I am thinking about adding a winch to my F350.Just thought I would get some input from you guy's.Everyone is always a big help. Carl

 

What do you want to know Carl?

 

It would help if we knew what u intended to do with it... just for show and the occational Oh ***** im stuck or do u plan on using it regularly, ie regular rock crawling trips....a
rule of thumb is 1 1/2 times the vehicle weight so u are looking at a 12K lb winch...
Remember you can always ****** block it to double the capacity. rated line pull is for the first row of cable...
Electric or hydraulic or PTO??
Fixed or portable... mount to front or rear receiver hitch
Most of the ones advertised for light duty truck such as in 4 wheeler type mags and sites are very different from medium/ heavy duty winches found on industrial vehicles and tow trucks..

I have a couple of winches.
8000# winch from harbor freight that I have made into a portable that slides into a 2" receiver... works fine and is identical to the milemarker electric... parts are even interchangble... unless they are now made by someone else... works fine and it sees a fair amount of use

Also have a Medium duty, narrow drum (6") Ramsey winch rated at #8000. But It will probably out pull most 12K light duty winches.. its also worm drive.... Same unit found on many older tow trucks..
Narrow drum winches are awesome cuz u dont have to worry about the cable bunching up on one side...

I like the idea of the Milemarker hydraulic winches but never used or owned one...

I always felt it makes more sense to put winch on rear instead of front.... if you get stuck, its better to pull yourself backwards out of the stuck into terrain you already know than pull futher into the unknown... plus it's more useful if u ever need to pull stuff onto a trailer

if you want to go all out, add a PTO to drive a hydraulic pump off the transmission... then look around some surplus equipment places for used hydraulic winch

 

If anybody had a problem of any kind. 12000# or 9000# Ramsey or Warn.Have had a Ramsey on a Jeep. I don't go mud riding but hunt, fish and live in the country.I pulled a Chevy out yesterday (that was fun).A Dodge looked and said no way.I guess I am looking at a winch like I would insurance.Nice to have if you need it.

 

From time to time you can find some good deals here: Burden Sales Surplus Center - Hydraulics, Engines, Electrical and More

 

I would get one that mounts to a receiver or something you can put on your tow hook, and only use it when you need it, other times put it in the toolbox. they look ridiculous on a super duty

 

My 350 is single wheel not a dually

 

I have a MM 12K hydraulic winch. It works good but the power steering pump needs to be upgraded

 

I don't think mine looks ridiculous at all! Mine has a dual functional purpose for me, not only do you have the winch function but you also have increased front end protection. Many years ago I totalled (literally) a car that I rear-ended with my 4-runner that had a winch/grill guard combo. I drove away with some paint scrapes on the grill guard, that's it!

Back to the original posters question, I'm a huge fan of the Warn 8274 upright/spurgear winch. I've owned the one on my truck for about 15 years, I originally bought it for my 82 CJ-7, since then its been on my 99 F-250 V-10 and now its on my 02 F-350 dually. I have never had a problem or failure since I've owned it. Its mounted to a Warn Transformer grill/brush guard. Some people might say that the 8274 is a little small for self recovery for our trucks but if you pick up a ****** block you"ll be set for 16K. Here's a pic.

 

sorry, left out a handy piece of information. A grille guard on a truck, with a winch integrated into it, is perfectly fine, sorry. The ones that just hang off the front of the truck like a wart or something, thats the ones that make me laugh

 

Uhhh yeah, cuz I like the way mine looks.

 

I had a feeling that's what you ment. The wart comment was funny!

 

dan your included too. Now take that grille guard off, dont you think that looks kinda out of place?

 

With the bumper I'm building I plan to hide a 2in receiver behind the license plate and if I get a winch I will have it mounted to a 2in receiver hitch so I can throw it in the truck and keep it safe when not in use.

 

Honestly the whole winch assembly is removed right now, because I was trying to figure out why the clutch fan was locking up at 70+ mph enough to make the fanbelt slip last summer. Made no difference.
But now that it is off, it is waiting for a strip and paint job before I put it back on.
The grill guard stays, BTW.