pop99

Have been thinking about a winch for a while. Have been leaning toward the 10,000 lb mile marker. Anybody have one? I've heard they are awesome. I needed one today. My son got his 4X4 chevy stuck in the back yard!

bdog

I hear the mile markers are excellent but with trucks as heavy as ours I would get more than a 10k winch. I think the rule of thumb is at least 1.5 times the weight of your vehicle and our trucks are around 8k. I have the warn 15k and it is great. I use it probably more than the average user and it has given me zero problems. What ever wich you get I recommend going with a synthetic rope they are so much easier to deal with.

pop99

Never heard of the rope on a winch. Is it as strong as the cable is? Does it stretch much?

pappyman

Rope nope... need steel wire to use the full winch cap also carry tree savers and ****** blocks even a ground rod if your off roading much...remember if your winch is on the front and the nearest tree is 25ft behind you what do you do... :

phox_mulder

[quote author=pappyman link=board=7;threadid=8456;start=0#81599 date=1040176915]<br>remember if your winch is on the front and the nearest tree is 25ft behind you what do you do... :<br>[/quote]<br><br>Been there.<br>Closest tree was more like 100 feet behind me, and up a hill.<br><br>Didn't even have a winch though, but would have been worthless anyway.<br><br>I 2nd the 1.5 times the truck weight.<br>Especially if you plan on pulling yourself out of bumper high sticky mud.<br><br>I'm interested in the milemarkers but with the Dodge steering pump powering them, I think I'll go with a Warn 12K.<br>Two batteries coupled with the bigger alternator should power it just fine.<br><br>phox

xzlram

I would purchase the warn old school 8274 stand up winch, it can pull more then the 15,000 and is considerbly faster then the 15,000 even when blocked. The way I look at it is how often are you so stuck that you need 15,000 pounds of pulling capacity? When you do need it all you have to do is hook up a single ****** block and you are in business. The 8274 is lighter and less money then the 15,000 also.<br>DJ

athompson

I agree with a capacity of at least 1.5 times the weight of the truck. My Sami has a GVWR of about 3000# and I have a 6000# Warn on it. When I get one for my Ram it will have a capacity of at least 15000#.

iwannaram

Hey defiately go with xzlram's idea of the old school warn 8274. Dont know if u read four wheeler or petersons offroad but they tested the new 15000 up against the old 8274. They used a ****** block to double the power of the 8274 and it out run the new 1500 easily, plus you being the 8274 has near twice the rope of the 15000 the 8274 can afford to run a 15000. The 15000 is a boat anchor. If you buy the 15000 u might buy a lawn chair too so you can sit down while the winch pulls the line in after you pull yourself out. It takes alot for magazines to bag on a winch they got to play with for free but they sure as about the 15000. Sounds like a solution to a non existent problem to me.

Iron Horse

They didnt really put down the new 15000lb winch, all they did was compare it to an old favorite. I am sure if they would have run a ****** block on both winches the 15k would have won easily.

iwannaram

lol that must be some of that new math. the old school winch that costs less, weighs less, less drain on electrical system, faster, just as much line even with a ****** block is a worse deal? ya with the ****** block the 15000 surely would have won, the ****** block just would have cut its line speed in half which was already a measly 3 feet per minute. jeez you would need a **** hammock to hang from your bumper so you could take a nap while you winched with that boat anchor.

steelsoldiers

The only problem I've heard jeepers complain about with the 8274 is the height of the winch off the bumper. They say it blocks the air flow to the radiator and causes overheat at low speeds. I don't think this would be quite as big a deal with the Ram considering you have such a larger radiator surface. Also if you are off road alot without trees, get a Pull-Pal winch anchor. They bury themselves in sand, loose gravel, etc... with the pull of the cable. Then, you just tug a little the other way and they pull right out. The US Military has bought a whole bunch of them for desert and mud use for their HMMWVs and larger trucks. They are at http://www.pullpal.com . Check it out.<br>Sincerely,<br>Chris

