This is an interesting article from a few months back comparing several well known winches. I was amazed to see that the "Chicago winch" was one of the finalists!! Apparently the company has been cracking down hard on quality control and has modified the design because of bad units being returned frequently several years ago. It's not a Warn but it seems they've managed to get the unit up to snuff over the past 6 or seven years. I'll take it for $300.00

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

 

It would be interesting if the flaws that occurred were repaired and those winches allowed to continue. I've been researching T-Max and was disappointed to not know how they faired against the Warn and Superwinch. Never heard of Chicago Winch so that was a pleasant surprise.

 

Chicago is HARBOR FREIGHTS TOOLS

 

great article

where do you see the chicago 9k for $300,
it's $500 online

 

I have a 6 year old Milemarker E8000 with Masterpull synthetic line and a Chicago (Harbor Freight) 8000 lb winch as well. Both winches are exactly the same design and I believe made in the same factory in China. BTW the Ramsey REP8000 is the same as well. They are slow, and cheap, but I they work fine.

 

I bought a Warn winch for my quad. I only used it once. I was told to buy a Warn or a Superwinch and be done with it. I hope that stays true.

James

 

My mistake. The 8K is $300.00 but it seems to have had all the same upgrades.

 

yabedude,

Your questions will be answered soon. October 13th, MOABJEEPER Magazine will run "Winches In Hell, Redemption." All the winch companies that failed the first time were allowed to repair their winches for a second go. We did this because we understand certain things are a crap shoot. However, we will not change the official ranking of Winches In Hell.

On a side note, we will run a Mile Marker 9000 hydraulic winch that day. It will be for a stand alone article comparing electric to hydraulic.

Hope this information helps.

George Pandoff
MOABJEEPER Magazine / President
www.moabjeeper.com

 

Regarding T-Max ... according to their Australian site (http://www.t-max.com.au/winches.html), "All T-Max winches are designed and tested here in Australia ...". They don't actually claim to manufacturer them. So if they don't make them, where do they come from?

I spent some time on Google and found some information ...
Is the T-Max (Australian) company actually a division of this Chinese T-Max manufacturing company?
http://www.globalsources.com/si/6008...0/tmaxtools.co
Check their logo at the bottom, it's exactly the same as T-Max Winch's.

Another T-Max site has winches, but not the same specs as the winch listed in the test. http://tmaxtools.net/ Search for winch in the drop down.

So are T-Max winches also from China?

Seafarinman posted that Milemarker and Chicago Electric are probably of Chinese origin.

Superwinch: http://www.superwinch.com/About.html
"Thirty-six years ago in the northeast hills of Connecticut, Frank Tolsdorf began manufacturing Superwinch electric winches." Are they still made in the USA or outsourced to China?

Warn is in Oregon with some sort of research occurring in Michigan.

Ramsey appears to be in Oklahoma.

Bulldog is a mystery and their statements vague, so my guess is another Chinese winch. http://www.bulldogwinch.com

Considering all the quality control issues that are appearing in the news lately regarding products made in China, I'm re-considering my plans for a T-Max.

 

I received a private message from George Pandoff (aka Moab Man here n Yotatech). He appears to the owner of the original winch article and has asked that I post on his behalf ...

 

I'll tell you, wether they're made in China or not, T-max's are really reliabe, I've abused the >>>> out of them in Australia. Pulling a heavy ass LC75 out of the clay is a task for any winch and our T-Max's NEVER broke or failed in any way. Warn's are great quality as well (Oregon boy here).

 

Lets face it guys, most stuff is made in China.. they have the manufacturing.. wether its made, forged or final assembly... most everything we touch has been to that quality controlless nation.

 

They didnt test the Champion Power Equipment winches?

http://www.cpeauto.com/winch.php

Maybe they can include them in the next test.