WARN 8274 winch. Who has one, What rig do you use it on, and why do you like it over newer model?

[Desert Runner]

An old school winch that is a beast, and is underrated in strength. It's design, limits it's use in modern rigs (airbags), but for those that like a simpler, less electronically upscale vehicle, would you use this over cheaper more compact designs?View attachment 93811

 

[Desert Runner]

Two more pics with synthetic line on themView attachment 93812View attachment 93813View attachment 93814winch-mount for it.

 

[smritte]

That was the first winch I owned. In it's day, it pretty much held top spot unless you went to a commercial duty winch. With the new generation of motors and lower profile I prefer something modern and water proof in a 12k. If i'm not mistaken, Warn only rated that as an 8k. That was way under rated.
I will admit, I love the look.

 

[Desert Runner]

That is what I read a long time ago. That this winch was WAY underrated to the point you had to be careful of the line rating, as the winch itself would just keep on pulling way past that 8 K rating.

 

[smritte]

I've seen that winch out pull the 10-12k ones in the same time frame. When I got rid of the Jeep that had mine, I got a12k, 2 speed commercial winch. Not quite as tall but 5 inch's wider. Nice thing was the spool held 200 foot of cable. On high speed it was rated at 1.2k. It would spool in about as fast as you walked. I would use it to move gear and people up hill sides when we were doing Adopt a Trail work.

 

[Corbet]

I have one and it will eventually go on a FJ40 project. If it fit in my 80 series bumper I’d probably be running it now.

Faster, more rope, lots of upgrades out there.

 

[Horse Soldier]

I still uses mine I bought in 1997. They pull twice as fast when you put 24volts to it but only under a load. Have fun and Roll Tide.

 

[Maverick1701]

I want one for my 1954 M38A1...but $$$

 

[Horse Soldier]

I want one for my 1954 M38A1...but $$$

New I think 1000.00 or up, used 400.00 on Facebook market place. Just shop around. Have fun and Roll Tide.

 

[Dilldog]

Those winches have been around since the 50s. Warn actually bought the design rights form another company that went under. Currently they are the only winch Warn makes that is still made in Oregon, all the others are imported from China and just get a sticker on them and a huge mark up.
I was once part of a recovery where we used a single 8274 with all 100' of cable let out, pulling an 82 1 ton Suburban with a big block on 38s, hooked to a 75 1 ton K5 with a big block and 35s up a snow covered 12* grade. It was slow and the motor got so hot we started putting snow on it to cool as the brake wouldnt hold the load so we had to keep going. Thing pulled so many amps it melted the cables. It got the job done and is still in service to this day as far as I know on that Suburban.

 

[bmwguru]

Those winches have been around since the 50s. Warn actually bought the design rights form another company that went under. Currently they are the only winch Warn makes that is still made in Oregon, all the others are imported from China and just get a sticker on them and a huge mark up.
I was once part of a recovery where we used a single 8274 with all 100' of cable let out, pulling an 82 1 ton Suburban with a big block on 38s, hooked to a 75 1 ton K5 with a big block and 35s up a snow covered 12* grade. It was slow and the motor got so hot we started putting snow on it to cool as the brake wouldnt hold the load so we had to keep going. Thing pulled so many amps it melted the cables. It got the job done and is still in service to this day as far as I know on that Suburban.

Not according to the Warn website. Their site says only the VR series is made in China. It says all other lines are made in Oregon. WARN Industries: Made in America Winches that Can Pull You Through

 

[Desert Runner]

Not according to the Warn website. Their site says only the VR series is made in China. It says all other lines are made in Oregon. WARN Industries: Made in America Winches that Can Pull You Through

I knew WARN had moved some of their cheaper winch line models to China, but not their more upscale ones. Wow, that decision in this trade atmosphere is going to bite them in the rear.

If this is the case, then the addage, "WARN or None", will cease to have the meaning it once did. Fanboys aside.

That is quite the story about a 8275 chugging along, while in the middle of a melt down (Pun Intended). And it's still working years later, that is what legends are made from. I wonder if any of the newer models could come close to that type of use, and survive.

 

[Dilldog]

Not according to the Warn website. Their site says only the VR series is made in China. It says all other lines are made in Oregon. WARN Industries: Made in America Winches that Can Pull You Through

I may have miss understood, but a friend of mine is a machinist at Warn making the gears for the 8274 told me the 8274 was the only winch made in the US. It could be this is the only winch that uses all US sourced parts. He also mentioned that their parking lot is full of containers of foreign parts, and they actually have to park down the street. Basically he said the only Warn worth the price was the 8274, and since the old man died its not the same company.

 

[Desert Runner]

I may have miss understood, but a friend of mine is a machinist at Warn making the gears for the 8274 told me the 8274 was the only winch made in the US. It could be this is the only winch that uses all US sourced parts. He also mentioned that their parking lot is full of containers of foreign parts, and they actually have to park down the street. Basically he said the only Warn worth the price was the 8274, and since the old man died its not the same company.

A sad reality for US companies this last couple of decades. The BEAN COUNTERS ruling the roost,vs the engineers and enthusiasts. Where the bottom line means everything.

I do not doubt what you have heard from your friend. Once a company goes public, and Wall Street is involved, the stockholders dividend, becomes the HOLY GRAIL.

 

[Dilldog]

A sad reality for US companies this last couple of decades. The BEAN COUNTERS ruling the roost,vs the engineers and enthusiasts. Where the bottom line means everything.

I do not doubt what you have heard from your friend. Once a company goes public, and Wall Street is involved, the stockholders dividend, becomes the HOLY GRAIL.

Ya know honestly, Im not opposed to stuff from China, I have had some top rate Chinese stuff (like the Norinco Type 59 Makarov (military contract surplus, not commercial), I would put it against any of my SIGs any day). But when you build a product to price point, quality often suffers. We quite frankly see this from every country at one or multiple points in time.
People often forget that the US wrote the book on mass producing a mediocre product, that is quite honestly one of the big reasons we won WWII. We just cranked out more mediocre tanks and equipment compared to the Germans who were still hand fitting pieces of industrial art.