ProMark Offroad Gorilla XTR 3000 Winch
Upon commencing Project RZR,
we knew one thing was for certain, the low center of gravity and weight of
the Polaris RZR certainly justified us installing a winch.
In shopping for our winch we found that
there are several manufactures on the market to choose from these days.
You gotta love the World Wide Web. With our criteria being that the winch
needed to be waterproof, it needed to have remote capability either via
wireless or wired, and it needed to have some sort of manufacturers
warranty that ensured us in the event that for some reason the winch
failed, our investment would be protected.
In our search we came a across a few models
meeting our specifications; however, one attracted our attention even more
due to the lower price as well as many positive testimonials.
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We found ProMark Offroad.com formerly
Gorillawinches.com to be a full service, completely informative site which
answered all of our questions about their products completely. Gorilla Winch
was founded in 2003 by several powersports enthusiast who had a vision of
creating a company which made premium quality products available to consumers
at factory direct pricing.
When we called ProMark Offroad we were greeted
by a customer service rep who’s knowledge about the Gorilla Winch product line
was perfect. The rep answered all of our questions and it was decided that
this was a winch for us to try.
First Impression
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We set our sights on the
3000 lb ProMark Offroad XTR Package which comes complete with all
necessary mounting hardware, an aluminum Hawse fairlead, rubber line
stopper and Blue Steel synthetic winch line / cable. To control the winch,
ProMark Offroad provides a remote tether cord with in and out switch. This
cord allows you to control the winch remotely from up to 10’ away.
Additionally ProMark Offroad also provides you with the standard thumb
rocker switch to control the winch from inside the cab of the RZR. The
vehicle specific mounting plate is sold separately; however, when you
factor everything included with the winch kit, you still get a fantastic
value. |
Here are the specs of the Gorilla Winch XTR:
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- 50’ Blue Steel Synthetic Rope
- Waterproof Motor
- Upgraded accessory package which includes
a 4 post contactor, handlebar thumb switch, aluminum hawse fairlead, spring
hook and strap and a 10’ corded remote control.
| Everything arrived extremely
quick and all the contents were packaged extremely well ensuring no damage
would occur during transit. Best of all, when you order from
ProMarkOffroad.com, you get free shipping which is impressively fast. |
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Installation
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We began installing the
ProMark Offroad winch mounting plate on the Polaris RZR. ProMark Offroad
included very detailed instructions with the mounting plate to make the
installation as simple as possible. Unfortunately the Polaris engineers
never intended for a winch to be installed on the RZR. At times during the
plate install I felt like I was trying to free myself from some sort of
ATV Chinese finger trap. The installation of the mount install is tough,
but not impossible. Let it be said, this was in no way any fault from
ProMark Offroad; it is just simply a tight fit. |
| Once the mounting plate was
installed, it was time to begin wiring and mounting the winch. ProMark
provides you with all materials, including wire ties for securing the
power and control cabling to the vehicles frame. Once thing that impressed
me the most was that ProMark Offroad provided us with more than enough
power and ground feed cable. Very few manufactures we have dealt with in
the past did this. We usually had to add extra power cable or replace the
cable all together. |
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We followed the instructions
on wiring the ProMark Offroad winch up to the RZR’s battery power. The
instructions were easy to follow which streamlined the install step by
step.
After the installation was complete, we
tested the engagement and disengagement of the drive clutch. This worked
well, so on to our next step, which was to test the function of the rocker
switch and the corded remote. These two steps functioned 100%.
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Another great thing about the ProMark Offroad
XTR winch is the limited lifetime warranty. ProMark Offroad guarantees the XTR
winch to be free of defects and workmanship for the lifetime of the winch.
Additionally, they warrant the electrical components for 18 months. This seems
to be an industry standard for several manufactures.
Ride Report
With the ProMark Offroad
winch installed and our final tests and safety checks complete it was time
to test the XTR winch for what it was made for. We set out to determine
how much amperage the winch would draw when under a pull load. We knew
this test would vary since the level of consistency would have multiple
variables, but at least it would give us an idea of the types of current
loads this winch would induce against the RZR’s charging system.
We determined that the ProMark Offroad winch
when pulling the empty RZR up a 15 degree grade unloaded would cause a 12
Amp Draw at 20 feet of cable. As the cable wound in, the current draw
became slightly less.
We felt the best way to thoroughly test the
ProMark Offroad winch would be to perform a recovery of a 1000 + pound
vehicle up a steep off-camber incline 15 yards. The ProMark Offroad winch
performed flawlessly without the aid of a snatch block. I was extremely
impressed at the performance of the winch after this recovery effort. In
fact we tried a similar recover with another manufactures winch which
actually failed in its attempt pulling the machine out.
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Switching the winch from
it’s engaged state to free spool takes minimal effort and is accomplished
with just a quarter of a turn. This is far better than other winches I
have used which require nearly a half turn to engage or disengage the
winch clutch; that’s if it isn’t already jammed up with mud and grime.
Call me old fashioned, but I had always been
one to prefer steel winch line. The ProMark Offroad XTR winch comes with
50’ of exclusive Blue Steel synthetic winch line. This line is extremely
strong, lightweight and is much easier to handle than the traditional
steel cable. Another great thing about the synthetic line is that there is
less chance of the line whipping back in the event of a cable breakage;
this synthetic line will not do that. Needless to say, I am sold on
synthetic line now and will never even consider going back to steel winch
line.
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Conclusion
It’s good to know that you
can hit the trail and be confident in all the equipment that you outfitted
on your machine. The ProMark Offroad XTR winch provides me with the
confidence to get me out of any trouble that I get myself into. The XTR is
very competitively priced and offers many extras when compared to other
manufacturers winch packages.
After our intentional abuse of the ProMark
Offroad XTR we feel that this is one tough winch. The waterproof ProMark
Offroad XTR winch in my opinion easily competes with some of the more
expensive winches currently on the market that cost twice as much. With a
limited lifetime warranty, you can rest assured that your investment will
be taken care of in the event the winch would fail.
If you are on a budget and are looking for a
tough winch, you need to seriously give the ProMark Offroad XTR winch some
consideration, it is certainly up to the challenge.
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Contact Information
Web:
PROMARK OFFROAD ATV winches, Truck / Jeep Winches, and Offroad Accessories
Phone: (888) 657-9997
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