OFF THE BEATEN PATH
"TO MY ASTONISHMENT IT KEPT RIGHT ON YANKING MY KUBOTA"
Colin Spencer from New York - Submitted on 07.07.08
I am a proud owner of a 2005 Kawasaki Brute Force 650 4x4, thanks to my 3,000lb WARN winch. I was always happy with my WARN winch but I always had underestimated its full potential. Until one day I had taken my tractor into my back woods in order to get ahead on making trails. (I personally feel winter or early spring is the best time to make trails, less brush, branches, etc.) As I was nearing the end of day of work I headed back to where I had entered the woods, which to my disappointment was a hill just steep enough for my Kubota tractor to lose its bite in the 5-6in of snow covering the ground. I had tried everything; forwards, backwards, fast, slow, and even tried pushing with myself out with front end loader. But after a half hour, all the snow had basically turned into slick ice and I had almost given up. At the time I thought I was going to have to rent a small bulldozer in order to pull it out. But being 14 years old at the time and a little short of cash and a driver's license, renting a bulldozer was out of the question. I finally thought about winching the tractor out with my four-wheeler, but I was almost certain my winch would either stall out or the cable would snap. But with the fear of my father coming home and blowing a gasket I had figured it was worth a shot. So I hopped on the four-wheeler and drove it down about 15 feet in front of the hill where my tractor was stuck and parked the tractor as far up the steep slope as I could get it. I also decided to wear my ATV helmet as a safety precaution if my winch cable were to snap. So with my fingers crossed I hooked my winch cable up to the front of my tractor and hoped for the best. I fired up my four-wheeler and revved my engine a few times, I eased on the power switch and after a few moments heard my WARN winch start to power down from wahhnananana to shhawawawa. I figured at any instant the winch would seize or something but to my astonishment it kept right on yanking my Kubota BX2200 right up that slope with no problem at all. My jaw was just about touching the ground and I was wondering if I was using a different four-wheeler. And so I managed to do the impossible and pull my Kubota tractor up an icy slope with the help of my 3,000lb WARN winch. And to this day I will swear by the brand WARN and I will never compromise with using a different brand winch no matter what... Oh yeah, my dad never found out that I had completely buried our tractor at the bottom of a hill. So you could definitely say everyone was happy. Hope you enjoyed the story! - Colin Spencer