Whats the best winch out there for the Honda Pioneer?

[Jackhennessee]

Me, I have had luck with the terra 45's. This is my 3rd purchase. Had one on the Rincon, Pioneer 700, and now the Pioneer 1000.

I own a Pioneer 1000-5
Recommend the Terra 45 winch, Recommend the rope version the terra 45sr but pricing on the cable usually comes in best and you can upgrade to rope later.
During the holidays past 2 years you can pick up a Terra45 for right at $200.

Which ever winch you settle on, buy one with a wireless remote. Worth it's weight in gold.

 

[Cal]

Got the KFI Stealth 4500 with synthetic rope put on a couple of weeks ago. Had to pull myself out of the mud the first 10 minutes I was on the trail on the first trip. It payed for itself right there. We’ll see how it holds up.


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I picked one of KFI Stealth 4500 with a steel cable for $200 on sale. Then I bought the KFI P15K mounting kit from Amazon for $45. It's done a great job of holding down the table that it sits on. Benn working on selling my house instead, but I can't wait to install it!

I'll update as well when I get it installed.

 

[Caper]

KFI Stealth 3500 synthetic on a heavy P500. I've had it for 2 1/2 yrs., plowed with it for 2 winters and it's pulled me out of a mud hole. It was like $300 but still cheaper than a Warn.

Off topic, thanks for the EPDM trick it works great
Caper

 

[Landman]

I picked one of KFI Stealth 4500 with a steel cable for $200 on sale. Then I bought the KFI P15K mounting kit from Amazon for $45. It's done a great job of holding down the table that it sits on. Benn working on selling my house instead, but I can't wait to install it!

I'll update as well when I get it installed.

Made me lol! Sounds like several of my projects.

 

[Caper]

Good rule of “thumb” never have your fingers near that area while someone else is on the button especially my wife after a couple beers

Haha. That’s why I only have the hand held remote.
Caper

 

[Caper]

I want to put together a winch buyers guide for the Honda Pioneer models. To do this I need some real world input that specs on paper will not give. Some winches cost $700+ while others cost $200 and pack just as much punch. Then there is the $100 disposable models, anyone had luck with them?

Some things I would like to know.

• What Pioneer do you have? 500, 700 or 1000
• What winch would you suggest and why?
• and what which is the best value out there for your Pioneer?

Leave comments below.
Thanks.


Best Winch for your Honda Pioneer!
View attachment 83354

I bought a Warn 4000 my brother has had a warm on his Big Bear since 1999 and that winch has gone through hell and back. Under water, rolled over on, sits outside and you can’t kill it. Hopefully mine will be just as good. I have a 500 and used the KFI on top mount. Looks good too. I saw on line a guy go through a mud hole, in a 500 , got stuck a bit but not as bad as the RZR and the Kawasaki 750 behind him. The 500 turned around and hooked to the RZR and told the Kawasaki to hook to the RZR and pulled them both out. Wow. He had the same set up as mine and didn’t pull the frame apart. So I’m good. Haha. Hopefully some day I get to pull out my brothers RZR too. Haha Warn all the way.
Caper

 

[SLP82]

We had two Yamaha Grizzly 700s with 32" mudder in laws on both of them, a 2" lift and gear reduction. We are big boys (both of us close to 300 lbs) and we buried our atvs to the racks in peanut butter mud with high suction, and we used Superwinch Terra 2500s for years and never had a problem.

Now I am going to share a few tips with people that I have learned not from atvs or side by sides, but I have been building 4x4 trucks for over 20 years and offroading... all of them had winches so I have a lot of experience with many different brands, styles, and both synthetic line and cable. I can tell you that how you operate the winch, will far more determine its life, then what brand it is. You can give me the winch you think is the toughest and I guarantee you I can break it in one try. I have used winches THOUSANDS of times of the last 20 + years.

Many people don't understand or know that winches have a certain amount of time they can be ran, followed by a period of "cooldown" that should be allowed. The most basic way to determine this if you don't have the manufacturer's manual, is to put your hand on the winch motor. If it is too hot to hold your hand there for 10 seconds, you should let it cool down for about 10 mins. This will dramatically extend the life of the winch!

Also when you are winching out of sand or mud where there is a "suction", winch about a foot or so to put a load on the winch, then stop and allow some time (maybe 15 or 20 seconds) for the suction to slowly release. DO NOT just keep winching not stop or you will break your rope/cable or damage the winch.

