Harbor freight winch?
- Thread starter JCW6
- Start date
Off-Road Ranger I
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- First Name
- Dan
- Last Name
- Rich
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0582
- Ham/GMRS Callsign
- K6DHR
Friend has one, seems to work just fine. I have a Smitty Built 9500 the price point pretty comparable. Now that I sometimes load my rig down I feel my winch might be a little under powered. Where as the Harbor Freight 1200 might have been a better choice. You can usually catch it on sell for about the same price as the Smitty Built.
Id buy a hi lift and a couple straps that’ll get you by until you can save the funds for something better. A warn m8000 is solid and under $600, then you’ll have a hi lift and a good winch. If you’re somewhere you really need a winch, it’s probably the last place you want a winch to fail. Just my 2 cents.
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Traveler I
I've had plenty of HF winches, there not bad at all, great pricing, the 12k lb is pretty slow tho... works great but slow. they usually run $289, you can get a 9500 smittybuilt on amazon for $300 i think if what i paid. But they work just fine!!
Anything can fail, no matter how much you spent on it. When it comes to winches, its a great debate and is usually argued with opinions and personal experience rather than with facts. I have heard of Warn winches failing after a couple uses, BUT its very rare. I have also seen a HF winch just work and work and work with no problems, as well as many horror stories of the cheaper Chinese winches.
I am a fan of Warn because it was my first winch, it worked very well, never let me down, and customer service is great. While I have never used a cheaper one, I don't like buying things twice. I have skimped on tools before, only to have them fail and end up forking out more money for something better quality. Now, I just go with what I know works.
I would go with Lintnercorey's advice. Instead of rushing to check the block on a winch, wait, research, test, and ask around to see what you like and what works for you. In the meantime, get a hilift jack and recovery gear for insurance. If, in time, you decide that a HF or Smittybilt winch works for you, then buy it, and use the extra money for some synthetic line and other gear.
Experimenter I
That’s about what I did. I got a come along and extra wirerope. But i have an odd tendency to find people who are stuck so I want something better. My big struggle is the HF winch is $300 but the warn is over $1,000 for the same thing. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong spot but that’s a hard pill to swallow...
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Influencer II
I've known a lot of people who use HF winches. Their complaint is how slow they are. But not one of em has burnt up. I suppose it depends how you use it. If you overload an expensive winch it will die like overloading a cheap winch will.
I was under the impression that you want two times the weight of your vehicle for a winch, I.E. a 4,500 lb vehicle should have a 9k rated winch, but add all the gear or a trailer to it you would need double that amount of weight, That would be my concern is that 8k warn winch going to be enough? I am very please with my Smitty Built 9500 winch. But I also wonder if it's enough now?
Hi, I am Mike and I am an Amazon addict. It's been 1 day since I last used.
Seriously, forgot about amazon? must have some awesome local suppliers.
I mostly hear 1.5X vehicle weight. I went with the Warn Zeon Platinum 10-s, which is barely 1.5 times my LR4 weight, but its the same winch to the 12,000 other than gear ratio, so I'll take line speed and carry some snatch blocks. It is a bit fancy for my needs, but I wanted to 'cry once' and do it right. I love the remote clutch control and the thing is IP68 and just crazy nicely made.
The thing is, yeah it would be best to buy the best tool you can afford for the job. But I have used mine several times and am very glad I had it. where as if I waited until I had enough to get the winch of my dreams I would still not have one. As there are always other priorities that need attention that would keep it that way. I feel it is better even a cheap one than nothing to get you out of a jam. I have had mine for three years no problems knock on wood!
Superwinch is the brand you want. Talon is a great winch that’s been discounted. Tiger Shark is slower, but great value. I wouldn’t buy anything from Smittybilt or Harbor Freight. Warn makes a quality winch. Forget the wireless remotes. Save up for synthetic line too.
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Well I just moved to the city not to long ago. Back home if we used amazon it would take a month at least to get to us, so we never used it.
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Amazon prime is free 2 day and sometimes one day shipping. Dubuque, Iowa isn't exactly a central hub.
