NF Warrior/Champion ATV winch

[iFish4real]

Hi,

Does anybody have any experience with these winches? I'm thinking to get one for my ATV but can't find any relevant reviews on the web.

Also, is synthetic rope recommended over steel, I've never had one.

 

Thanks!

[Tom McCutcheon]

Can't give you any advice on the two products asked about, mine is a WARN winch and it's 12 years old.

The cable for the plow blade broke two years ago and on advice from the dealer I replaced it with the synthetic rope. The rope broke today and it took about 20 minutes to fish it out of the winch drum and reattach to the blade. Easy enough to do, but I never needed to do that in the first 10 years of use with cable.

I am going to purchase a new cable and when the rope breaks again I'll replace it.

[porkpie]

Yes I had a champion on my old arctic cat. The winch worked way better than the bike did. The weak point is the controller. My buddy has used a champion for plowing on his bike for years now, and it's held up. He has had to replace the controller multiple times though. I think he finally bought a warn mini switch and mounted it on the bars instead of the champion controls. I'd buy one again, but when I bought my yamaha it came with a warn winch. As for the synthetic winch line, I'll probably eventually replace my cable with it, but it's definately not a must have.

[Tom McCutcheon]

One advantage the synthetic rope has over cable I noticed today while re-tying was there were NO small wires from the broken end of a cable to puncture my fingers.

 

I did notice also over the last two years that the rope will stretch a bit under load, which is a good thing if the operator is inattentive

Edited January 19, 2016 by Tom McCutcheon

[vance]

If you are going to replace the wire cable with synthetic rope you have to replace the guide rollers as well(they come as a set) because the wire will have put small gouges and sharp metal bits on the rollers that will chew up the synthetic rope.

 

vance

[Tom McCutcheon]

Good point...Forgot about that aspect and the reason for changing the rollers as well, two years ago.

[Sinker]

I have no experience with that particular winch, but I do preferthe synthetic rope over cable. It may wear easier, but it is a lot easier to repair a broken rope than a broken cable. I havent had it break yet.

 

S.

[iFish4real]

Thanks all, I'll definitely go for the rope

[mistaredone]

I plow with my ATV and for me synthetic is the only way to go. Past years I've bought 4' synthetic rope from Royal Distributing for $$ and gone through one a season under hard use. This year I got 100' of 500lb test rope from a hardware store for half the price. So far so good but little snow to test it yet.

[ch312]

If you are going to replace the wire cable with synthetic rope you have to replace the guide rollers as well(they come as a set) because the wire will have put small gouges and sharp metal bits on the rollers that will chew up the synthetic rope.

 

vance

 

The huge majority of riders complaining about synthetic rope are the ones who didn't do the swap properly by replacing or polishing the winch drum and fairlead that they used with steel cable. Then you have the people who simply wrap the rope around an anchor point and put the hook back on the line then wonder why the rope broke.

 

I use an aluminum hawse fairlead:

 

 

 

As for the winch, seeing as it can be your one and only way of getting the machine out when you're stuck, I say go with Warn. I have seen a few units fail, but nowhere near as many as the lower quality units out there.

 

 

*side note for anyone with a Warn...you can upgrade your existing 2500lb to a 3000lb pull by simply replacing the 8 gauge power wires with 6 gauge. Literally the only difference between the two units.

[Mister G]

I installed a 3k Champion winch on my Big Red Honda with the control on the left handle bar....work GREAT. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase another one.