Also I use "snatch blocks" when ever possible. This reduces the load on the winch and cable/rope again further extending the life of them.

Now I know many people here love synthetic rope, as seen from the comments, but if you live in a sandy or muddy environment, I highly DO NOT recommend getting synthetic rope on a winch. When the sand or mud works it way between the fibers, those fibers stretch and move across eachother and the sand eats away at the fibers. This will cause the rope to fail in short time. If you don't believe me, contact any synthetic rope manufacturer and ask them how their product does with sand on the rope... I guarantee they will tell you to avoid sand 100%. Sand and mud does not effect cable.

Also another thing people don't usually take into account is the brake drum is usually located inside the spool area of the winch. This is where a lot of heat is given off. As we talked about earlier, heat kills winches. Well with synthetic rope, you have a material wrapped around the drum that actually insulates that heat and holds it in. Steel cable on the other hand acts like a heat sink and actually helps dissipate the heat faster.

If you go on google and look up "synthetic rope vs cable winch" and read write ups from professional offroaders/writers for various magazines such as Petersons 4x4, or Offroad Magazine, etc, all these guys who have decades of experience and do this stuff everyday as a living, almost all agree that cable is much more robust and forgiving. The one advantage that rope has over cable is that it is much safer. That is the ONLY reason 4x4 competitions require it because there are lots of people around and safety comes 1st. Now that having been said, there are things you can do to make cable much more safe, such as hooking a "winch bag" to the line while winching.

Hope these tips help some extend the life of your winch regardless of what brand it is.

 

[CumminsPusher]

Haha. That’s why I only have the hand held remote.
Caper

Ya I’ve got a cordless for the front winch now too! My wife hit in not out when it was already tight but I was grabbing the hook, it was 1/8in from a massive Aflac payment.

The lower dent was from a rock but you can see where the Warn pulled the stop right through the fairlead and bumper.

 

[idaholover]

I want to put together a winch buyers guide for the Honda Pioneer models. To do this I need some real world input that specs on paper will not give. Some winches cost $700+ while others cost $200 and pack just as much punch. Then there is the $100 disposable models, anyone had luck with them?

Some things I would like to know.

• What Pioneer do you have? 500, 700 or 1000
• What winch would you suggest and why?
• and what which is the best value out there for your Pioneer?

Leave comments below.
Thanks.


Best Winch for your Honda Pioneer!
View attachment 83354

Harbor Freight Badlands 3500! Put the synthetic rope on it, works great!

 

[CumminsPusher]

Harbor Freight 3500! Put the synthetic rope on it, works great!

Welcome to the forum @idaholover! Like the screen name a lot.

 

[Caper]

Ya I’ve got a cordless for the front winch now too! My wife hit in not out when it was already tight but I was grabbing the hook, it was 1/8in from a massive Aflac payment. View attachment 83952
The lower dent was from a rock but you can see where the Warn pulled the stop right through the fairlead and bumper.

Holy crap.
Caper

 

[JTW]

We had two Yamaha Grizzly 700s with 32" mudder in laws on both of them, a 2" lift and gear reduction. We are big boys (both of us close to 300 lbs) and we buried our atvs to the racks in peanut butter mud with high suction, and we used Superwinch Terra 2500s for years and never had a problem.

Now I am going to share a few tips with people that I have learned not from atvs or side by sides, but I have been building 4x4 trucks for over 20 years and offroading... all of them had winches so I have a lot of experience with many different brands, styles, and both synthetic line and cable. I can tell you that how you operate the winch, will far more determine its life, then what brand it is. You can give me the winch you think is the toughest and I guarantee you I can break it in one try. I have used winches THOUSANDS of times of the last 20 + years.

Many people don't understand or know that winches have a certain amount of time they can be ran, followed by a period of "cooldown" that should be allowed. The most basic way to determine this if you don't have the manufacturer's manual, is to put your hand on the winch motor. If it is too hot to hold your hand there for 10 seconds, you should let it cool down for about 10 mins. This will dramatically extend the life of the winch!

Also when you are winching out of sand or mud where there is a "suction", winch about a foot or so to put a load on the winch, then stop and allow some time (maybe 15 or 20 seconds) for the suction to slowly release. DO NOT just keep winching not stop or you will break your rope/cable or damage the winch.

Also I use "snatch blocks" when ever possible. This reduces the load on the winch and cable/rope again further extending the life of them.

