ProMark Offroad Blog
ProMark 10K Silverback Recovery Winch Featured in 4Wheel Drive Magazine
10K Silverback on a Jeep
Watch for the ProMark Offroad 10,000 lb Silverback Series electric recovery winch in the September 2010 issue of 4Wheel Drive magazine! The ProMark 10K Jeep winch is mounted on a custom-build Jeep Wrangler JK Unlimited. Kenny Hauk, owner of River Raider Off-Road in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, was hoping for Jeep to release a truck-bodied version of the JK. When that didn’t happen, Kenny decided to build his own.
After hours of custom work and modifications, the result was a Jeep build like no other, known as the Raider ST. The project included a number of aftermarket accessories, including the 10K Silverback winch from ProMark—a perfect complement to the silver-bodied Jeep. Kenny is planning to build several more of these JK trucks for River Raider customers.
You can read the entire article online at 4WD magazine.
This custom build JK truck features a 10K Silverback recovery winch from ProMark.
Just How Bulletproof is the Outback 3500 lb Winch by ProMark?
Ask someone who knows! Adam Harvey is a proud ProMark winch owner with plenty of stories to tell. In this episode, posted on ArcticChat.com, Adam shows just how tough a ProMark winch can be. With a tree blocking the trail and no way around it, this trailblazer dug his ATV into the sand and put his Outback 3500 lb ProMark winch to work:
Winching a tree limb off the trail
with the Outback 3500 lb winch
After describing his off road escapades in detail, Adam then goes on to brag about just how well the ProMark winch held up during the entire ordeal:
“The winch is made by PROMARK which some of you know makes the Gorilla winches. Some people have dislikes about their products from the past experiences but this winch is a new product and I can tell you it is BULLETPROOF. I put it thru its paces last night and I would recommend it to ANYONE.”
Later on in the post, Adam continues to rave about his winch:
“I have been STUPID impressed with this winch. Tom McCullough gave me this winch to test out and I told him I was rough on a winch and don’t be mad if I broke it. He told me to see if I could; he needed to know if it had any weaknesses. I can tell you I have been dumbfounded that I can’t tear this winch up. I don’t abuse my equipment by any means, I use it just how you are supposed to and take care of it, but I have gotten so used in the past to my Warn breaking every time I use it, or it not even working at all after you free-spool it. I’m 100% against Warn because I’ve had 10 and have not gotten a good one YET! This is my first ever ProMark and I can tell you I am sold for life! This 3500 Outback Series is undoubtedly the toughest thing I’ve ever used. It pulled for two hours non-stop last night. I went to lunch and ate lunch with all my friends earlier and all of them were all constantly talking about how awesome this thing pulled and worked all nite. … As long as they sell them, they’ve got a customer for life! I won’t ever buy another.”
Want more? Read the full 3500lb winch review with pictures on ArcticChat.com. Or check out the specs for the Outback 3500 from ProMark.
Related Posts:
3500 lb Outback Winch Refuses to Break | ATV Winch Review
The Winch: 3500 Outback ATV / UTV Winch from ProMark Offroad
The Assignment: Put it through the ringer
What happens when you put the ProMark 3500 lb Outback winch to the test, where other winches have failed? Adam Harvey knows. In his own words: “I can tell you this, I give my Warn a 2 out of a possible 10. And I give this Outback Series 3500 from ProMark a 9.5 out of a 10. It is daylight and dark difference better than my Warn.” Adam relies on his winch for his job and for some pretty intense riding.
3500 lb Outback winch pulling an ATV
and rig (1400+ pounds) up the hill
“I ended up in touch with the head guy at ProMark and asked him a few questions about their winches. I told him I needed a winch that was indestructible, was fully sealed, and had no plastic gears. I also threw in the stipulation that I needed more than a normal 50ft of rope. I built radiused spacer sleeves for my Warn that allowed me to run almost 80ft of rope and sometimes I needed every inch of it. When you are WAY out in the wilderness or in a bind and nothing is around, sometimes you gotta have more than 50ft of rope. He told me that their ProMark 3500 Outback Series winch was what I needed—indestructible, geared super low to pull anything, fully watertight, and no plastic internals, AND could fit more than 50ft of rope.
I told him to get one coming, got it in and oohh’d and ahhh’d at it. It’s built like a German tank. I put it on and have been running it since. This winch came with all sorts of goodies like a handheld remote and a handlebar rocker switch. The fully sealed solenoid has two inputs for the wired 20ft remote or the optional wireless remote. I don’t normally put my winch under water, but I do wash it religiously every day. I wash my bike at the end of every day, so the bike definitely sees it fair share of water. I recall taking my Warn apart before to do regular maintenance and had rusted gears and a case full of water. As far as I can tell after a month and a half of having this ProMark, no issues from water yet.
Working off my bike like I do, and having equipment that you know is going to work and you can trust gives you an assurance that you can do whatever you set out to do. I feel certain that this winch and all the others they make will do their job. As long as you get the right winch for your application, I am sure you will have safe and happy outings. I know when I go on big rides and you come to a mudhole and there is one guy buried up to his racks in mud and 50 people standing around looking and everybody hollers out ‘who’s gotta winch’ and you look around and 80% of the bikes have a winch and 90% of them are Warn but everybody claims theirs is broken, well I too was one of those guys once and was always without a winch or was always scared it was going to break. Now I don’t have to worry about that. … For the price and the performance so far, this winch is holding up 1000 times better than my Warn.”
Read more of Adam’s winch review at the High Lifter forum, and see the Outback winch in action with these pictures and videos.
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River Raider Jeep Build with 10K ProMark Winch
Check out the new project build from the guys at River Raider Off Road! The Raider ST Project includes a 10,000 lb Silverback winch from ProMark Offroad. The goal was to build a J8 style sport truck based off the Wrangler Unlimited platform.
