8000lb Champion Winch

[WizardOfOdds]

Hey guys,

Just reading through the Canadian Tire flier for the week and they have the 8000lb Champion Winch on sale for $399.99 CDN. I was thinking this is a good price. I talked to a buddy of mine and he says I shouldn't buy it because I have to do some moddifactions and buy a push bar because he said the bumper isn't strong enough. Anyways, my questions are these

Has anyone had any experience with this perticular winch? Good or Bad?

Is the bumper on my 1992 EX strong enough that it will handle it? This guy said I need to buy a pushbar that will attach to the frame and put the winch on that.

Thanks

 

[IZwack]

I dont have experience with that particular winch but I dont think even a "push bar" is strong enough for a winch as push bars are made to crumble during a crash.

 

[DeRocha]

The stock bumper is not strong enough for a winch. A push bar or grill guard is also not strong enough for the task. Your options are limited to fabricating your own front bumper, or having a shop fab one with the appropriate winch mount.

Winch mounts made of heavy steel (1/4") are used to mount a winch to a vehicles frame rails. This is also an option, but in any case you're looking at doing some fabrication as a winch is not a simple bolt on accessary for an Explorer.

 

[WizardOfOdds]

oh ok I think its suppose to come with some kind of universal mount... your talking about something different tho right?

 

[rguy]

the universal mount won't work. I made one out of four pieces of 4" angle iron to fit between the frame rails. All but the fairlead is hidden by the bumper.

FWIW, I bought a 12k winch on Ebay with 265:1 ratio, series wound motor, controller, fairlead, and 3/8" cable delivered to my house for $359.00.

I'd post a pic if I could get a hand.

 

[Regulator_XLS]

I bought that exact winch from canadian tire, and i love it. I ripped off the front bumper, reinforced the stock bumper ears and bolted the champion plate to the factory ears, then i welded up some brackets to support the sides and then two coming from underneath to hold the plate up like a shelf, i bought some cheap fogs to replace the factory ones and then bolted them to the top of the plate on either side of the winch. I also put a set of tow hooks on the unders side of the champion plate. it looks bad ass, and so far its held up. im gonna go elite today and ill post some pics for you.

 

[Regulator_XLS]

I mean it is no warn winch but hey for the bang for your buck i love it, the only thing is the remote is huge, so my buddy gave me his old ramsey one and now im winching,

 

[rguy]

here are some pics.

 

[joecrna]

The Warn transformer mount for a Ranger will work too but requires a few mods. Not too many but yes its all expensive. The mods, the mount and of coarse the warn winch. Im running their 12k dual force with compressor included in the winch.