Selecting an ATV Winch can be some what difficult with all of the mis-information available. You hear lots of stories about ATV winches failing due to poor components and manufacturing. From my experience I have seen and heard of winches failing, some were big brand name and some were not. Most ATV winch failures have nothing to do with the quality of the winch but poor winching practices or utilizing the winch beyond its capacity.

Most ATV Winch Failures are Due to Poor Winching Techniques

First off lets discuss the common components of an ATV winch. Most ATV winches utilize a 12VDC permanent magnet motor as its power source. The size of the motor will vary depending on the size of the winch. Make sure it is a sealed motor to keep water and dust out. Most winch motors are very reliable if the winch is operated properly.

Selecting an ATV Winch

Planetary Gear Set

Most ATV winches use a planetary gear set to provide adequate torque for the winch. The gear sets will have a gear reduction ratio that is the number of motor revolutions to one revolution of the winch spool. Make sure the planetary gear set is all metal, no plastic gears. Planetary gear sets tend to generate heat quickly, continuous use without adequately cooling down will damage the gear set.

Some winch manufacturers will use multiple gear sets or stages to achieve a certain gear ratio. These winches are much more expensive than a single stage winch and mainly for extreme use. For most ATVers a single stage winch will satisfy their needs if used properly.

Single-Stage ATV Winches are the Most Popular

Every winch is controlled by a contactor. The contactor in conjunction with the directional switch controls the 12VDC going to the motor. Make sure the contactor is sealed. Contactors do fail but are easily to replace and inexpensive. The spool needs to have the capacity for fifty foot of cable.

Selecting an ATV Winch

ATV winch

So that’s the ATV winch; a motor, gear set and spool all housed in a sealed waterproof housing. The contactor and directional switch are external to the ATV winch. So now you will need to size the winch for your needs.

The basic rule-of-thumb is to get a winch with the capacity of 1.5 times the gross weight of your ATV. But more accurately 1.5 times the gross weight of the ATV plus the rider plus whatever gear is on the ATV (Loaded Weight – LW).

Example: ATV with camping gear weighs 850 lb. The rider weighs 220 lb

LW = 1.5*(850 + 220) = 1.5*1070 = 1,605 lb

One might assume that a 2,000 capacity winch would be more than enough winch based on the previous example. One would be wrong! What the rule-of-thumb does not take into effect is what is known as “The Total Vehicle Resistance Force” (TVRF). The total vehicle resistance force is the amount of pulling force required to recover a stuck ATV.

Stay tuned for my next post where I will continue with more information on Selecting an ATV Winch.

Related posts:

  1. ATV Winching Tips