zoomzoomjr

I was just at my local Harbor Freight and they were having a 3 day sidewalk sale (I think it ends SUN), and I spotted a winch under one of the tables. I asked the guy how much and I swear I heard him say $190.00
Not sure about the quailty of these, but under $200 for an 8,000 lb winch is one heck of a deal (I think).
Looks like this one -- harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=40764



Mods, please move if it doesn't belong here.

Seryoga

Harbor Freight buys broken RAMSEY winches, rebuilds them and sells under the Chicago Electric brand. I've seen a 10000 lb HF winch at work, its slow, but powerful.

I have Smittybuilt XRC8 (8000 lb) winch, and it works just as well, just has a thinner cable, plus IMHO it looks better.

PS: no offense to anyone with HF winch.

scouter4life

I'd jump on that if Iwere you. Just make sure to test it before you fully install it and keep the receipt. If you only need it 1-2 times a year, then it should hold up for a while. Using every weekend though, who knows how long it may last, i've had som real good luck with stuff from HF (Hi-Lift that was $30, has worked great)and not so good luck on other stuff (drill, can;t remember brand), it seems to be hit or miss there.

yetibear

For $190, RUN don't walk back to that sale and give it a good home, unless you expect to need a winch a lot, then maybe you should consider paying a bit more. But $190 for a seldom used winch. get moving.

myklt8

Now I got to Run out there and see if they have one at my HF

davebloomer

that's awesome i didn't know HF had that guarantee or i would have given them some business.

yetibear

Yeah, they can argue which winch is best all day, but if you can wave a $190 sales receipt under their nose that should end all debate. I mean hell, I just paid $950 for a Warn, 5 of these should be at the least as good.

Seryoga

You cant beat Warn. They are more rugged, FASTER, and have lifetime warranty that is included in the winch price. Plus i'm yet to hear anyone burn a Warn winch.

I got my XRC8 from 4wd hardware for $299, and for aditional $44 got lifetime replacement no matter whose fault is it.

Just like someone said before, if you are on a tight budget, and don't plan on using it much, get HF winch, it will get the job done just like others.

yetibear

I agree, and I think most people would also. Warn is the best winch you can buy. But when you really need a winch, the one you have ,then, is the best winch in the world.

And as good as the Warn is, is it really 3X better than your $300 XRC? I guess correctly that should be is it really a better value? And, with out seeing the $190 winch, it is kind of hard to imagine that a winch you can buy 5X for the cost of one Warn isn't a great value for someone who isn't doing a lot of hard wheeling.

If it won't blow out my budget, I would go with the Warn, if my life depended on the winch...Warn. But if budget is a consideration, if my life isn't on the line, if I just want a winch for security, for that rare time I get in over my head......you can't argue against a decent inexpensive winch. Any working winch you have when you need one is 100% better then the winch of your dream's, you don't have because you couldn't justify spending a grand on it.

I guess as kind of a stupid personal illustration.....
It isn't like Texas or AZ here in the summer, we think 85*is oppressive heat, and 10 days of that, between now and fall is an unbearably hot summer. I figure I need 10,000 btu's of AC to keep my home really cool. A good AC that size will run me at least $300, so I bought 2, 5000 btu units for $99 each. You can argue that the more expensive unit is more efficient, and running full cool vs. both little ones running all out it is. But I have to keep the big one running hard to cool the whole place, I can run the little ones at 1/2 power, one at a time to just cool the area they are needed at the time.
So because we rarely get extreme heat(no real hard core wheeling), 90* is hellishly hot here, but I am confident if we had a couple of 100* days, my tiny units could struggle through and keep it livable here, running 1 at a time as need(it will pull me out if I do, unexpectedly get stuck). And if one does die I still have a backup(I can afford to replace my XRC 3 times to the cost of 1 Warn)

Naturally I bought a Warn, but because I could, not because i needed the dependability that comes with the incredibly greater price.

Bigguy45

Ive got a HF 8000lb winch and havent had any problems with it. works great. when i bought it i also bought a 1 yr no questions asked warrenty for 20 bucks. the saleman said in year bring it back and ill give you another winch weather it works or not and give me $20 to renew the warrenty. im on my second one now.