Ever pull with a Pierce winch before? Pierce Arrow has been around in Henrietta, Texas, since 1976, so when we got an email from them about its new 15,000- and 20,000-pound recovery winches, we about fell out of our chairs. How could we have not known about such a heavy-winch available for a 4x4? Though Pierce Arrow has been in business for over three decades, its main concentration for a number of years was industrial and professional lines meant for customers like oil rig builders and tow truck operators. Pierce's specialties include worm gear winches that are run off either PTO (power take-off), hydraulic fluid, or are electrically driven. But Pierce has stepped up its recovery winch line for off-road vehicles that need some serious winching power. It saw a need in the industry for the giant winches some of us require for the really big trucks with the really big tires. We were eager to try one out. And of course, it had to be the monster of its line-the 20,000-pounder. If you've got some really giant tire and truck issues, then you know only too well that if you can't recover yourself, no one else is going to be getting you, either. After using three winches to get our fullsize Cherokee, Matilda, out of a not-so-steep canyon, we realized how sorely we needed a big-boy winch. WINCH SPECS WINCH: Pierce Arrow 20,000-pound recoverywinch MOTOR: 6.5 hp / 4.8 Kw series-wound CONTROL: Remote switch GEARTRAIN: Three-stage planetary GEAR REDUCTION RATIO: 420:1 BRAKING: Automatic load-holding brake DRUM SIZE: 3.5 x 8.7 inches CABLE: 1/2-inch x 72 feet REMOTE CONTROL SWITCH: Included RECOMMENDED BATTERY: 650 CCA OVERALL DIMENSIONS: 21.9 x 7.7 x 9.8 inches MOUNTING BOLT PATTERN: 10 x 4.5 inches The 20,000-pound Pierce recovery winch has a 6.5hp series-wound motor that's power by a 12-volt electrical system. The three-stage planetary gear system provides a reduction ratio of 420:1.The 20,000-pound Pierce recovery winch has a 6.5hp series-wound motor that's power by a 12 The automatic brake is load-holding, and will not let your vehicle (or whatever the winch's load is) move when the winch motor is not activated. All Pierce electric winches feature the compact solenoid box mounted on top of the winch motor. Pierce has winches avail-able in 6,000-, 9,000-, 12,000-, 15,000-, and 20,000-pound-pulling capacities.The automatic brake is load-holding, and will not let your vehicle (or whatever the winch' It is nice little touches like the standard rubberized controller that show the difference between a quality product and a cheap product. Not only did our new Pierce winch have a nice controller, it also came with a snatch block to double the winch line pulling power (although we hope we never need more than 20,000 pounds of pulling potential-we think the frame might rip in half at that point!).It is nice little touches like the standard rubberized controller that show the difference The Pierce winch comes with its own heavy-duty fairlead, but it does not line up with the front winch mounting holes. The winch line feeds from the bottom of the spool in the standard mounting position in front of the vehicle and right side up.The Pierce winch comes with its own heavy-duty fairlead, but it does not line up with the The giant hook on the front is easy enough to install onto the cable, but it is a monster. We ran into an issue with the Pierce winch that we've never had before. The half-inch cable was so big that we could not get the metal cable clamp (that makes a loop at the end of the winch cable) through the rollers of the winch fairlead. We actually had to pull the clips off the roller pins and remove the rollers to get the cable through. It was no big deal labor-wise, but it just goes to show how big the parts are on this winch.We ran into an issue with the Pierce winch that we've never had before. The half-inch cabl Do you have a big off-roader? If so, it'd be a good idea to look into a 15,000- or 20,000-pound winch like this Pierce Arrow unit.Do you have a big off-roader? If so, it'd be a good idea to look into a 15,000- or 20,000- The Pierce winch has the standard four-bolt mounting foot design, but it also has points for two more bolts to pick up on the front of the winch (and on the rear of the winch if you're mounting this differently). Most winches with 12,000 or more pounds of pulling power have mounting points on two different planes to make sure the winch stays in place while winching. A winch of this pulling caliber should really have front plate mounting points (like we have added to our truck) and not just the four-bolt bottom plate design.The Pierce winch has the standard four-bolt mounting foot design, but it also has points f Take our fullsize Cherokee that sits on 47-inch tires. It weighs under 7,000 pounds, yet the 10,000-pound winch that used to be on the front of it couldn't even pull it up a decent incline out of a canyon. In fact, we had to get two more 9,000-pound winches on the truck to get it up the hill. The problem is not that the truck is too heavy for the 10,000-pound winch (in a dead pull scenario); it's that the vehicle package presents too much resistance for it. Our fullsize Cherokee with stock tires probably would have been okay with the 10,000-pound winch, but the 47-inch Pit Bulls give a huge contact patch and can present a lot of resistance if they get hung up and are not being turned by engine power. The 20,000-pound Pierce winch on the front of the truck is much more suiting (plus now we can claim we have a 10-ton winch on the front).Take our fullsize Cherokee that sits on 47-inch tires. It weighs under 7,000 pounds, yet t Sources Pierce Arrow Inc. n/a CA 800-658-6301 www.piercesales.com By Jerrod Jones Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
