which winch, wench?

been thinking about a front bumper, and have pretty much decided on the victory4x4 hybrid bumper.. price is good, and I like that it allows me to return to stock if I ever needed to.. install doesn't require removal of the bumper cover either...

now for my winch... I have an older tabor 9.5k that has been on my Jeep CJ-5 outside in the weather for the last 15 or so years.. i ran juice to it, and it does function.. however I would rebuild it.. but I really want to go with synthetic rope on the truck.. it's safer, lighter, and repairable on the trail with literally no tools other than scissors, or a sharp knife and a stick, and a lighter (all of which I keep in the truck anyways)....

options are:

*rebuild the tabor 9.5k, ignore that it has an internal drum brake (can cause sythetic line to break/melt in heavy use/pulls) replacing the drum, or at least remove all burrs, and get hawse fairlead

*rebuild tabor 9.5, get new cable, and be done with it (suffer the weight gain)

*get a new winch preferably a warn VR 10-s $800 or so...

 

I personally would rebuild the Tabor and add synthetic line. You can add a high temp sleeve to protect against the drum heat.

BTW, I believe the Warn will have a drum brake too... so they deal with the same heat issues.

I don't know much about Tabor quality, I have a Warn, but they are simple machines, so if you can rebuild it once, it's no big deal to do it again. And hell, it lasted 15 years already.

 

hmm, I am looking at a new comeup winch, but warn is up there myself. All I can recommend is do not get a smitty bilt. Uggh

 

tabor is a chinese warn 9500lb winch.... uses same parts.. parts list actual refers to warn..