Which winch

[runamok151]

Rule of thumb is winch should be rated at 1.5x the weight of the vehicle. Most Blazers are in the 5-6k lb. range so a 9k winch is plenty. That should go up as the truck gets bigger and the holes you're playing in get deeper.

Having a good assortment of shackles, snatch blocks and straps is just as important as the winch.

 

[yellowK20]

If your serious about your winching abilities, then go with a 8274 . In stock form they are better then just about any winch out there, and they are upgradeable to levels that will blow your mind. I have a dual motor 8274 on my buggy and it’s insane how hard and fast it pulls .

One draw back is that they are tall and don’t fit in some applications. In that case my next choice is the winch I use on the rear of my buggy, its made by a Company called ComeUp they are awesome winches and have a cult following in Iceland.

http://comeupusa.com/m/

Lastly, is the smittybilts for the money they are hard to beat and they have a good warranty. But I have seen tons of failures and when you need a winch you really need it.

Also you don’t have to buy it from 4wheel parts we warranty smittybilts all the time.


One more pulse for the smittybilts is the Wireless control and solid state contractors I have actually converted my Warn winches and my Comeup to use the smittybilt wireless contractors.

 

[urbex]

Also think about where you're playing too...I have a Warn M12000 that has gone from a '96 Grand Cherokee to a '74 Scout II, '64 Scout 80 and finally a '62 Scout 80. I HATED it on every one of those rigs in the Arizona rocks. Warn put the same motor in everything from the M6000 to the M12000 (and possibly the M15000 as well, though I never verified it), and just put deeper and deeper gearing as they went up in rating. This means that line speed went down as pulling capacity went up. More often than not I found myself over running the winch as I pulled through the rocks, which meant cycling between slack and tight cable, and MANY shock loads as the truck backed down the hill against the cable. Replacing it with a M8000 worked MUCH better.

That said, this likely wouldn't be as much of an issue, if any issue at all, if you're playing in the mud primarily.

I also have one of the HF style 12K winches...these things are not anywhere even remotely close to a 12K pulling power. It struggled to pull a bone stock Chevy Tracker up a mild smooth hill on the 2nd wrap. It's a trailer winch now, lol.

 

[yellowK20]

My 8274 is faster in double line then most of the other Warns are in single line . And they hold more line .

Spend the extra money and get synthetic rope as opposed to steel rope . Synthetic is safer and much easier to deal with .

 

[urbex]

Those 8274s are scary fast, even in a stock configuration. I've seen a couple of the high dollar, double motor setups some guys are running, and it's unreal how fast they can pull in line. I'd love to be running one, but the height was always an issue for me, as I typically was mounting winches as close as possible. Even cut out most of the grill on the Jeep so that the bumper was only sticking out a couple inches more than the stock bumper would have been. Putting in an 8274 would have meant that I'd be notching the hood for clearance, lol.

 

[yellowK20]

Those 8274s are scary fast, even in a stock configuration. I've seen a couple of the high dollar, double motor setups some guys are running, and it's unreal how fast they can pull in line. I'd love to be running one, but the height was always an issue for me, as I typically was mounting winches as close as possible. Even cut out most of the grill on the Jeep so that the bumper was only sticking out a couple inches more than the stock bumper would have been. Putting in an 8274 would have meant that I'd be notching the hood for clearance, lol.

Height is definitely the downside for sure .I run a DIY4x B52 with a built in 2” body lift and it’s still a very tight fit I had to trim the grill and lower balance considerably