This ought to bring out a few partisan folk.....
I have and still do own both Ramsey and Warn winches,with a little more experience with the Ramsey line. Ive got a dead REP 6000 sitting out back,that was bought back in 1986 for my first Ford,a Ranger,and im fairly certain that using the lighter duty permanent magnet motor to pull firewood led to its demise! Ive also got a QM5000( rec hitch mount),and an RE10000,worm gear winch and bumper that im fitting to the Chevy( i can hear the Boo's now,LOL) and a DC200,8000 lb worm gear winch that im unsure where it will reside,and ive got the third Ramsey 8000 lb PTO winch on my CJ,ive had the same PTO winch on two Internationals. Ive got a Warn M8000 on a rec. hitch mount,an 8274 on one of the F250's,another 8274 was on a 92 Dodge that i sold,and an old upright 5687( probably dead motor) in the back shed......
the worm gear Ramseys pull hard,especially near rated load,but are really slow retrieving cable at a no-load condition. The Warn 8274 really pulls cable fast under no-load,and last winter when i managed to stick the F250 in a soggy field pulled damn well under a pretty good load,and this was with a less than great alternator and battery.......
SO,tell me which winches you like and why........

 

Oh yeah,almost forgot....How about the old Desert Dynamics,Pierce,Mega winch,Tensen TX2, Hickey Sidewinder, Superwinch,Koenig,or Braden.........I'll even ask about the Chinese imports,but not bother to name them,since i suspect they all come out of the same factory.....

 

I'm partial to the worm drives/electric. Tough but slow. I have two 8000 wide spool 150' cable and triple up if I have to. My ramsey's used to have ramsey's solenoid but later went to a warn style solenoid. Easier to find parts for this paticular set up if I loose a solenoid. Wyoming has limited resources and you get whatever is available when your desperate. I used to have a 9500 winch with that little gear on end and one bad situation in winter I broke it. I had to leave my truck for a week before I could get back to it in winter. We had to snowmobile back into area with parts to fix winch. It snowed while I was gone and couldn't see my tires on my truck 40"hawgs when I got back. It was a long day to fix and get out. Never again will this happen to me. What broke it was my truck slide and jerked winch hard and broke the gear. Worm drives can take a jerk and be ok. If you do break a worm drive its usually the small half moon key in gear box. .50 cent fix and I keep spares in truck. This problem has never happened again but I still think about that week.

 

Interesting post,Wyoming! Both of my portable,plug into receiver hitch winches are planetary gear type,which i believe is the style you spoke of,and broke the gear on.
By virtue of the fact that they are not permanently mounted,i would likely use these winches only for limited duration,so im not concerned with there ability under extreme conditions.....As far as the permanently mounted Winches go, the Ramsey worm gear winches,whether they are 12V electric,PTO,or hydraulic,are known to be strong! im assuming that much of there basic design dates back over 50 years! Then again,the Spur gear/upright style Warn has been around since the 60's,i believe! Judging by what the Worm gear Ramsey's and the Warn 8274's sell for,in comparison to the planetary geared winches,im going to guess that its mostly a matter of economy,and reduced production costs.

 

My Ramsey 9500, if it would just hold together.

 

I've got two 8274s and just love them. One is an ancient model, uses the pull cables inside the cab, but I converted to use solinoids like the more modern ones. I bought the solinoid box at an auction, and the remote on Ebay.
If you need to get the motors fixed, go to an electric motor shop, it will be alot cheaper than buying a new motor and won't take as long as sending your motor back to the factory. I burned the motor up on the above mentioned one before I converted it and it only cost 35.00 to fix it.

 

**disclaimer** following statements are directed towards consumer based products, not industrial, and towards the electric flavor of winches only **disclaimer complete**

warn, hands down. i had a ramsey and it fell apart again and again. the 8274 i have now has held up impressively, even tuggin on my 9200lb powerstroke diesel in 4 wheel low in reverse (i was pulling a tree down).

-cutts-

 

Is this even a serious thread? Warn is hands down the best ever!

 

Yeah,its a serious thread,so post some facts,figures and info,as Fishman did,otherwise be still!

 

Thanks to 2fords,and fishman....Ive been very impressed by the 8274,and ive yet to hear any complaints from anyone on there performance and durability.....the only complaint ive ever heard regarding them is there price! new,they cost a pretty penny,as do the Ramsey RE 8000 and RE 12000 models,and the 8274 models have all been widely praised for there ultra fast no load retrieve speeds.

 

the only complaint i have (sometimes) is the size. i want to mount an 8274 in the back of my bronco for a dual winch setup but i dont have the room. i will have to buy a smaller, slower one.

as for the price.... i bought 2 8274's for $75 a piece. they are the old style and all they needed was a simple rebuild. look on craigslist and check places old farmers might have one laying around.

-cutts-

 

A good point there,they are bulky,and because of there upright design,they cant be tucked into the same space that one of the newer planetary gear winches can...

 

Well that was fun! i just got done mounting the Ramsey RE10000 and its bumper on the Chevy........Not only is the bumper itself significantly heavier than the Warn bumper that mounts an 8274 on the front of the F250,but the winch itself seems heavier......Not to mention the fact that the 8274 literally drops into place with the bolt holes lined up nearly perfect,with the winch supported by the bumper.....The Ramsey had to be lifted,jacked up from underneath,wiggled,jiggled,pried,and cussed at until i got the first couple bolts started..... still havent run power leads yet,but that will be simple......

 

Well on the winches it seems that warns are highspeed and pull high amps on average. But ramseys seem to pull slower with less amps, but if slower means more time on battery draw. So usually the biggest question for me when dealing with winches is what alternator and type of wiring. Is it up to the task at hand. If you have a truck with 100amp alternator and everything is electric in your truck you will pull down batteries and kill truck. So usually from what I've seen is most winches are pretty good but voltage supply is a question especially on electric everything in truck. I'm changing this thread so I'll stop now. But you usually get what you pay for on electrical componets such as a winch.

 

I wouldn't say a Ramsey pulls slow. Mine moves pretty fast with or without a load on it. I just run the big Ford alt, not sure how many amps it has but it's no where near 100 & with a good pair batteries wired together, no isolator, I have no problems.