ridofpwrstroke

Pop, I have a milemarker 10,5k hydraulic winch, and let me tell you before I upset all of the warn fanatics, the 10.5 and 12k will smoke any warn winch. Now I know alot of people like electric and they have their benefits, but I can winch all day long and not run out of power and not get hot. Plus it will outpull an electric anyday. I had a warn 9000 and sold a year later. I had dual batts with a premier power welder with a 180 amp alternator. When you pull alot, the batts wont keep up and the unit will get hot. You have to let it cool down, not with the milemarker, it just keeps on going. I have winched for over 10 hours one day pulling out trees in the yard, constant pulling, it never got hot or needed a cooling down, and the batts never got low. I know I am going to here alot of things about the warn, but I have used both of them and I like the milemarker. Plus you can get a 12k for around 800 bucks. I now have two because I like it so much. I have two warn winches and two milemarkers. Both warns are on my atv's. The only thing bad about the milemarker is the vehicle has to be running. Well I have never needed to use the winch without the motor running. Only place I can see this is if you are off camber or flooded in a stream, and if you are flooded in a stream, how long can you pull before your batts die. On off camber spots on the trail, the diesel wont sputter like a carbed truck either. If you did go with the electric winch, get the 15k. The 8274 with 150' feet of rope is fast, but what happens if you have a trailer and you get stuck. the 8274 w/ ****** block probably wont get the job done. The 15k can be doubled to 30k. I still think the milemarker 12k is 300 bucks cheaper and will pull dam close to the 15k. I have a 10.5k on both my trucks. I used to have it on a 97 cc ford 1 ton. It never stalled and I used it quite a bit in alaska. Now on my dodge I havent had to use it yet. But i havent tried hard enough to get stuck.<br> Now about the plasma rope. The cable you have on the winch will be fine until it gets pretty frayed. When you need to replace it, get the plasma rope. I replaced 50 ft on my wheeler with 75 ft of rope. The rope is 3/16&quot; along with the wire rope. The rope is awesome. No frays and if it breaks it just falls to the ground. It doesnt have a memory when winding, and it floats. The breaking strength for 3/8 wire rope is 14k. The breaking strenght for 3/8 plasma rope is 17.5k. It is stronger. I have not replaced any of my truck cables yet, but when I do it will be plasma rope. All of you warn fanatics and ramsey fanatics, we did a comparison on four winches and this is what turned out. We have a 9500HS warn, a ramsey 9000, a mega winch 12k, and my 10.5k hydraulic winch. We pulled my ford ranger and a buddys bronco together on blacktop. The total weight for both trucks was 9.7k. The ramsey pulled 8 ft and stopped. All the vehicles had two batts. The warn pulled alomost 30 ft further to 36ft. The mega winch pulled 68 ft and stopped. It got pretty hot. The milemarker made the full pull. I will try to get the video on the computer to prove it. It you want a big rig winch for a big rig truck, get the milemarker. <br>Now any questions or disbelief, just post it because there will probably be alot of people who dont beleive this.

ridofpwrstroke

one more thing, I would rather have slow line speed and have the power to get out of a hole, than have fast line speed and not be able to recover myself. I believe the 15k is the same price as the 8274. To find more on the hydraulic winch and recent pricing, go to WINCHESPLUS.COM. This is where I got both winches. They are in Idaho and I havent seen a cheaper place to get one. Any questions just ask.

bdog

The sythetic rope I have is rated at 30k which is a lot stronger thna the factory cable. It is light, flexible and easy to deal with. The smaller cables might be easier to work with but the 7/16&quot; on the 15k winch was so stiff it was difficult to work with and spool in without it getting kinked up. I will not argue with anyone that a Hydraulic winch has a much longer duty cycle than an electric unit but I have had no problems with my Warn. I don't use it all day pulling out trees and stuff like that but it has never let me down when I was stuck. I have pulled two complete cable lengths with a trailer on my truck and it did not have any probs or get too hot. If you were a rock crawler or something where you used you winch all day every day maybe hydraulic would be the way to go but for normal getting yourself unstuck type of winching the electrics work fine.

ridofpwrstroke

True. Both winches work. If electric winches didnt work, warn wouldnt be the biggest winch manufacturer out there. I just want to let people know that there are options to electric that may be better for there use.