[H4]

Haven't heard of Rule for quite awhile. Had a 3000lb Rule on my truck about 20 years ago. Yes it was too small for a truck but it was all I could afford at the time and I figured the 6000lb rating with the snatchblock would be ok. I remember that it was a marine winch and it worked great after years of hardcore mudding and offroading. Never a problem with gears but I did eventually fry the motor. Two hours of trying to free a Toyota with 40's in bog up to the windshield proved too much for it. Not too bad considering it finally took an old military Dodge with a 12000lb PTO to get the truck out. Great winch if they're still avail.

 

[rubyandforeman]

o well, i think in a few month i will just buy a 3.0 warn...

 

[brianlich]

rubyandforeman,
The new 2500RT & XT both are sealed and have metal gears like the 3000lb. I looked at the price and didn't mind spending alittle more though. If you have a smaller budget just go with the 2500. I will be all you need.

Homie189,
The gears are made of plastic and will strip if you ever challenge the winch. I guess the motor is too strong and keeps trying beyond the 2500lb limit. Thats why metal gears is always the way to go.

 

[rubyandforeman]

brianlich

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

rubyandforeman,
The new 2500RT & XT both are sealed and have metal gears like the 3000lb. I looked at the price and didn't mind spending alittle more though. If you have a smaller budget just go with the 2500. I will be all you need.

Homie189,
The gears are made of plastic and will strip if you ever challenge the winch. I guess the motor is too strong and keeps trying beyond the 2500lb limit. Thats why metal gears is always the way to go.



Homie189,
The gears are made of plastic..

no the gears are not made of plastic only the housings are..

 

[brianlich]

I haven't taken a winch apart myself, but from pics I've seen, the 2500 Warn has planetary gears(which may be metal) and then the housing has gear teeth on the inside of it which the planetary gears spin around on. Now, if the housing teeth are plastic, in my book the winch does have plastic gears. Don't know, but just a thought. Metal gear teeth matched with plastic gear teeth is never a good matchup. Ok no plastic gears, but the teeth the actual gear's teeth they work off of are plastic. I am right?

 

[rubyandforeman]

yes the gears are inside of a plastic housing which the gears spin around in.... which when u put plastic with metal gears.. its goin to b like hot knife with butter.

 

[brianlich]

That's what I thought. Dumb idea IMO. Warn should fire the team that designed that and then slap theirselves for letting it get to the public. The old 2500 is a good reliable winch (most of the time) though. METAL: PLASTIC:

 

[H4]

Haven't seen Mile Marker mentioned yet. Anybody have any experience or comments on this brand?

 

[topdogjosh]

The warn as well as gorilla winches use a plastic planitary gear set in the 2500lb and below winches and a metal gear set in the 3000lb and above winches. I have not personally done it, but from what I have read the gorillas are identical to the warns on the inside(sans the high price tag). So whether it be warn or gorilla just get the 3000lb winch this time and you shouldnt run into this problem again.

 

[Yooperforeman]

I have a 2500 Mile Marker winch.I wanted the 3000 Mile Marker at the time but it was back-ordered.I'm happy with the 2500 though.I've used it twice so far.

 

[homie189]

I torn mine apart.... all I can say is WOW.... what a crapy design. Do you think they will make an "upgarde" for these, where we can swap off the plastic housing and install a new metal one? I hope that is something Warn is or has considered. After all is said and done.... are these still pretty reliable, even with the plastic housing?

 

[rubyandforeman]

ya there desing is shitty..

 

[big_daddy_bigfoot]

Mine has a metal gear? Is that why it's so loud?

 

[brianlich]

My Warn 3000RT is very quiet. The loudness is probably thanks to the motor, not the gears.

 

[big_daddy_bigfoot]

I guess it's not as loud now that I have a rope.

 

[ToddC]

What about the Venom winch's are they any count or don't waste the money??