I'm going to install a winch on my 250 buggy. Which winch would the group suggest. I'm looking at size, pull weights, and battery drain. What are you all using and why?

i have a 2000# on my raptor 250. i had to make a mounting plate for it and mounted it low on the front . it was only $49.95 at harbor freight. i dont have a draindown problem, i only use it when the engine is running.it is hard wired into the buggy, and the control box is mounted on the floor, between the front seats.

Most winches are fine for occasional use. What really separates them is the weight. Hanging a winch way out front on a buggy will affect your ride and handling so it's best to buy the smallest lightest one you think you can rely on. Warn costs more but they are way lighter than other brands. They use lots of cast aluminum parts so there's little steel to rust.

I use a 3000# winch made by champion bought at TSC. The reason I chose that was the cost. I originally bought it for my boat trailer but the twister got it instead. It came with every thing like a roller fairlead, snatch block, mounting plate and a couple misc. things. It ran me a whole $59 on sale. Knowing the manager there I got a extra mount plate snatch block and roller fairlead for use with a diff. winch later on that Ill put on the boat trailer. As far as battery drain I haven't really seen any yet and Iv let all the cable out but 4 wraps and rewound it with me in the buggy with the brakes on and did fine on the battery.

I've been looking into a portable winch system so that my buggy's ride won't be affected. Look at the Warn Pack & Pull 2.5 ATV Recovery Kit. You can find info on this portable winch in a bag system at www.warn.com/pr_portable_kit.shtml There is a good write up on the product and it features a 2,500# capacity winch, which has the ability to pull from either the front or rear of an ATV/Buggy. Check it out

I'm going to install a winch on my pgo 250 as I got stuck twice at the weekend...Would it be ok to install at the rear ? as there is no room at the front due to radiator.

Thanks

I got a Gorilla #2000 winch on e/bay. I have mounted it on the rear with a home made bracket made from angle iron. I chose the rear because I winch the buggy back in first onto my pick up. I use the winch at least twice on every outing since I use it to load the buggy. I also carry a sand anchor I bought at west marine. Boaters use them to pound into the sand to anchor boats. This set up has been working great. Extracted buggy from both mud and sand several times. Will post photos when I get the chance.

I use a hand-crank winch off the rear of one of my Yerfs. It was also a Harbor Freight special - You can find the model number in my 4209 profile URL. Until I have the 11-pole stator for powering my toys, I am willing to manually crank my way out the same direction I came in.

I needed one today. I slid into a 5 foot deep ditch/creek.

I keep two come alongs on mine, a 2 ton and a 4 ton. been stuck many of times and aways gotten my self out without any real problem.

I had thought about a winch for a while, but decided to take the cheaper route. In hindsight, i'm glad i did. For short trips out in the fields, i can always leave em at home and not worry about any extra weight.

Hey Mudpup, haven't "seen" you around here for a while. That's a nice Winch Kit. Are you getting this kit? Tom may want to think about selling winches.

I like the manual come-along idea, hadn't thought about that too much. I may have to pick two of them up for us. They should be cheap enough and I like the portability idea.

Here is a Viper I mounted on my Klade.

I also think the manual come-a-long is the best route. They're are cheap, light weight, and versatile. Unlike a winch that is fixed in one place the come-a-long gives you tons of options on where to hook on and pull from. Don't be scared off by the manual part, it takes almost no effort to pull a buggy out with one. Another advantage is no draw on your battery. Imagine winching your buggy out of a hole with the engine off (maybe to prevent sucking in water or something) and then having the battery be dead when you went to restart it.

I've got nothing against the electric winch, but I think a manual come-a-long just has a lot of advantages with almost no disadvantages.

Jamie

I was thinking about how I could have used a come-along going down an aggresive hill at EMR. The trail went across an articulated route, so it was down hill and down grade (right-to-left).

At one point I realized that my front left wheel didn't have anything underneath it. One slip and the buggy as well as ACBlind and myself were going to be rolling down the hill.

Had I had a come-along with me I could have attached that to the opposite side and maintained a lot more control over the buggy. How I actually got out can be left for another story. It took us over an hour to get down that hill.

No one else has yet even attempted to do to it. Their the smart ones.

Heck I might even keep one around even if I did have a winch.

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My dad had to use a come-along to get my buggy out of a creek the other day like I said in another post. They take some time to use, though. Especially if you have to move the buggy more than 10 feet or so, but they work great and it's a great idea to keep one handy. But I would really like a powered winch as it would take much less time.