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Looking for a winch for a zero-turn mower

upper_tanker

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2019
Messages
317
Location
Michigan
Good morning everyone.

My dad is looking for a winch for one of his zero turn mowers. It's a newer Exmark Lazer. He doesn't want anything too extravagant, but he obviously wants something that's going to hold up to a little abuse.

The winch will primarily be used to pull the mower out of wet ditches. Sometimes, he goes out and helps the other crews, and he doesn't have another mower available to pull him out. This means that he has to call another crew, have them take the time out of their daily route, and come to free him.

We were looking at the Badland winches from HF, the 2500lb one. The only (possible) issue that I see is that it's rated for 5% duty cycle (45 sec at Max Rated Load; 14 min, 15 sec Rest). I have no idea if this would be an issue or not. I'm assuming that 45 seconds would be enough time to get him out, but I feel like due to the price, this is a pretty crappy duty cycle rating? He would likely be on the machine, at least spinning the tires a little bit to help out. This would greatly reduce the load on the winch. I believe the mower weighs 950(ish) pounds.



What he's looking for:

As small of a footprint as possible
Ability to easily remove winch when not in use
Ability to purchase a second mounting plate so he can have one on the rear, and one on the front.
Lowest current draw as possible, while not sacrificing "oomph," since this mower just has a little lawn and garden battery and no alternator.

He's also not looking to spend a lot if he can help it. Obviously, he wants something that will stand up to occasional abuse and will be reliable when he wants it, but doesn't want to spend $800 for this if he can help it.

I'm new to the winch world and don't have any experience with them. Typically, we either use recovery ropes and straps and just pull whatever is stuck out with those. I do know about winch safety and safe operating practices, I've been reading up on that.


Any suggestions? We have thought about just using a come-along, but he wants and needs something easier on him.
 
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etijsma

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2011
Messages
24
I use the Badland 2500l all the time loading stuff and a few smaller cars when I need to. I have no issues other than it will bog down hard. Hard to beat for the price.
 
OP
U

upper_tanker

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2019
Messages
317
Location
Michigan
I use the Badland 2500l all the time loading stuff and a few smaller cars when I need to. I have no issues other than it will bog down hard. Hard to beat for the price.

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah, I know some HF products are absolute garbage, and others are a great value. I'm almost thinking that we're going to go this route anyways, simply for the price and how rarely it will probably (and hopefully) be used.

Question for you...
This DOES come with a mounting plate, right? The description on HF website says it comes with "Roller fairlead, hook, control box, circuit breaker." Also, how does it actually mount? Do you have to bolt it? It sure would be nice to find something that just slips onto the mount and locks in place, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.
 
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etijsma

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2011
Messages
24
I had a champion winch in a bag kit that I swapped out the champion for the badland. Pretty sure it came with a plate. You will have to figure out a mounting strategy for it. I don’t mount mine, I use a small pull strap and clevis to mount it to my trailer.

For $50 it’s had to not take a 2nd look.
 
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upper_tanker

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 2, 2019
Messages
317
Location
Michigan
I had a champion winch in a bag kit that I swapped out the champion for the badland. Pretty sure it came with a plate. You will have to figure out a mounting strategy for it. I don’t mount mine, I use a small pull strap and clevis to mount it to my trailer.

For $50 it’s had to not take a 2nd look.

This is a great idea that I wasn't sure would work or not, but is probably what I'm looking for. So, you can easily remove yours and hook it anywhere that you need to with your clevis and strap, correct? This would work great for "mounting" it wherever he needed to on the mower.
 
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