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| It's what's on the inside that counts. With an almost "modular design, the S9000 is easy to maintain, easy to mount, and well protected from the elements. Oh, and it looks good too! |
Today, many off-roaders wouldn't be caught dead without a winch on their rig. The capabilities of modern off-road trucks have grown right along side the difficulty of the trails we're now running and the capacity for "really" getting into deep doo doo is never farther than a clutch slip away. Sure, you can rely on your buddy's winch to pull you out, or even resort to a Hi-Lift jack and a tow strap but trust me, you'll never hear the end of it. I hear from off-roading friends on the East Coast who'll remind me about the time my winchless truck required their "assistance. You know the deal. It's likely you've heard the same thing before.
Once you make the leap and decide to shell out the bucks, you're faced with the tongue twisting question, "Which winch is which?" There are various terms like "line rating," "stall speed" "single line rate" and more, seemingly designed to confuse the novice wincher, and little else. Then there's the choice between electric winches, hydraulic winches, and PTO (power take-off) winches. It's enough to send you back to Hi-Lift land exclusively.
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| A simple and basic controller is standard equipment for the Superwinch. With quality construction and no need for bells and whistles, the controller is easy to understand and operate. |
For most wheelers, the electric winch is the easiest to both install and use. While Hydraulic and PTO winches may be a hot setup for some applications, the general school of thought favors the electric in all but the most specialized applications. Fortunately, Superwinch provides electric winches in more sizes and applications than you can shake a snatch-block at. Better yet, they make selecting the right one for your application easy.
For our project truck "Flashback F-150," the criteria were simple. Electric winch capable of extracting 6000-pound truck from positions of grief on occasion. No need for a 24x7 duty cycle, it's just gotta' work when yours truly screws up (as he's been known to do) in the rocks or in the desert sand washes where the truck spends much of it's time. Since the truck may need to serve as an anchor at times, the winch has to be capable of withstanding multiple pulls without burning up, but it won't be getting that treatment every time out the door. In short, we just needed a good, solid piece of hardware. Pretty much the same as most off-roaders do.
As luck would have it, the plush and semi-well-lit offices of Off-Road.com received a call from Superwinch right about the time we were ready to go winch shopping. You just gotta' love a coincidence. When we laid out our intentions, the guys at Superwinch recommended the "S Series" in a 9000 lb. Size to match the portly features of our truck. With 3000 lbs. of single line pull to spare, the S-9000 is sized perfectly for use on a full-size rig.
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| Ease of use translates to the connections and Free/Lock Switch. Solid feel and ease of use are again evident. Don't you wish everything could be this easy? |
Looking Inside
When you consider the job a winch is asked to do and the fact that it could easily be the one piece of equipment standing between your rig and a long fall off the side of a cliff, this isn't the place to skimp on quality. Buying a winch rated too low for your rig and thinking you can just do a double line pull to boost it's capacity is a sure way to get into trouble. Sure, it might work once. Maybe a couple times. But you'll be damn sorry if you lose or severely damage your rig because you tried taking the cheap way out.
Then there's the quality of the winch itself. Is it made of stout stuff? Is there more plastic than metal floating around the internals of that pretty new case? What about motor strength and gear size? As with just about anything, you get what you pay for. Beefy parts tend to cost more than cheaply built or light duty pieces.
The Superwinch S9000 - Just the Facts Ma'mm
Rated Line Pull: 9,000 lb (4,082 kg)
Stall Load: 11,900 lb (5,398 kg)
Motor: 2.0 hp Series Wound
Gearing: Differential Planetary
Gear Ratio: 253:1
Brake: Automatic In-The-Drum
Wire Rope: 5/16" x 100' (7.9mm x 30.5)
Dimensions: 23.56"l x 6.75"d x 9.56"h (598mm l x 171mm d x 243mm h)
Weight: 95 lb (43 kg)
Standard Features:
Power In and Out
Freespooling
Heavy-Duty Series Wound Motor
Built-In Prewired Solenoid System
Handheld Remote Switch 12' (3.66m cable)
Circuit Breaker
Durable Powder Coat Finish
First Impressions
Developed in 1993 as a high-end performance winch, the S9000 has weathered the years extremely well. Using a very basic and easy to maintain design, there are few surprises in store for you if you ever need to pull up the cover. Finished in a black powdercoat, the S9000s housing is ready for just about any inclimate weather, and since they're usually mounted ahead of the rest of the vehicle, they usually see their share of that.
From an aesthetic standpoint, the winch has a modern look that will not werak havoc on the delicate sensibilities of the average off-roader. The powdercoated aluminum cover serves to keep a significant amount of weather and debris off the motor and drive assemblies. It's not hard to imagine the winch bolted up to either an old Willys' or a new Expedition and in either event it would look right at home.
The S9000 is almost "modular" in it's construction with easily replaceable parts, versatile mounting potential, and the ability to easily swap between 12 and 24V operation. To fit the broadest possibility of applications, Superwinch wisely built in "foot down" or "foot forward" functionality. Depending on your choice of mounting, you can configure the winch to bolt down "vertically" (as in to a plate mounted below the winch) or you can use the "foot forward" option and bolt it down "horizontally" behind it's mounting plate, thus pulling the winch into the mount under load. The choice you make will vary depending on the mount / winch bumper you choose to buy, or whatever custom application your fevered mind (and welder) can dream up.
 www.superwinch.comAnd tell them Off-Road.com sent ya'! |
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