River Raider Off Road offers high quality Jeep accessories and custom builds that are built for abuse out on the trail. They proudly offer the “toughest and most durable parts on the planet for your Jeep,” and they test these products aggressively before passing them on to their customers. River Raider depends on ProMark’s Jeep winches to get them out of even the toughest stucks.
Raider ST Project at Moab - 10,000 lb ProMark Silverback winch with synthetic rope
Raider ST Project at Moab - 10,000 lb ProMark Silverback winch with synthetic rope
ProMark Offroad (formerly Gorilla Winches) XTR 3000 Winch Review by ATV Torture
Thanks to ATV Torture for the following review on the 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 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.
We found ProMarkOffroad.com (formerly GorillaWinches.com) to be a full service, completely informative site which answered all of our questions about their products completely. Gorilla Winches [now ProMark Offroad] was founded in 2003 by several powersports enthusiasts 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 whose knowledge about the Gorilla Winch [now ProMark Offroad] 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
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 [now ProMark Offroad] 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.
Installation
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.
One 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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
Note: This winch review is republished with permission from ATV Torture. See the original winch review and the complete Polaris RZR project at ATVTorture.com.
YouTube Testimonial for ProMark Offroad (formerly Gorilla Winches)
One of our customers uploaded a YouTube video about his experience with ProMark Offroad (formerly Gorilla Winches) after ordering one of our ATV winches. Here’s what he had to say:
“About a year ago I ordered a Winch from Ebay called the Gorilla [now ProMark Offroad]. It worked excellent for a year but then I had some problems with it. I sent a youtube video into Gorilla [now ProMark Offroad] explaining my problem. They responded fast, sent me parts and instructions, and now I have an excellent working Winch!”
Watch the video now!
3000 lb XTR Winch Chosen for ATV Torture Project
Choose the XTR 3000 lb ATV / UTV winch to get you out!
ATV Torture is working on their new project build for the Polaris RZR. Among the lineup of aftermarket accessories they’re testing for the RZR is a 3000 lb XTR winch from PROMARK OFFROAD (formerly Gorilla Winches)!
Here’s a sneak preview of ATV Torture’s review of the 3000 lb XTR winch:
“To provide ourselves the confidences to pull the heavy RZR out of something we had no business being in the first place, we bolted on a 3000 lb XTR Winch from Gorilla Winches [now ProMark Offroad]. The Gorilla [now ProMark] XTR comes with everything needed to get you going into the nastiest areas on earth; and, the Gorilla [now ProMark] will get you out too.”
Stay tuned for a full product review on this 3000 lb synthetic rope winch coming soon!
ATV Winch Review | Gorilla [now ProMark] 2500 lb Trail Series
ATV 2500 lb Trail Series Winch
“One of the most important accessories for mud riders are winches since ATVs get stuck in the mud more than anywhere else. This Gorilla [now ProMark Offroad] brand winch can pull 2500 LB which should be strong enough for any serious mud addict.
This easy to install winch features best in class power and performance with a 1.0 horsepower motor and comes preloaded with 40 feet of aircraft grade high carbon steel cable.
Controlled by a mini thumb switch, it features power in and power out functions. The free spool knob allows for easy line management and the low amp draw electronics efficiently saves the battery. All this and it only weighs 16 lbs.”
You can view the full product description for the 2500 pound Trail Series winch on our website.
ATVSource Reviews the Outback 4000 lb Winch
"The Gorilla Outback is definitely the best one for the job!" - Johnson
Here’s a sneak peek at the review:
“…I was out playing in the woods behind my own house and [lo] and behold, I got stuck on a log! It just goes to show me, that you never know when you might need a winch. So there I was stuck halfway across a huge log, unable to go forward or backwards. I smiled and got out of the RZR. I took the remote cable, ran the winch out and hooked it to a tree. I got back in the RZR and pushed the button. I gave it a little gas and it hopped right over that log as if it were nothing. I was impressed! Now, I never want to be without a winch on the front of whatever I am driving and I am convinced that the Gorilla [now ProMark] Outback is definitely the best one for the job!”
In her article, Johnson starts off by describing the installation process. She admits that this was her first time installing a winch by herself. Luckily, with the instruction manual and a good head on her shoulders, Johnson installed the winch with little trouble. She goes on to describe the initial testing phase and the self-recovery process after she finally managed to get stuck enough to need a winch. After taking the Gorilla [now ProMark] Outback UTV winch through its paces, Johnson concludes,
“I hope you never find yourself stuck or in a tight spot out in the woods, but if you ride enough, you will and when you do, I hope you have a Gorilla [now ProMark Offroad] Winch to pull you out of the jam!”
Read the full product review with photos at ATVSource.com: Gorilla [now ProMark] Outback 4000lb Winch: Go Ahead and Get Hooked!
ATV Rider Chooses Gorilla [now ProMark] XT 2500 Winch for Swamp Build
Waterproof winch for swamp bogging
After describing the process of building this swamp machine, Rick reveals the finishing touch:
“The final must-have item for our Brute Force 650i was a strong winch to get us out of some sticky predicaments. Gorilla Winch [now ProMark Offroad] supplied us with one of its XT 2500 units that we secured on a winch mounting plate supplied to us by Kawasaki. This setup gave us the confidence we needed to attempt the murkiest pits knowing that we could get ourselves out.”
This Kawasaki “bad creek bottom bogger” needed a waterproof winch. The XT 2500 winch was the answer. As for the hard-core riding that the guys do over at ATV Rider, Rick says, “If you are anything like us, you’ll need a Gorilla [now ProMark Offroad] winch to get you out at some point.”
Read the full article with photos online at ATV Rider Online.
