Let's talk winches folks

[Chile1]

Thanks for proving my point. Smittybilt headquarters is in Compton, CA. Harbor freight is in Calabasas, CA. It trips me out that people give companies like warn a pass on their Chinese manufacturing. Why? Because they used to manufacture all of their products on America? That ship has sailed. I don't believe there's a winch on the market that is 100% American made anymore. At this point, the best value is all that matters.

good for you then. I'll stick with Warn since i also like the way it looks on my rig.....

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[Jtphoto]

either-way it's made by Warn a US based company and comes with their full factory warranty and that's what I'm more concerned with.

and if i'm going to be that extreme, half of our Jeeps are foreign lol..:

Well, by your reasoning or argument for WARN, Smittybilt is also an American
company. Designed here and built there but $500 more. Warn warranty just plain sucks if you have to use it. Shipping on your dime so they can determine whether or not it is even covered by warranty. That may be fine for you in the US but in Canada it can cost $150-200 to ship a winch to Warn USA for repair.

 

[entropy]

Made in China is not what it used to be. Sure you can buy some Chinese stuff thats terrible quality. But the manufacturing industry in china has gotten their shit together.

A good example I like to use is DJI. Their based in china and made in china. And they make affordable and great quality drones.

 

[GATORB8]

Made in China is not what it used to be. Sure you can buy some Chinese stuff thats terrible quality. But the manufacturing industry in china has gotten their shit together.

A good example I like to use is DJI. Their based in china and made in china. And they make affordable and great quality drones.

I really think at this point, it all boils down the the manufacturers specifications. When they cheap out on the specs to reduce their cost, that's when the corners get cut regardless of where it's made.

 

[MrKnowitall]

I don't see the relationship, a tool that does the job is a tool that does the job whether on a $1k beater or an $80k 392. I have no problem spending money where needed, but for a tool that ultimately I want to avoid using I'll pass.

If you can pay for a $60k jeep, $1500 isn't that much. If you're just looking to fill a hole in the bumper, by all means, buy a Chinese knock-off of a device that exceeds the electrical draw of everything else on your vehicle and can generate forces 2x the weight of it.

 

[Stormin’ Moorman]

I've had a number of winches on different jeeps and trucks overt the years. The winch I have on orangey is a Warn M8000 and i honestly couldn't tell you how old it is...maybe 15 years and dozens of muddy pulls on three vehicles.

I've also had a Mile Marker 8000 which was fantastic and very similar to the Warn in function and performance. It pulled my XJ out of a bunch of shit in the olden days when i was less wise.

I had a superwinch 18,000 on a F250 and it was the only winch I didn't love. It was so damn slow.

I have the Badlands 9000 on my sons jeep and it's fine. It's definitely the budget option; it has a poorer waterproof rating, no bluetooth and steel cable (on my sons) but its like $330. So if you just want some insurance and don't want to get spendy, this is a solid choice. We've done a few uneventful pulls with it.

Our newest winch is the Quadratec Stealth 10,000. It had a lot of features; synthetic rope, wireless, etc. I will say that I dont love the controller. It checked all the boxes and only cost $600. Haven't used this one yet

The motors on the Warn M8000, Mile Marker and Quad are all 4.9 HP and the Badlands is 5.5. Unless there's a gearing thing going on, I don't really think the number on the winch means all that much.

There's a few more winches in there that were on company trucks as well (all Warn I think), but the only winch that i witnessed failing was a Warn. Some idiot tried to pull out a 3/4 ton truck BURIED in mud with a 8000. He didn't use a snatch block, he didn't use all the line and he ran it continuously until it overheated and died. I don't blame the winch for that.

All that aside, the only winch i have kept when selling a Jeep is the Warn. That thing is bulletproof.

 

[TrailSnail]

Hey Jeepers, I'm looking to get my first winch and narrowed it down to the following three, all of which have synthetic lines, wireless remotes, series wound motors, cone brakes, aluminum housings, IP66+ or higher waterproof ratings and include fairleads and hooks.

1 - Quadratec Q-Performance Stealth 12k ~$700... offers the most appealing "bonus" features such as the LED spool light and removable clutch handle, but information is limited and it's the most expensive of the bunch with the lowest horsepower rating and highest weight.

2 - BADLAND APEX 12k ~$510... the best known of the bunch and priced in the middle of the pack.

3 - X-BULL 13.5k ~$420... highest horsepower and load ratings, lowest waterproof rating (but still acceptable), cheapest and lightest, but next to no information out there for this specific (13,500lb) model.

I'm a believer in "you get what you pay for," but there's also a point of diminishing returns. I'd be an infrequent user... in the last 15 years, I've only been in situations where I needed one maybe 6-8 times, and most of those times were to recover someone else rather than myself. I don't live where snow, water or mud is a concern unless I specifically go looking for it. Weight and UV/dust are honestly my biggest concerns.

