my Ford is 11,500 but that doesnt mean I need to throw in a 17,000 lb+ winch, in fact the Ford Performance Winch they collaborated with Warn on is only 12k based on a curb weight of 7500.

Point is, dont make up numbers and know what your truck is going to weigh.

Get the 10. 1.5x your truck weight is a good rule of thumb. My rig weighed between 6500-7000 when wheeling at I used a Warn xd9000i, it was plenty strong and remember you can use a snatch block to double your winch capacity.

Also keep in mind that there are different types of winches between manufacturers (Not all Warns are the same), there is a huge difference in a Warn Evo 12 and M12, which is. significantly different than an XD series.

 

I ended up selling my Evo and bought a 4-ton Griphoist and Pull-Pal anchor (no anchor trees in the desert!). Slow and requires muscle, but it’s portable and not tied to the truck when needed. ive been able to walk down a trail with it and move boulders off of it sideways just using the hoist and pull-pal anchor alone, and I can pull from any angle off my truck if needed. For basic recovery of people stuck in sand- a long tow strap works just fine also…


Just saying that needing a winch is different from wanting one…

 

The newer Warns are still assembled in Portland(?) I think, from a variety of parts sources. The older ones had some options that were complete made in USA.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Note: There is absolutely nothing wrong with made in China products from a quality standpoint if you know what you're buying. Take AC electric motors for example. If you're buying a 25hp 1800 rpm motor from GE, Siemens, Baldor, or some no-name importer, they come out of the same like dozen factories. But if you buy a GE motor, you know you're getting the correct bearings, wiring, wrapping, housing, etc.

 

Their VR winches are made in China while their M-Series and others are fully in the US. Hence why one cost $900 and the other costs $3000.

 

Don't we still put made in USA Warns on our military vehicles too?

 

DoD contracts require parts to be sourced and made in the US. There are some exceptions and waivers but it’s usually no less than 75%, I don’t remember what was on our trucks and stuff.

 

They use electric powered winches? PTO’s are so much more reliable- unless your engine is dead I guess…

 

I have no idea, to be honest. I would assume it's application specific. Some vehicles probably have PTO, some probably have electric.

 

Ah… some of the winch spools they can put on those trucks with PTO’s are impressively long too. There must have been well over a couple hundred feet of 1” thick cable on a old British troop carrier at a local museum we have in the desert.

 

I have a come-a-long and a rope.

 

warn sucks

 

Which warn winch did you have?

 

I dont remember to be honest. I remember a lot of Mile Markers though which I think are hydraulic