Re: Ramsey Winches

[tsm1@domain.elided (Tom Mandera)]

>Willy and Tom,
>Tom, thanks for explaining the difference between the REP and the RE 
>Ramseys. I knew that the RE was series wound and about twice as 
>expensive. I also had two friends who had the REP8000 winches and both 
>burned their winches out on what seemed to be reasonable pulls up a 
>waterfall. Both had the winches on Land Cruisers and although they are 
>heavy, they shouldn't be too heavy for an 8000 lb. winch. At the risk of 
>over-generalizing, I would only buy a series wound Ramsey winch.

John,

I've seen this re-hashed enough times on the ORD that I know it by heart.. :-)

The general consensus on the ORD on the RE vs REP is thus:

If you plan to USE your winch, buy the RE, the Warn, or the SuperWinch..
flat out, you WANT a SERIES WOUND WINCH.  

Series wound winches will pull harder longer.. they also eat up electricity
at an alarming rate (400 to 500amps continous at full draw)

OTOH, if your winch is SOLELY for PERSONAL recovery in not-so-common
situations (i.e, you are NOT "winch-boy" (girl), nor do you plan on winching
up Surprise Canyon every weekend), the Permanent magnet motors will work
fairly well.  You put up with slower speeds (typically) and shorter duty
cycles (pause frequently to let it cool), but you get LESS power
requirements (280amps for the REP8000 I recall).

So, if you don't PLAN on getting stuck (not that most of us PLAN on getting
stuck, but you know what I mean) the REP might be enough.. but if your 4x4
is for some serious play and you use your winch frequently.. get the RE8000,
the Warn (8000 or 9000, or the old (fast) 8274), or a Superwinch S9000.

-Tom Mandera, Helena MT
http://www.tmcom.com/~tsm1/scout
'72 and '77 Scout IIs