Check in on my WINCH PAGE!

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

I've always dealt with winches in one way or another for many years. I'm now restoring/servicing US made winches on the side that come my way (from Warn and Ramsey only). I don't like facebook much but it's handy for reaching the general 4x4 masses so I'm hosting updates there. Check it out and follow it if you have an account there! ((You don't need to join facebook to see the page)) Thanks, Vince

https://www.facebook.com/VincesWinches

The current project on the bench:

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

I'm about to start work on a winch from 1980. This was actually the wire they were using! I can't imagine how little amperage was actually flowing around this thing! Don't skimp on your wires and connectors!

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

https://www.facebook.com/VincesWinches I listed more junk brand-names on my winch page.

[rmel]

And this is why I avoid buying anything Smittybuilt. They flipped
over to Chinese manufactured long ago. Just don't trust CN made
products you have to trust your life with.

As of ~3 years ago Superwinch was acquired by a holding company.
IMHO that's usually the kiss of death, in fact late 2019 some of the
assets and IP were sold off to Westin Automotive industries, which
is at the very least disruptive and likely not a good thing.

That leaves Warn and Ramsey's.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

Yeah Superwinch is on a dangerous path at this point. I've always really liked their winches which had been made in the UK or here. My first winch was an "X-9" on my old Series Land Rover and it was a great, reliable unit for years (and I abused it). I think the last ones that came from the UK was their great Husky series which were put onto many heavily laden Land Rover's due to the worm-drive system. The Camel Trophy events made them famous. I think they stopped making them in the late 90's or maybe early 2000's.

Superwinch's current move to (100% ?) Chinese parts with seemingly no customer service anymore will cause them to die out fast if Westin doesn't do something to change that, or maybe they will join the ranks of the endless China brands you see on Amazon and ebay and sell junk winches for $300 as a last breath.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

In prepping two very different winches this week, I thought I'd share a part size-comparison to help illustrate why I tell people to carefully consider the size/weight capacity of the winch they think they want. The left is the drum support of an M8000 Warn (older version '80's) and on the right is a 12,000lb Warn drum support. This reflects the other parts in these winches as well. You have to ask yourself, does the winch I want even fit? Is it worth the extra weight on the bumper? Price? Do I really need that kind of power for what I do? etc..

[lifefloat]

Good day. Thought I'd join this conversation if you don't mind since I have a few winch related questions and a comment on this thread.

First.........awesome on the old school winch rebuilds VinceAtReal4x4s. Totally valid.

Second............ditto on the Chinese junk comment. Poor Smittybilt. I remember having some very well built stuff from them back in the early 90's. Probably not anymore.

Anyway............anybody here have any feedback on COMEUP winches? They offer several 24V models ranging from 9K to 20K rated line pull.

I'm outfitting a camper conversion to my 712AMB body so there will be some weight there to winch should I ever get around to having someone fab a bumper to mount a winch on.

I want to select a winch capable of the task at hand without being any more heavier than need be on the front end. I also want to have the right person fabricate a bumper that understands the vehicle. I don't know him personally but Andre at Fat Fabrications would be one person I have seen on this site that would be a candidate for making a bumper I could trust. If anyone else on here has anyone else to recommend I'm all ears.

Getting back to the winch though.............COMEUP. DV-12. 12,000 lb. single line pull. 121lbs. winch weight. 147.7 lbs. gross weight with 125' 3/8 wire rope. $959.95

12,000 lb. single line pull rated for a 712AMB fully loaded seem adequate?

COMEUP also offers the DV-15 15,000 lb. single line pull rated winch that is 125.4 lbs. winch weight. 152 lbs. with 89' 7/16 wire. $1225.95

Or go all out with the COMEUP Walrus 16.5 16.500 lb. single line pull. 152.1 lbs. 172 lbs. with 90' 7/16 wire. $2145.99 A lot heavier, pretty much impervious to water though but also a lot more money.


I would greatly appreciated any feedback on people willing to make the right bumper and if the winches I mentioned are worth looking at and capable of doing what I would need it to do.

Thanks

Scott

[rmel]

Winch sizing "rules of thumb" I have seen, typical 1.5X to 2X the curb weight of your vehicle.
For a 712AMB, assuming 1,000 lbs for the box gets you in the ballpark of 6,500 lbs. Or a winch
in the 10,000 to 12,000 range. And yes, Andre knows the stress points on a Pinz better than
most. I have had two winch bumpers fabricated by him.

By the way, Comeup USA (note: when you see USA in a company name it ain't USA ), filings
are officially COMEUP INDUSTRIES Inc. https://www.linkedin.com/company/comeup ... nc./about/
It's not US made but Taiwanese, though typically far better quality than Chinese.

