Reasonable price for winch and installation

Hi all,
I am admittedly not mechanically inclined and need a winch this winter. family members go off the icy mountain roads every year and stuck in mud season on occasion. A local offroad place here in Vermont would sell me and install an ironman winch with 10,000 lb capability synthetic rope for $2200. I bought the 4runner lightly used and it already has a bumper in place and spot where a winch once was.

I have seen similar winches online for $500-1000. $2200 seems steep but I want it done right and this place seems to have a good reputation. Thoughts?

 

That's pretty steep. If there is already a winch bumper in place it's probably a hour to drop that, bolt on the winch, and reinstall. Easy to do yourself - with a helper, and/ or a floor jack.

What's the breakdown of labor cost and cost of the winch?

 

*edit
I missed the part about having a bumper already installed.


I say would be fine if nothing was there right now.

 

What winch is it?

 

$2200 with a winch compatible bumper already installed? That’s going to be like $1300+ in labor for a couple hours job. Find a different shop

 

Omg yeah. $650 winch. Yeah pass.

 

the quote says parts $1028, labor $945, plus tax for an Ironman 9500lb winch.

 

and they say it should take the whole thing about 7 hours

 

Winches are probably one of those things, you get what you pay for.

 

Why are they charging over $1,000 for a roughly $600 winch? According to Ironman the winch comes with everything, winch, rope, fairlead, and controller. What's the extra $400 in "parts"?

Also, seven hours to install a winch? I'd hate to see their shop time for a basic lift install.

The whole thing seems like a cash grab. I'd ask another shop. Winches are easy, and I hate doing anything remotely electrical.

 

This is just food for thought since it’s just a personal opinion, but winches are a fairly high risk installation that can turn out to be a nightmare if you’re not mechanically inclined. A bad installation can end up screwing up AC high pressure lines, a transmission coolant line (if I recall the location of that line correctly), and the TSS wiring (if you have radar). Not to mention poor wire routing and protection can cause a massive short that would probably melt the battery/cause fire in a fender bender, or short circuit many years later if insulation wears through and grounds to surrounding metal.

None of is a problem if it’s correctly installed. So why worry about it if you’re gonna pay someone to do it? Because somebody not mechanically inclined may not be in the position to judge the work of the installer to ensure it’s actually been safely done. It leaves you at the mercy of installer to admit they made a potential mistake if something goes bad now, or 5 years from now.

If somebody installs it for you, have them explain how they will wire it and isolate it electrically from the battery. Ask them what they do to make sure the bumper/mount is adequate and was installed correctly to take the winch loads, how you will be able to access the winch clutch, the plug for the winch controller, etc. Basically, do your best to understand how it should be installed so that you can verify their installation, and know what kind of problems might show up due to a bad install. In reality, the install is pretty easy, but it’s also easily screwed up if you aren’t careful. A good installer should be able to answer these questions, and also convince you that the price they charge is worth it. If they can’t, probably best to look elsewhere.

And once you’re satisfied with the install, don’t wait until somebody gets stuck to become familiar with safe recovery techniques. Study up, learn how it can hurt you or others if you botch a recovery, and practice it before hand. There are a ton of winching videos out there that are very educational in this regard.

 

re: @McSpazatron 's story: long long ago before I owned a 4wd vehicle. I was with my buddy after a rain and he got stuck. This dude with a Landcruiser happily winched us out. He had the back full of bags with his nick name embroidered on them. Told us to follow him on what ever social media was popular at the time. He was all about the 4 wheeling "lifestyle." But when he winches us out it starts smoking under the hood. He had a short somewhere. We were lucky he kept going and got us unstuck but shit. Melted his wires. "at least I figured this out now instead of when I really needed it" he said. Pretty sure he installed it. Did not know what he was doing.

 

Ironman sells two 9,500 lbs winches - both with controller, synthetic line, etc. for $594 and $649. That's retail. The shop doesn't pay retail. Ironman gives shops good shop rates. So, even if that shop sells the winch to you for the advertised retail price, they're making a profit - as they should. They're a business. But making a 100% profit? That's sh**y.

On the installation, I mostly agree with what's been said. That is NOT a 7 hour job. Maybe 1 hour is ambitious. I think 3 is fair. A shop is going to remove or mostly remove the bumper, mount the winch, then run the cables. Most of the time - as @McSpazatron pointed out - there's something in the way, e.g., brackets, hard lines, etc. This isn't like dropping a winch on the bumper of an FJ40 or CJ7. It's not rocket surgery, but there's always something.

The point I do agree with completely - installing a winch should be done by or with someone who's done it before (and used it a lot!). Oh, and find another shop ;-)

 

Realistically, they probably have to remove the bumper and reinstall it, so they are doing a bumper install twice, so double the install time. Bumper is probably three hours labor to remove and reinstall, winch one hour on top of that. There shop rate is probably $150/hr. $600 in labor should be about right. I wouldn't pay more than $800 for a Chinese winch. So, maybe $1500 total.

 

So it has the bumper where a winch WAS installed or a Compatible bumper for a winch?? If winch was previously installed you may or may not be able to use existing wiring. If not compatible install new winch harness basically like the previous one.
Oh yeah $2200 Tell'em

 

I'm gonna split hairs here... Removing and reinstalling the same winch bumper is MUCH easier/quicker than installing a winch bumper for the first time. There's no cutting, relocating (brackets, lines, wires...), stuck bolts, etc. It's just hardware off, bumper off, bumper on, same hardware back on. Of course that assumes the bumper was installed correctly the first time - correct hardware, no rubbing, etc. And agreed - $800 is plenty (!) for a Chinese winch.

@LCJ77 winch wiring is always part of the winch. The cables do come off, but most of the time they're sold, installed and removed with the cables attached... not much left over when/if a winch is removed.

 

and OP said there's already a bumper in place which can accommodate a winch. I don't know what kinda bumper it is, but a lot of aftermarket bumpers are much easier to take off and on than the stock one.

IMO its really the power steering cooling line that I would be curious how the shop plans to handle. IF it's in the way of this winch.

OP what bumper you got?

also - maybe ask the shop about the power steering cooling line. How that is addressed.