harbor freight winch

dabrogger · 11-10-2008, 12:38 PM

i know, i know, harbor freight winches are junk but...a friend of mine runs a pawn shop here in town and told me he just put a brand new 8,000 pound one, in the box, with a winch plate on the floor for sale ($269.00). he told me i could have it for $150.00. what do you guys think? i wouldn't use it often (i've never had to use one yet knock on wood) but it would be nice to have one in case of emergency and for that price, i think it's a good deal. let me know what ya'll thinkn.

Paul04TJ · 11-10-2008, 12:54 PM

I'd go for it. It seems the people who have them love them. The people who don't have them all name drop the big boys.

TimBrown · 11-10-2008, 01:05 PM

It might not last long but for that price it will probably be a good investment for a few years.

lilboy1023 · 11-10-2008, 01:07 PM

I would say go for it. It may not be a name brand, but for that money you won't be out that much.

The other thing that I would say is I personally don't want to trust a off brand winch when it comes to getting me out of trouble so that is why I went with my Warn M8000. It is a personal choice like I said, but I wanted to make sure that it would work when I needed it to.

**Jerry Bransford** · 11-10-2008, 01:12 PM

To me, cheap winches like that more often than not provide a false sense of security. I'll wear cheap cologne, drink off-brand cola, and request generic prescriptions, but I won't buy anything but a first quality winch. That's just one of those items that if you really need it, it better work until you're completely done needing it.

BlueFlame · 11-10-2008, 01:21 PM

Had a Warn M8000 fail on me once. When I really needed it of course.
Big difference though was the service from Warn!
New motor overnight no charge.
Try that with a generic...

But, for $150 I'd do it.

KennyTJ · 11-10-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabrogger

i know, i know, harbor freight winches are junk but...a friend of mine runs a pawn shop here in town and told me he just put a brand new 8,000 pound one, in the box, with a winch plate on the floor for sale ($269.00). he told me i could have it for $150.00. what do you guys think? i wouldn't use it often (i've never had to use one yet knock on wood) but it would be nice to have one in case of emergency and for that price, i think it's a good deal. let me know what ya'll thinkn.

I have the 9,000 and (5) other guys in the club have either the 8,000 or 9,000. After over a year of off-roading and making multiple pulls it has held up excellent. I have seen Brand new Warn M8,000 fail and self destruct on it's 3rd pull (just this past summer). Remember Warn and the others do NOT make the motors, or the gearboxes, or the cables for thier winches they only assemble them. Between the (6) guys in the club with the HF winches we have made over 25 vehicle recoveries in the past year. Many were hillside, and severl required snatch box pullies, not a single issue from any of the winches.

Oh year, they come with a three year warrante. If it fails at all, for any reason, take it back and they give you a new one.

If you don't want it I'll buy it for a buddy!

Squeeky · 11-10-2008, 01:37 PM

winches seem to be those sort of thing where either you get a good one or you get one that just feels like eating itself for dinner. I have a buddy who has used a harbor freight for years with no problems, on the other hand my pops got a warn powerplant a few months after they came out and the sucker failed when he went to test it.

If you ask me I'd rather pay $150 for a winch that's gonna fail over $1200 for a failure any day.

goodfella · 11-10-2008, 02:00 PM

For $150.... Definitely. Any winch is better than no winch.

I use my HB 8000# winch almost evey time I go out with my YJ. I never had much faith in it being from Harbor Freight so I constantly found ways to use it and push it to it's limits. I have the 2 year replacement so I really don't mind beating on it. Fortunately, it keeps holding up extremely well with everything that I throw at it.

dabrogger · 11-10-2008, 02:17 PM

well, thanks guys for the input. i am going to pick it up and i'll definitely keep everyone posted on how it holds up. for $150 who really cares? it'll pay for itself with just a few pulls i suppose...

JFiorentino · 11-10-2008, 02:20 PM

I've had my Harbor Freight winch for 5 years now. I've had to only use it 3 times, one of those to help myself. It worked just, just slow and noisy... If you travel off-road with other vehicles, and carry straps, you should be ok without a winch. I'd never suggest going off-road alone for many reasons.

The Harbor Freight winch is slow and noisy, but for the price... If you plan to off-road frequently, invest in a better winch.. Personally, I'd much rather hook up a nylon tow strap and tug someone out rather than go through the hassle of setting up the winch.

IGotADisneyJeep · 11-10-2008, 07:35 PM

Here's my response from one of the threads that talked about the HF winch.

I Love My Chicago Electric 9,000lbs winch

I got it in March 2005 and switched my wire cable on March 2007 with a Viking synthetic winch line thats 3/8"x 90' with 10" line protector. The breaking strength on the Viking line is 19,600lbs. I also have the Excel Yellow safety hook and my fairlead is Aluminum by SpiderTrax

It an awesome winch, pulls strong and finishes the job. It is slow but, It does it's job perfectly. I have used it many times and have not had a single problem with it. I do test my winch every month so, it can work properly. I also grease all the parts and use Di Electric grease on the electrical parts so, It will not get rusted and keeps water from getting into it.

I use my winch for emergency usages & for major recoveries. When we offroad, We try to recover or aid our jeeps with recovery straps first. If that does not work then we'll use our winches. Using recovery straps first is quick and fast and helps the life on your winch. Try to save the life time on your winch and use a strap first. Many times you just need a small tug to recover a rig thats stuck and a recovery strap is easy and fast.

If you take care of your winch like I do...
Your winch will last & work for a long time.

My Chicago Electric Winch ROCKS!

rulman · 11-10-2008, 08:01 PM

I bought the Smittybuilt, works great, and the before last time I used it heard " I got a Warn" after it "Hey thats not bad" like I said I'm pleased with it.

CopperCJ7 · 11-10-2008, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rulman

I bought the Smittybuilt, works great, and the before last time I used it heard " I got a Warn" after it "Hey thats not bad" like I said I'm pleased with it.

I bought the Smittybilt also - I like it. But as for the HF winch...I'd mount that on a car hauler before relying on it for the Jeep.

GrayJ · 11-10-2008, 08:56 PM

well if you decide to not get it call me I'll go get it (with your discount of course)

11-10-2008, 02:00 PM	#9
goodfella Registered User Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: new york Posts: 12 Profile Gallery Classifieds My Jeeps	For $150.... Definitely. Any winch is better than no winch. I use my HB 8000# winch almost evey time I go out with my YJ. I never had much faith in it being from Harbor Freight so I constantly found ways to use it and push it to it's limits. I have the 2 year replacement so I really don't mind beating on it. Fortunately, it keeps holding up extremely well with everything that I throw at it.