# atv winch?



## deersled (Mar 5, 2008)

Anybody use a Viper or Venom atv winch. I see a bunch of em on ebay. Was wondering if they are worth a hoot?


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## stev (Mar 5, 2008)

deersled said:


> Anybody use a Viper or Venom atv winch. I see a bunch of em on ebay. Was wondering if they are worth a hoot?


Dont bother.Get a warn,


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## It's Me (Mar 5, 2008)

stev said:


> Dont bother.Get a warn,



Just curious, why?

Dennis.


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## SouthPaw Draw (Mar 6, 2008)

Friend of mine bought one last year for his Polaris 700. No problems yet. He has actually used it a few times too. I figure for what they cost compared to a Warn, you could go thru 3 or 4 for the same cost as one Warn winch.


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## stev (Mar 6, 2008)

It's Me said:


> Just curious, why?
> 
> Dennis.


A buddy of mine had one on his bike ,and it tore up on the first use.Pulling him self out of a ravine.He has a 2 wheel drive though.Maybe he got a hold of a bad one ,dont know,but the warns are pretty proven winch,been around for a while.South paw is right on the price as far as warn are a bit more pricey.


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## Southernhoundhunter (Mar 6, 2008)

i've got a superwinch 3000 it's great it's been submerged over and over and have no problems...300 at agri supply in Statesboro. If you have unlimited funds, get a warn (xt I believe) that is completely sealed with the synthetic rope. The rope is a lot better than the cable. lasts a lot longer. JMO


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## delta708 (Mar 6, 2008)

get a warn


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## Ozzie (Mar 6, 2008)

Don't be afraid of the cheaper winches.  I bought a Gorilla 2500 off of Ebay 3 years ago for my Honda Rancher, and it has performed flawlessly through approximately 15 ATV mud bog extractions and dragging fallen trees off of the local riding trails.  Total cost with the mounting kit and fairlead roller adapter was about $110.  You can buy about a fourth of a Warn winch for that much, and chances are the Gorillas are built in the same chinese factory the Warns are built in.  Just my 2 cents, I'm sure the Warn advocates got what they paid for for $400, but my own experience with the cheaper winches has been very favorable.  What is a winch after all?  It's an electric motor with a cable, an on off switch, and a contactor unit.  Hardly rocket science, it's about as simple of a product as it gets.


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## MonroeTaco (Mar 6, 2008)

I 2nd the Gorilla winch. I put a 2500 # on my Grizzly and have used it ALOT with no problems. The switch feels kinda cheap, but it's held up through plenty of pulls.


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## 7Mag Hunter (Mar 17, 2008)

I bought a Champion Winch from Sams 3 yrs ago, and no
problems...Bout $100.00-----Used it ALOT...
Pulled a golf cart up a steep 300' hill in Heard County, Pulled myself out of a Jones County bog,
and stretched almost 3000' of field wire fence last year when
I refenced my yard....Paid for itself already...If it burnt up
tomorrow, I would go buy another for $100.00....Comes with
a mounting bracket too....


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## Craigaria (Mar 17, 2008)

I bought the gorilla winch off ebay and fabbed a bracket to fit my polaris. It worked great. I sold the atv to a friend and he still uses the winch no problems. I think I bought the winch in 05'...


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## jasonw (Mar 18, 2008)

I have a viper max 4500 pound for my ranger...I have NO complaints with it at all. For less than half the price of a warn, I don't think I did wrong.


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## 01Foreman400 (Mar 19, 2008)

I've been happy with my Warn 3000.

Darrell


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## BowShooter (Mar 19, 2008)

ive had one on mine for 2 years no probs


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## W4DSB (Apr 5, 2008)

we broke the side off the spool on a venom the first use. it does still however work well!


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## germag (Apr 14, 2008)

Here's what I know about ATV winches:

The guy that sells Venom winches used to work for the guy that imports and sells Viper winches. They are not the same winches, though. Venom Winches does not have a customer service phone number that you can call for help, he pretty much just sells them on Ebay and that's about it. All correspondence is by Email, and if you have a defective unit he will send you the parts that are presumed bad to you can replace them yourself....and hopefully get the right part. I think a while back his Ebay store shut down, at least for a little while....I'm not sure if he's back up under the same name again or not. Viper winches (Motoalliance) has a full service department and phone numbers you can call and get a warm body on the line for technical help. You can send a defective winch back to them and they will repair it or send you another one, or I think they will send you parts if you want to tackle it yourself. I can attest personally that Motoalliance (Viper winches) has 1st class customer service. I cannot personally attest to the quality of their product because I never got to use the one I bought (it wouldn't fit my machine). Everything I've heard is good, though. I have heard nothing bad about the quality Gorilla winches or their customer service either.

On the subject of synthetic cable: 
Synthetic cable is great stuff, but it is not as abrasion resistant as steel cable. However, it does not fray and end up with sharp pointed wires sticking out to cut your hands. It also does not store energy like steel cable, so if it breaks in the middle of a pull, it doesn't go whipping around trying to cut everybody's head off and put their eyes out like steel cable does. Synthetic cable floats, steel doesn't....if your trying to pull something out of water, floating is good. Synthetic cable is typically a little thinner...that means for the same length of cable out you get a little more of your winch's pulling power with synthetic because the spool diameter (including spooled cable) will be smaller. You have to be more careful about "spool stacking", and making sure that the cable distributes evenly on the spool with synthetic...it will bury itself into the wraps underneath. If you use synthetic cable, make sure you get an aluminum Hawse fairlead...the roller fairleads you use with steel cable will chew the synthetic cable up pretty quick unless every pull is straight (in reality hardly any are). Make sure you buy ONLY Amsteel cable. The "Blue Steel" cable just doesn't hold up as well. It's cheaper, but there's a reason for that.

If you have a 2007-2008 Honda 420 Rancher 2x4 machine, don't bother with ANY of the Viper, Venom, Gorilla, or any other "off brands". They won't fit your machine no matter what you do. The only winches that fit are the Warn RT and XT models up to 3,000 lbs. They are the only ones that I know of that have a centered spool. On the others, the spool is offset to one side or the other and the motor end of the winch is too long and will interfere with the tire when the steering is turned full lock. They will work fine on the 4x4 models because the steering doesn't turn the wheels quite as much.

Warn XT and RT winches seem to have trouble sometimes going into and out of freespool mode. Mine got stuck in freespool the first time I used it and it took me about 30 minutes to get it freed up. VERY frustrating for the amount of money they charge for those winches.


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## Ga. Outlaw (Aug 3, 2008)

*Viper *winch, you wont go wrong. These things are about bullet proof and the customer service is top notch, second to none. Most of the customer service emails are handled by the President himself and he is on quite a few atv/outdoor forums asking for feedback, trying to improve the product.


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## It's Me (Nov 24, 2008)

Ga. Outlaw said:


> *Viper *winch, you wont go wrong. These things are about bullet proof and the customer service is top notch, second to none. Most of the customer service emails are handled by the President himself and he is on quite a few atv/outdoor forums asking for feedback, trying to improve the product.



Just looking at them on E-Bay I noticed...they're MADE IN THE USA!!!!

Dennis.


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## deersled (Nov 24, 2008)

how big of a winch do you need? I've got a Kawasaki 360. would a 2000 pounder be o.k or would you get a bigger one?


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