Hammerhead - A Farmi is a whole different beast. It'll definitely out-perform any ATV/UTV winch but the harvesting process just took too long. It would obviously do a better job dragging but once at the trail, I need to quit since there's no place to haul the wood with the tractor/winch setup.
That said, you can still drag a decent log with the 3000# winch. I had one snag a little and it started dragging the RTV up hill. The winch did bog down but I was surprised it would drag the RTV (with the emergency brake on).
I have purchased the Amsteel rope but haven't yet installed it. I need to pick up a Hawse fairlead to replace my roller and just haven't gotten around to it.
I do have a deep-cycle battery.
Since we're discussing winches, I want to toss out a couple other things:
- If you're doing lifting type applications (e.g. a snowplow), you'll probably want to get the mechanical brake on the winch (most don't come with it). Without it, the winch will allow some bleed-out when under load and whatever it's holding up will slowly come down.
- Not sure but I believe Warn now offers a wireless option. I believe both offer it as an option so you can probably get/install it retrospectively.
- I too purchased from the place Pappy and TWO GUNS got theres. Great company.
- Re. a 3000# or #5000, that's going to be based on your own usage. What you do with your winch (pulling your RTV out or pulling things to your RTV), how far you travel, what insurance/security you would like to have...
Myself, I ride hard-packed surfaces and rarely 1/2 mile from home. I don't have many conditions that could get my RTV stuck. If it does get stuck and the winch can't save me, I have and would use (in this order) tractors, skidsteers and excavators to get me out. My primary use for the winch is for felling and dragging trees. If I strap onto a log and the winch doesn't like the load, no problem. I cut the log into a shorter length. The 3K# winch tucks into the compartment on the RTV 900 (is that also true on the 1100?). The 5K# is an exterior mount. I bang my shins enough on draw bars, trailer tongues/couplers... that having it protrude out wasn't my perference.
TWO GUNS (I'm going to make some assumptions here so correct me if I'm wrong) on the other hand uses his RTV differently. He's often very far from other equipment to help if/when issues arise. He also rides in very mucky/muddy/swamp conditions and is more prone than I for getting stuck due to the surface. His primary application is to get the RTV out if stuck. He <u>needs</u> that winch to get him out, 100% of the time. His application is more for insurance when needed. If I was in his shoes, I too would go with a bigger winch.