[evilpsych]

Well, I figured I'd take a chance at the recommendation of Jim79CJ7, he felt that this winch is the exact same winch as the 8,000# electric offered by MileMarker, and just rebadged. Well.. got it home, unboxed it, and my initial feeling is.. "Man this thing is beefy!" It came with a universal mounting plate that has holes pre-drilled for my wrangler's bumper mounting locations, as well as a cast fairlead. Unfortunately, it means I will have to grind the bull-bar off my front bumper, and raise it about 4" to clear the fairlead and the mounting plate, but I was planning on doing this anyway regardless of brand. I haven't hooked it up yet, but this winch does look to be one of the better products i've seen ceom from Harbor freight, and if you're just wanting the winch look, I'd suggest it.. cant beat the price.

Pics and a review of performance to follow after i install it.

[dan240]

Please let us know how it works out. I have bought various tools from them because I am a broke student and have always been impressed, for the money.

[evilpsych]

Harbor freight is always kind of a gamble.. sometimes you get good stuff, sometimes you dont, sometimes you get iffy stuff, but it just needs to be retooled a little to work properly. I got the extended warranty on this if it fails, just go get another.






after looking at this picture, it would seem that it is identical (even in control box and remote switch) to the MileMarker.

[evilpsych]

well.. got it bolted to the mounting plate.. after some cussing.

Note to MileMarker/Harbor Freight: Cast the slots for the nuts/washers on the OTHER side of the winch legs, will make accessing them easier for installation. It took me about 20 minutes of cussing and needle-nosing to get the bolts, washers, and nuts aligned to be bolted down.

[waxer]

Unfortunately it is NOT a milemarker winch, nor is it a Ramsey. It does appear to have the same housing as the others, but the internals are definitely different.

You can investigate this yourselves by going to Ramsey's and Milemarkers websites and compare the stats on their 8000lb winches with this Chicago Electric model.

It comes nowhere close to their stats. You do get what you pay for and this doesn't sound too bad for < $300 on a winch, but the HP rating is also very unimpressive.

The lowest Ramsey rating is 3.8 HP on their lowest model 8k winch, while this one has an advertised 1.8 HP. Must read the fine print

There are certain things that I will buy at HF. Then there are other things like this that I wouldn't even bother. But thats just me so...

[evilpsych]

well.. whatever.. shares the same case, and I've heard in the past that the MileMarkers werent even being made BY MileMarker, maybe Ramsey makes them for both HF and MM. The MileMarker seems to be suspiciously close in price range to what this winch is normally at.. (www.thinkjeep.com).

If it's not a rebadge, and it just shares the same case, perhaps it will translate to slower loaded line speed. It's not the first time that HF would have screwed up the description on an online ad.

in any case.. the bolt up went surprisingly easy despite some interference with the solenoid housing bolts. and it did spool out and spool in immediately and smoothly.. i guess it's time for a real world trail test now, maybe i'll go hook up to some concrete blocks down near the beach and see if i can drag them..

the specs on MileMarker's page match almost identically to the specs on the actual box that i recieved.. so the HF website listing is incorrect.. http://www.milemarker.com/e-winch-8.html

[evilpsych]

oh.. on HF"s ad, not only are the specs and measurements off on nearly all of it.. the picture also is of a smaller winch.

[ErikJordan]

looks nice... dont forget to stretch the cable before you really use it.
go to the back parking lot at the grocery store and drag your jeep to one of those yellow poles
maybe you can pull me out next time i get stuck.

[evilpsych]

good thinking.. i'll have to do that later..

[ErikJordan]

i did mine 3 times... un wound it pulled the jeep in, and did it again... now the cable is on there nice, and does'nt want to unwind, or "bird nest" any more.

[Owen]

def stretch it out...once you winch yourself three times or so it is a lot less likely to birds nest...

[TheGreenMachine]

Let me know how the winch pulls..

I am thinking about getting the winch from HF within the next couple of weeks. I have seen the milemarkers go and they run very nice. If they are the same winch, then it is a heck of a deal

Pat

[evilpsych]

TheGreenMachine:

Everything tells me it's identical. Ignore the description on HF's website, it's about 95% incorrect info.

This winch, shares the following with the MM electric

-No-Load motor amperage draw and rating,
-every dimension
-weight
-rated line speed (the box has all the correct info on it)
-identical control components
-cable size (100' of 3/8" aircraft cable)
-gear ratio (210:1)
-freespool switch

a few suggestions I have if you get this winch and install it (it even comes with a universal channel mount that's got holes predrilled for the wrangler frame bolt holes):

1 - you gotta install the fairlead first, with the bolt head on the inside of the channel.. looks stupid, but you need to for clearance issues

2 - bolting the winch to the plate is a mofo, get a pair of really long curved needle-nose pliers, will make it much easier to put the washer and nut in the fitted slots on the winche's feet.

3 - make sure to get 2 more bolts for the frame, mine only has 2 right now which i'm going to rectify before the big bear trip.

4 - the solenoid control box mounting holes are in the wrong spot, they interfere with the frame. You will need to move them about 3/4" further outboard to alleviate the interference with the frame and make it possible to bolt all 3 down.

5 - stretch the cable a few times as suggested a few times already in this post to prevent bird-nesting of the cable

6 - i wouldnt spool out more than 60' with a single line if you're in a super-stuck, if the specs are really identical to the MileMarker. I'd much rather do a double line pull at 50', takes longer, but hey, still quicker than digging yourself out or waiting for a tow truck (yeah right) if you're alone. 100' pull would be ok if you're just high centered and only need to be pulled a few feet to get off of it to gain traction, which I suspect is 95% of all winch use (aside from super-stucks in mudholes)

Update:
I did a little research on everyone's favorite A-Hole board with a black background... and the consensus was that the winch is iffy, and that both the MM and the HF are just refurbed Ramsey REP-8000's with bushings instead of bearings in a few locations(would definitely explain the REW-8000 sticker on it.. ). 2 people claim to have melted the motors, 1 seemed really happy with it but I pm'ed him for a current status report on it's performance and haven't gotten a reply back yet. I am going to look into the bearing upgrade potential ASAP, seems a decent thing to do for a few extra bucks. Still not hurting the pocketbook, and if it could improve the winch's working life, prolly a must do. Not the first time I've reworked a HF power tool, I've still got a $9. angle grinder that still kicks major butt but i did have to disassemble and fool around with the guts after the lockswitch grenaded..

[evilpsych]

Originally posted by TheGreenMachine
Let me know how the winch pulls..

I am thinking about getting the winch from HF within the next couple of weeks. I have seen the milemarkers go and they run very nice. If they are the same winch, then it is a heck of a deal

Pat

oh yeah? you've seen the MM electric? I haven't seen one in use in person, only seen them advertised for the last year or so over on Rosser Jeep's website for a good price ($10-20 more than what this winch goes for usually at HF). There are plenty of people that want to bash this winch (and the MM) because of the price. But, zero of the people i've talked to in the past have actually seen either in action. What were the circumstances that you saw the MM working in? Mud? Rocks?

[TheGreenMachine]

My dad has the MM on his jeep.

He bought it awhile back when they first came out. He used it once when he was pulling out a car from a snow ditch (was not there for that time). The other time he was hung up on a log. We tried pulling him off with a strap but it wouldn't go. When we hooked up the winch it pulled the jeep right over the log. Worked great!

Thanks for the info on the HF

Pat