[lifefloat]

Thanks for the reply rmel .

Yeah.......winch sizing "rule of thumb" for my 712AMB does put me there at the 10-12K size. Pretty much why I was looking primarily at a 12K winch.

And yep no surprise at the Taiwan build for the COMEUP winch. Better than China I suppose. Certainly not USA made though.

Also, kinda figured Andre was the man for the job on the bumper. Wish I lived closer to Texas. I've browsed what T'Lo's makes as well and I'm sure they are well built bumpers but something about them doesn't grab me. No offense to the man intended at all. The hub steps he makes on other hand will get my wallet flowing some cash to him someday for sure. They look awesome.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

Yeah, Comeup is yet another in a long list of companies who make things seem like they are US made but are far from it. Warn does make a Chinese version of their winches because they have to compete with all the junk out there but the rest are made in Oregon with some electrical parts being imported. The arguments about a certain China brand being good enough and saving you money all fall apart when I ask them one simple question: Who do I call to order parts and get questions answered? No parts network? No good.

Matching a winch to your rig has considerations and the weight rating is just one of them. You can easily rescue yourself and many other rigs with a smaller winch on a bigger rig much of the time. When you get into the 8000lb model range, it starts to become practical to handle a ton of the situations you may get into, even with a rig that weighs closer to its max rating. You are never actually lifting your rig up in the air but are dealing with rolling loads of one type or another. For many of us that are not rock-crawling and burying our expensive drivelines in 4ft of mud routinely can get away with a smaller winch because its very likely that it will only need to exert 1000-6000lbs to get you over a spot, pull you off a high-center stuck, get you through that last part of a snow-drift, etc..

Always consider that, if you need it, set-up a snatch block and you double your winch power. An 8k winch is now a 16K winch. Using a snatch block is a good idea anyway because it keeps your motor from overheating as easily and halves the load on the rope, and one thing a lot of people don't consider is that it keeps more of the rope off the drum which keeps the winch power much closer to its actual pull rating. The more rope on the drum, the less power the winch has. I always use one (if possible) when I recover another 4x4 too. Just make sure to carry a winch extension line and the proper accessories and you can handle most of the things you will encounter with an 8-9k winch. Oh and an 8K winch can weigh as little as 55lbs!

I don't think Pinz or 303 owners need to worry too much about winches over a 9K rating. The 12k's are probably mostly fitting for well-loaded 6x6's, esp. a Volvo 6x6, and smaller Unimogs, due partly to the strength of the 12K overall but also its bigger internal brake parts. Anything more than 12k and they just weigh too much and wont be good for the Pinz front-end design anyway.

I'm now able to offer a 24v XD9000i Warn as a custom build (deposit required). It will be in the $1200 range and will have a new motor, Spydura rope, remote and new solenoids from Warn. The buyer will have the only one I know of!

[lifefloat]

Yeah, Comeup is yet another in a long list of companies who make things seem like they are US made but are far from it.


I kinda figured as much on the COMEUP winches but nice to get further validation from you VinceAtReal4x4s

Thanks

Overall I just don't want to sell myself short when I do get around to mounting and more importantly needing a winch on this 712AMB.

It might amount to 600-800lbs of added weight when I complete the camper buildout on this thing. I really haven't done the math yet. I've been a bit too busy doing math at my full time job lately to tinker with the numbers. My plan was to complete the build and roll it across the scales and see what I ended up with. I may rethink that now just out of curiosity.

Anyway........yes........your mention of snatch blocks...............soooooo important.............especially in relation to how much line you have on the drum in relation to the actual work the winch can do.

[lifefloat]

Oops...........my post kinda mashed up with VinceAtReal4x4s quote I was replying to........my mistake

I wrote..........

I kinda figured as much on the COMEUP winches but nice to get further validation from you VinceAtReal4x4s

Thanks

Overall I just don't want to sell myself short when I do get around to mounting and more importantly needing a winch on this 712AMB.

It might amount to 600-800lbs of added weight when I complete the camper buildout on this thing. I really haven't done the math yet. I've been a bit too busy doing math at my full time job lately to tinker with the numbers. My plan was to complete the build and roll it across the scales and see what I ended up with. I may rethink that now just out of curiosity.

Anyway........yes........your mention of snatch blocks...............soooooo important.............especially in relation to how much line you have on the drum in relation to the actual work the winch can do.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

Thought I'd share the rarest barn-find I'll probably ever come across. This is an untouched, 1979 model Warn 8274 winch with everything it came with at the time. I'll be asking a steep price. Ideal for museum-quality period-accurate resto builds. (It's not 24v but could be!)