Bandland 12K Lb. Winch work on a FJ40?

[78fj40mg]

I did a search and only found references to FJ80s, has anyone successfully installed a Badland 12K winch on a '78 FJ40?

I have a '78 40 with a bumper that is winch ready with a vertical mounting plate and a fairlead opening.
Here's a pic

The Badland winch appears to have a horizontal mounting holes where as my bumper is vertical, will the Badland 12K winch work with my bumper?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

funny you mention that, on the H40 forum (hummer) one of the guys had a problem with his where it'd turn on automatically - did not do anything good to the bumper or the winch - with that said, you can buy 4 of those before you've hit the price of a Warn... thus YMMV, I have a 12k on my truck that's American designed, Chinese made; and a Superwinch (another Chinese made, American design) as well and haven't had any trouble with them... though even the most rabid of fans would say that Warns occasionally screw up (and the newest line of Warn winches are, actually, chinese made)

Point is this - before you trust the winch, pull the cover off the control - make sure there isn't anything wrong with the wiring (nothing is going to touch), that all the bolts are tightened appropriately (my 12k winch broke one of its braces because it wasn't properly tightened at the factory), and finally make sure it works fine before you use it for real. Harbor Freight stuff, as long as it's anvils, work as advertised - the rest... well, I went through 4 buffers before I gave up and bought a Makita. The other issue you'll find with Chinese (beside being absolutely the lowest priced components), is they don't use the same manufacturers - so if you ever need parts in the future you may be SOL.

 

[78fj40mg]

funny you mention that, on the H40 forum (hummer) one of the guys had a problem with his where it'd turn on automatically - did not do anything good to the bumper or the winch - with that said, you can buy 4 of those before you've hit the price of a Warn... thus YMMV, I have a 12k on my truck that's American designed, Chinese made; and a Superwinch (another Chinese made, American design) as well and haven't had any trouble with them... though even the most rabid of fans would say that Warns occasionally screw up (and the newest line of Warn winches are, actually, chinese made)

Point is this - before you trust the winch, pull the cover off the control - make sure there isn't anything wrong with the wiring (nothing is going to touch), that all the bolts are tightened appropriately (my 12k winch broke one of its braces because it wasn't properly tightened at the factory), and finally make sure it works fine before you use it for real. Harbor Freight stuff, as long as it's anvils, work as advertised - the rest... well, I went through 4 buffers before I gave up and bought a Makita. The other issue you'll find with Chinese (beside being absolutely the lowest priced components), is they don't use the same manufacturers - so if you ever need parts in the future you may be SOL.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[melvinjo]

I have 2: One on my 10 Tundra, one on my 67 FJ45. I use the one on my FJ45 every fall to haul out tress I felled during the spring for the last 3 years. I have had NO probs. I have pulled out some folks out as well. Yes, they are the cheapest, but I have two year warranties on both of them thru Harbor Frieght: If it goes out, I can get one right off the shelf at the store. Do a Inet check and see some of the reviews. I can only say,mine have worked out fine

 

[78fj40mg]

I have 2: One on my 10 Tundra, one on my 67 FJ45. I use the one on my FJ45 every fall to haul out tress I felled during the spring for the last 3 years. I have had NO probs. I have pulled out some folks out as well. Yes, they are the cheapest, but I have two year warranties on both of them thru Harbor Frieght: If it goes out, I can get one right off the shelf at the store. Do a Inet check and see some of the reviews. I can only say,mine have worked out fine

Thanks for the info.

 

[DSRTRDR]

we have the 12K Badlands winch on our 80 - but we used a horizontal mount

the owner of this website had some involvement in testing these winches . . . you can search for his comments by searching for posts by username "woody"

 

[78fj40mg]

we have the 12K Badlands winch on our 80 - but we used a horizontal mount

the owner of this website had some involvement in testing these winches . . . you can search for his comments by searching for posts by username "woody"

Thank Claudia, I'll do the search.

 

[skidplate]

I put the 9000lb on the front of my '75 fj40 using the H.F. mounting plate, absolutely no problems. I believe the mounting bolt pattern is the same as Warn, Smittybuilt, Superwinch etc.

 

[78fj40mg]

I put the 9000lb on the front of my '75 fj40 using the H.F. mounting plate, absolutely no problems. I believe the mounting bolt pattern is the same as Warn, Smittybuilt, Superwinch etc.View attachment 936849

Looks like a great install. So the H.F. mounting plate sits right on the frame, did you have to drill holes in the frame? Did you use any spacers to raise the plate above the bumper? Thanks.

 

[Pin_Head]

The other issue you'll find with Chinese is they don't use the same manufacturers - so if you ever need parts in the future you may be SOL.

My experience is that Chinese winches are like peas in a pod and most parts are generic and interchangeable between the same style winch of many different manufacturers.

 

[78fj40mg]

My experience is that Chinese winches are like peas in a pod and most parts are generic and interchangeable between the same style winch of many different manufacturers.

Well that's a good thing! Right?

 

[Pin_Head]

Yes, you can use a HF motor on a Smitty winch and a Tmax gear box on a Runva winch. The motors and gear boxes have different ratings but they will interchange among 8K to 12K as long as they are the same style. Solenoids will work on any winch.

 

[skidplate]

Looks like a great install. So the H.F. mounting plate sits right on the frame, did you have to drill holes in the frame? Did you use any spacers to raise the plate above the bumper? Thanks.

Very good observations. Because of the brush guard, I did have to tweak a few things but nothing major. One thing that amazed me was the mounting plate instructions stated it was designed for "Toyota FJ40" as well as other applications. Since you have a winch bumper already installed I would think it would bolt right up, no need for the H.F. mounting plate. I helped a buddy install a Smittybuilt on a winch bumper similar to yours and it took about 20 min. minus the electrical connections. Measure the mounting holes on your bumper and then check mounting configuration on the Badlands.

 

[78fj40mg]

I'm hoping to be able to clock the the winch for vertical mounting without having warranty issues....anyway what kind of warranty do they come with?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

My experience is that Chinese winches are like peas in a pod and most parts are generic and interchangeable between the same style winch of many different manufacturers.

I've not done anything with my winches other than repair the broken brace... with that said, I've found that most Chinese parts can be replaced by their copied part and make a much better product. I had a thermocoupling fry in an air compressor, so I replaced it with something I got at Grainger - now, it works better than ever.... but the coupler cost about 2/3 the price of the entire air compressor. Of course, that air compressor is no where near my rescue vehicles because I cannot afford to have it break.

 

[Landpimp]

that bumper is designed for the upright type, like the Warn 8274

I have no experience with anything but Warn winches......and IMOP while not cheap, there is not a better winch than the 8274........and its the best looking winch on a 40.

You may want to look at finding a used 8274...there are lots of them around in WA

edit to say.....I had no idea you could get a new 12K winch for $300.....thats amazing. 20 years ago my 12K Warn was over 1K.

 

[allan man]

Read away
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/harbor-freight-winches.516009/

 

[78fj40mg]

It appears that the Milemarker winch is almost identical to the Badlands winch and was designed by a Milemarker engineer, as Pin_Head said parts are interchangeble with other manufacturers so I don't see replacement parts as a major issues.