The Harbor Freight jobbie is #1 in my mind right now, but the other two are quite appealing for different reasons. Help appreciated!

 

[AcesandEights]

... Help appreciated!

Wondering why you would consider a 12k winch on a 5,500 lbs rig. Aren't there less expensive options in the 8k - 10k range?

 

[TrailSnail]

Wondering why you would consider a 12k winch on a 5,500 lbs rig. Aren't there less expensive options in the 8k - 10k range?

Absolutely, if self-recovery was my only concern. I'm leaning towards 12k+ because I live in the land of brodozers and most of my friends and the other idiots on the road have fat ass full size rigs, so that's weighing on my decision. Most of the times I've wished for a winch, it was to pull some moron out of a mud hole or snowy ditch. Maybe I'm just too nice and should leave them there anyways, lol

 

[AcesandEights]

Nope, good point. I think the Badlands is probably a good choice. Specs are good on it.

 

[wolf]

Any one have a 9.0Rc

 

[Kreepin1]

So my point was, is there any valid reason to spend a bunch of extra money on a seldom used winch? Looks like the consensus is that any of them can fail, operator/installer error is likely the main cause of most failures and big name brand purchases do not get around this.

Yes, people with seldom used winches are much more likely to leave their controller at home. If you need to borrow one it pays to have the most popular Warn winch or the second most popular Badlands.

I was at an event ~6 years ago and ran a hard trail the first day while my friends ran with a moderate group because they didn't want to break anything the first day. Around noon the skies opened up and we got torrential rain. About 25 Jeeps were stuck in a muddy mess where the only way to get over some obstacles was by winching. Most had street tires and no winch. The climb out was a two winch pull, one halfway up, then switch to another winch line to complete the pull. The guy in front of my buddy had an off brand winch and had left the controller at home. Over and over people came over and started to pull his cable and he had to wave them off... The group finally made it off the trail at 11 PM.

 

[Kreepin1]

Hey Jeepers, I'm looking to get my first winch and narrowed it down to the following three, all of which have synthetic lines, wireless remotes, series wound motors, cone brakes, aluminum housings, IP66+ or higher waterproof ratings and include fairleads and hooks.

1 - Quadratec Q-Performance Stealth 12k ~$700... offers the most appealing "bonus" features such as the LED spool light and removable clutch handle, but information is limited and it's the most expensive of the bunch with the lowest horsepower rating and highest weight.

2 - BADLAND APEX 12k ~$510... the best known of the bunch and priced in the middle of the pack.

3 - X-BULL 13.5k ~$420... highest horsepower and load ratings, lowest waterproof rating (but still acceptable), cheapest and lightest, but next to no information out there for this specific (13,500lb) model.

I'm a believer in "you get what you pay for," but there's also a point of diminishing returns. I'd be an infrequent user... in the last 15 years, I've only been in situations where I needed one maybe 6-8 times, and most of those times were to recover someone else rather than myself. I don't live where snow, water or mud is a concern unless I specifically go looking for it. Weight and UV/dust are honestly my biggest concerns.

The Harbor Freight jobbie is #1 in my mind right now, but the other two are quite appealing for different reasons. Help appreciated!

In my opinion, the most important winch spec is no-load line speed. A fast winch will "keep up" as traction comes and goes during the recovery and the driver is helping by applying power. A slow winch will drop slack cable and then pull it tight again. I can't count the number of times I've seen someone drive over the winch cable in this situation. I've even seen cable get wrapped around the tire and axle when someone forgot about the winch and started driving away...

High capacity winches have an increase gear ratio and reduced line speeds. I would rather have a 9-10K lb winch on a Jeep and use a snatch block for hard pulls. The snatch block not only doubles your leverage, but also let's you spool twice as much cable so the winch is operating with less cable on the drum - greatly increasing it's pulling ability. I carry a winch line extension for the longer pulls.

 

[TrailSnail]

In my opinion, the most important winch spec is no-load line speed. A fast winch will "keep up" as traction comes and goes during the recovery and the driver is helping by applying power. A slow winch will drop slack cable and then pull it tight again. I can't count the number of times I've seen someone drive over the winch cable in this situation. I've even seen cable get wrapped around the tire and axle when someone forgot about the winch and started driving away...

High capacity winches have an increase gear ratio and reduced line speeds. I would rather have a 9-10K lb winch on a Jeep and use a snatch block for hard pulls. The snatch block not only doubles your leverage, but also let's you spool twice as much cable so the winch is operating with less cable on the drum - greatly increasing it's pulling ability. I carry a winch line extension for the longer pulls.

Great info, thanks! Time to rethink things.

 

[UniqueUserName]

I was really hoping that that was a spoof video but sadly there it is on the RC website for $29

The video was posted on 4/1/2018.

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