Threw $600 at a cheap winch and it died on the first real pull

Bought one of those off-brand Amazon winches back in February thinking I was saving cash. Spent a Saturday afternoon bolting it to my Jeep's bumper. First time I actually needed it, stuck in some mud near Moab, the thing smoked out after maybe 3 pulls. Motor completely seized, no warranty support. Anyone else learned this lesson the hard way or just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_williams7121d ago

Bought the exact same kind of winch. My buddy Dave threw one on his old F150 and we buried it in a ditch up near Payson. Motor made a weird grinding noise on the second pull then just stopped. Pulled the cover off and the gears looked like they had been chewed by a beaver. He ended up buying a Warn after that.

mary_martin2221d ago

I saw a thread on another forum where a guy tested this exact brand with a load cell. He ran three pulls with a 9,000 pound D ring load and on the third one the drum actually cracked. Not the housing, the drum itself. He posted pictures and everything. The metal looked porous, like it was cast wrong or something. That's scary when you think about it because that drum spinning under load could really hurt someone if it let go. I guess you really do get what you pay for with recovery gear.