Factory Winches

[Mater715]

I want to put a winch on my M-715, and would like to put a stock one. How reliable and strong is the stock winch, and how hard is it to get hold of? Would I be better of to just get a Warn winch or something comparable? Thanks

[george walker]

The stock winch is a power take off type, runs off a driveshaft, a Braden LU4. its very strong but rather expensive to obtain since you will need not just the winch but all the frame adapters, pto, driveshaft and miriad other parts to complete it.

[Mater715]

Yeah I kinda figured it would be pretty expensive. Well maybe I'll just put a Warn winch on their temporarily until I get the money together to go with an all stock one.

[Binford]

By the time all is said and done, it may not be all that much more expensive than going with a Warn winch. I've seen the $1,000 figure tossed around as being about what to expect to pay for the stock winch setup. Probably a bit more than that, but you'll be into it at least that much with a 12,000# Warn electric winch once you add in mounting for it, etc.

Ask around a while before you settle on a decision.

Oh, one more thought on the factory winch vs. Warn: You can set the Warn winch up so you don't kill your approach angle nearly as much. Those factory winches stick waaaay out there.

[randyscycle]

A couple of other little items to consider if you haven't already:

If you are not running the stock transmission then you won't have the PTO port anymore.

There are pros and cons to PTO vs. electric winches. Mostly it is a matter of personal preference, but there are times when one is better than the other, so it depends on your wheeling style.

The weight savings of a Warn, vs. a Braden is immense.

[fisherman]

I used a stock PTO for the t-98 transmission, they are out there. I found the stock driveshaft for the stock winch and shift lever. I've only every seen one of these on the for sale board and I bought it. I was given a 8,000lb Ramsey Pto winch. I built my own bumper for it and mounted with the stock driveshafts and pto unit from the transmission. It is tucked up and inside the frame in the front and only added a couple inches in the middle of my bumper.