Now I know many people here love synthetic rope, as seen from the comments, but if you live in a sandy or muddy environment, I highly DO NOT recommend getting synthetic rope on a winch. When the sand or mud works it way between the fibers, those fibers stretch and move across eachother and the sand eats away at the fibers. This will cause the rope to fail in short time. If you don't believe me, contact any synthetic rope manufacturer and ask them how their product does with sand on the rope... I guarantee they will tell you to avoid sand 100%. Sand and mud does not effect cable.

Also another thing people don't usually take into account is the brake drum is usually located inside the spool area of the winch. This is where a lot of heat is given off. As we talked about earlier, heat kills winches. Well with synthetic rope, you have a material wrapped around the drum that actually insulates that heat and holds it in. Steel cable on the other hand acts like a heat sink and actually helps dissipate the heat faster.

If you go on google and look up "synthetic rope vs cable winch" and read write ups from professional offroaders/writers for various magazines such as Petersons 4x4, or Offroad Magazine, etc, all these guys who have decades of experience and do this stuff everyday as a living, almost all agree that cable is much more robust and forgiving. The one advantage that rope has over cable is that it is much safer. That is the ONLY reason 4x4 competitions require it because there are lots of people around and safety comes 1st. Now that having been said, there are things you can do to make cable much more safe, such as hooking a "winch bag" to the line while winching.

Hope these tips help some extend the life of your winch regardless of what brand it is.

Great tips and perspective... many have no clue! I just choose to run cheap synthetic rope and change it regularly. On a $200 winch i’d rather have the convenience than longevity.

 

[Alcat]

I want to put together a winch buyers guide for the Honda Pioneer models. To do this I need some real world input that specs on paper will not give. Some winches cost $700+ while others cost $200 and pack just as much punch. Then there is the $100 disposable models, anyone had luck with them?

Some things I would like to know.

• What Pioneer do you have? 500, 700 or 1000
• What winch would you suggest and why?
• and what which is the best value out there for your Pioneer?

Leave comments below.
Thanks.


Best Winch for your Honda Pioneer!
View attachment 83354

Bad luck with rope and aluminum hawse for my plow. Went to strap and roller to see how that works this winter.

 

[knuckledeep]

I have a badlands 4500 and it has worked perfect and I have put it through hell upgrading to a bigger winch and only use a steel cable so far

 

[Cuoutdoors]

Bad luck with rope and aluminum hawse for my plow. Went to strap and roller to see how that works this winter.

You can't use a hawse fairlead with a plow. It tears up the rope. The strap and roller will be great.

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[trigger]

You can't use a hawse fairlead with a plow. It tears up the rope. The strap and roller will be great.

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Well that sucks! I just switched out my fairlead to a hawse type because it was supposed to be better for synthetic. I do plow with it too. I plan to give it a go this winter and see how it does.
On a side note, I just ordered one of these for pulling the little trailer into the back of the truck. Had planned to just use my come along but it was a pita. Warn Drill Winch, anyone ever used one of these? The only negative I read is that it's a little slow.

 

[popeye]

Well that sucks! I just switched out my fairlead to a hawse type because it was supposed to be better for synthetic. I do plow with it too. I plan to give it a go this winter and see how it does.
On a side note, I just ordered one of these for pulling the little trailer into the back of the truck. Had planned to just use my come along but it was a pita. Warn Drill Winch, anyone ever used one of these? The only negative I read is that it's a little slow.

View attachment 84023

Buddy of mine has one, uses it off rafters pulling engines, winching vehicles onto his trailer, stretching cyclone fences. He says it’s better than sliced bread. It is a tiny bit slow


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[Cuoutdoors]

Well that sucks! I just switched out my fairlead to a hawse type because it was supposed to be better for synthetic. I do plow with it too. I plan to give it a go this winter and see how it does.
On a side note, I just ordered one of these for pulling the little trailer into the back of the truck. Had planned to just use my come along but it was a pita. Warn Drill Winch, anyone ever used one of these? The only negative I read is that it's a little slow.

View attachment 84023

Looks like it's much better than a come along

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[swampsnake]

From what Ive read so far, I take it that most have put their winch on as an add-on after getting their toy? So, for someone like me who's going to buy ours this weekend, dont get it at time of purchase, buy elsewhere & install yerself?

 

[Hondasxs]

From what Ive read so far, I take it that most have put their winch on as an add-on after getting their toy? So, for someone like me who's going to buy ours this weekend, dont get it at time of purchase, buy elsewhere & install yerself?

Ya. A lot do. But it just depends on the persons willingness for time and trouble.


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