Choosing the “BEST” winch for the John Deere 850 and 750 line of crawler dozers is nearly impossible because there are so many variables. We will focus on the Deere 850 series for this blog, but the facts are similar for the 750 line as well.

The list of winch options for the Deere 850 is long as it is unclear. Here is a list of winches for the John Deere 850, but depending on the model and serial number of your crawler, it’s possible that NONE, or ALL, of these winches could fit your machine.

• Allied W6F (PTO common on older 850’s, no longer compatible with 850L and newer)
• Allied W6G (PTO common on older 850’s, no longer compatible with 850L and newer)
• Allied H6G
• Allied H6H
• Allied H8L
• Carco 70a (PTO common on older 850’s, no longer compatible with 850L and newer)
• Carco H85
• Carco H90
• Carco H110/H140

Picking the “BEST” winch from this list is impossible because the answer depends on how your crawler is equipped. The best solution often depends on price to install and performance after install. Both price and performance are affected dramatically depending on how the Deere 850 is equipped.

Here are some examples.

Example #1 - John Deere 850C

• The John Deere 850C uses a PTO winch only. Hydraulic winches were not common on dozers back then, and not all Deere 850C’s were equipped with the PTO option at the end of the hydraulic stack. Currently, a PTO can be added to an 850C bare back tractor at a relatively low cost. Look for Deere part number ST263167 as a reference. Once you have confirmed the crawler has the PTO option any of the PTO winches Should work if they have the right install group.
  • Carco 70a
  • Allied W6F
  • Allied W6G

Example #2 - John Deere 850J and Deere 850K 

The Deere 850J and 850K is tricky because there were a lot of tractor options at time of purchase. Here are the basic 4 you will be working with related to winch:

• Example #2.1 PTO option
  • This PTO option would sometimes be called a “Hydraulic pump with through shaft – ST697810” and be included in the John Deere manufacturing sales code number 7985. This is a more significant ad-on compared to the simple PTO shaft ad-on from the 850C’s. Carco can do the 70a, but it’s less common so your best bet is probably the Allied W6G or Allied W6F
• Example #2.2 High Performance Pump option
  • This is the BEST tractor configuration for any Deere 850K winch because it transfers the most power in a usable form to any of the compatible winches. Winch options include the Allied H6H, Allied H8L, Carco H85, Carco H90, Carco H110B, and Carco H140. These winches, in the correct configuration, all have great performance when paired with a high performance or hystsat winch installation package. The best choice of this list would be the Carco H110 or Allied H6H because they have good service history and are more common. The H110 was released first as an oversized winch for the Deere 850J with high performance hydraulics and they called it the “pipeline special”. The huge advantage with the high-performance hydraulics is that you get better line speeds, better full drum line pulls, and all the variable speed inching control that make hydraulic winches great.
• Example #2.3 Ripper Option
  • This is our least favorite option. In principle is sounds like the easiest choice because the hydraulic valve, hoses, and controls are already on the tractor and in a perfect world that would drive all winches. In reality the hydraulics optimized fort he ripper are small allowing for low psi/GPM to the rear of the tractor. This is perfect for simple hydraulic cylinders raising a ripper, but offers anemic power available for winch performance. There are also issues with the type of valve used not allowing the winch to function properly so modifications still have to be made during install. One of the only options for this is the Carco H85
• Example #2.4 Bare-Back with no auxiliary valve
  • This is a blank slate so you’ll have add one of the options above. On the John Deere 850K dozers the PTO option is not cheap and the winches get out performed by hydraulic winches driven by high performance hydraulics. If yo’ve got to add a winch to a bare back John Deere 850, the best choice is to add high performance hydraulics to the tractor. This get’s a little complicated because John Deere 850J and Some 850K’s started as a pilot hydraulic system and then got updated to electric over hydraulic controls. The conversion requires a clever Deere parts tech to get the correct parts list related to your machine serial number.

Winch integration with crawler design is continuing to increase and this will continue to be a factor in selecting the correct winch.

• The highest performing winches for the John Deere 850 dozers are going to be those driven by tractors equipped with High performance hydraulic packages for a winch.
• The winches with the best VALUE to the operator is the winch that already matches the options your dozer is equipped with for the least modification.