I got my HF Chicago Electric 8000lb. on sale for $240 + $30 for the warranty. I mounted it onto my 81 Yota and i can tell you that I am extremely happy with it's performance. My buddy got stupid in his GMC and tried to wheel through the creek, water and intakes don't mix so it was Yota to the rescue time!! His rig weighs over 8000 lb., add water inside the cab and the bed of his truck, and an uphill pull on a 45 degree slope. The winch worked. No problems. Period. Go with HF.

 

Why hasn't anyone mentioned smittybuilt xrc series??? I've heard slot of good things about them over the past few years.
Me personally...I'm getting the XRC10 competition series

 

i love my xrc. pulled my buddys '00 runner up a mountain over ledges under no power.

 

FYI HF has coupons, currently they have a 20% off coupon

 

my guess is that 6 years ago smittybuilt wasnt making them...

 

Well, I don't know if they ever sold them online. But I had seen them advertised in their monthly flyer/add that they send me every month. They also had the 8000 lb. Chicago Electric® when I went in to get that one. That was the one I was looking to get actually, then I found out for $29 more I could get the bigger one. I'm glad I did...

Here's an old add. I didn't get THAT good of a deal though. If it were that price on sale, 20% off of that would be ~$240. (I bought my 10,000 lb. almost exactly a year ago for $329 w/20% coupon)


I can't seem to find it on Harbor Freight online either. So maybe they don't sell them anymore...you can find them used online though...sometimes.
http://www.inetgiant.com/AdDetails/1...a-250/13272012
http://www.liquidation.com/auction/view?id=3666874
http://www.liquidation.com/auction/v...2957&tab=terms

Here's the 8000 lb.


The manual for it shows the specs for the 10,000 lb. too. Their site says "In Store Only Item" on it and the 5500 lb. They want $359 for the 8000 lb. now.
http://www.harborfreight.com/8000-lb...ake-67576.html

Here's the 5500 lb. @ $279.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5500-lb...ead-91780.html

 

Good God man! How did you get in that situation? That was almost a looong way down. Good to have you back.

 

See here: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f5/m.../#post51668433

 

well said, lol

 

it just comes down to this how much is your life or rig worth???I personaly wouldn't take the chance to watch my rig slip into a canyon while my cheap o harbor freight winch failes

 

I am now the proud owner of 2 Smittybilt winches. I bought the 8000lb to use in a receiver hitch setup on the rear of my 4runner & a 3000lb for my Honda atv. Both work excellent and were very inexpensive. he 8000lb was $299 w/ free freight & the 3000lb was $99 with free freight. Both came with roller fairleads & quality hardware.

 

What about a Superwinch EPi 9..... anyone know anything about them ?

 

Funny you should mention it...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JaM5t5114

Incredible winch. I've pulled so many trees out of the woods, not to mention my truck out of mudholes with it. Only let me down once, basically trying to pull straight through a 5 ft mound of frozen ice and snow. I wound up having to use the shovel for that one

 

http://www.moabjeeper.com/articles/g...?articleID=353

Read it and be supprised what the ratings are

 

So basically they barely gave it to Warn over Superwinch because the xp9.5
1) has slightly more pulling power at the outer cable spools
2) has a better warranty

1- It is a 9500 lb winch compared to SW's 9000 lb winch. It's SUPPOSED to have more power!
2- Except when you read the fine print Warn's "limited lifetime warranty" is actually only for mechanical parts. Electrical is just for 1 year, exactly the same as SW epi 9.0, which also has lifetime mechanical. Some SWs now have a 3 year warranty on solenoids, better than Warn.

All that and the EPi 9.0 is literally 1/2 the price of 9.5xp I bet the authors were on the take Interesting read though, thanks for sharing, and sounds like the CE isn't half bad for a weekend wheeler.

 

i bought a harbor freight 8k road shock winch for 300$

ive used it extensively offroad and it hasnt let me down yet and the only problem i have had with it is that that free spool lever is plastic and gets dirt stuck in it and wont let you free spool it.

i have even used it twice when it was completely submerged and its still worked flawlessly. it came with a 2 year warrenty and i would happily buy another one

 

Hey, jbtvt, looks like it will do the job...... I ended up getting one when I ordered my bumper for my FJ. It had free shipping. I figured that I might as well order it since I would end up getting one at some point anyway. Now I can put it all together at one time

 

So I was in the local HF the other day when I noticed that they're no longer carrying high-capacity Chicago Electric® or ROAD SHOCK® winches. However, they still have some high-capacity winches made by BADLAND WINCHES™. No more 8,000lb. or 10,000lb. models are available, instead they're offering 9000lb. or 12,000lb. models.

Are they as reliable as the high-capacity Chicago Electric® and ROAD SHOCK® winches have proven to be? Time will tell I guess...



These winches are sold online if you're interested.
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...sult?q=winches

 

Does anyone know if I will have to up-grade my factory alternator when I hook up the winch. When I get the bumper and winch I'll be putting a set of PIAA 520's on it also. So that stuff will draw some power. Just wondering...

 

Not necessarily. But it wouldn't hurt. Especially if you intend on running those lights on a regular basis too.

Winch manufacturers generally only recommend a 650 CCA(or better)battery. That's a higher priority than the alternator amperage output. Since the winch is wired directly to the battery. As such, the alternator only plays a secondary roll in powering the winch(by keeping the battery charged up).

The alternator amperage output is also a function of the shaft rpms. So it's common practice to keep the engine running and the revs up while winching to compensate for the added draw on the battery.

I've actually found myself wishing I had a hand throttle rather than a H.O. alternator. Because even with the factory alternator spinning @ ~2000 rpms and my cheapo 4 1/2 year old 650 CCA battery, my Chicago Electric® 10,000 lb. winch still pulls like there's no tomorrow. And no dead battery leaving me stranded as a result...so far [knocking on wood].