Harbor Freight Winches

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Well it's been almost a year since I bought my 12,000 lb HF winch. Last weekend it left me dead in the woods with 50ft of line out. Long story short, I bent the spool so it basically locked up and couldn't rotate. Tore the whole damn thing apart to investigate. Some things I found after a year of use, probably at least used it a dozen times.

-brushes looked pretty good. There are 4 of them, spring loaded positioned 90-deg apart from each other around the rotor. Prob 8-10mm thick so it would take forever to wear them down!
-minor dirt/grime build up on the rotor. I used brake cleaner on these for a quick cleanup
-I was a little disappointed with the planetary gear setup. When I took this apart there was a lot of rusty water that pored out. The outer ring gear was already pitted with rust deposits. The grease that was in there felt like peanut butter although seemed to be doing its job. Must be cheap Chinese grease! I pumped it full of grease when I put back together. Also used rtv instead of the cheap/thin felt gasket matl.
-worst prob I found is I bent the spool. My guess is the bolts that hold the horizontal bars together loosened up and allowed the entire winch to twist.
I tried to straighten the spool with some hammer blows and bench vise but it still won't free spool when tightened back up. I found the parts list online, part #26 hub asm. Put a request in for parts quote. Might get a machine shop to chuck it up and see what they can do. Stay tuned.

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I just ordered one last night - 9000 pounder - with the 20% off sale they ran through the 24th.

Should I take it apart and re-grease with quality grease when I get it? Any other proactive preventive stuff that should be done?
 
mr natural said:
I just ordered one last night - 9000 pounder - with the 20% off sale they ran through the 24th.

Should I take it apart and re-grease with quality grease when I get it? Any other proactive preventive stuff that should be done?
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I would say no. Best advice I've seen so far is buy the extended warranty. Then take it back just before that runs out, regardless if working or not.

Just got a quote back form HF parts. $17 for a new spool. Not bad IMO, just 6-8 wks for delivery. :(
 
I don't get it I guess. For me a winch is my last saving grace piece of gear. I use it to get me our of jams where my lockers won't cut it or there are no other trucks around. Buying a cheap winch and then having it s*** the bed when I need it most just doesn't make sense to me.
 
fishEH said:
I don't get it I guess. For me a winch is my last saving grace piece of gear. I use it to get me our of jams where my lockers won't cut it or there are no other trucks around. Buying a cheap winch and then having it s*** the bed when I need it most just doesn't make sense to me.
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It's called kids, bills, food on table etc etc...
 
I have seen warns and mile makers go out while making easy pulls. It's a piece of machinery and if it's made in the last 5-10 years then it's probably made by an 11 year old Chinese kid it doesn't matter which company you buy from.
 
fishEH said:
I don't get it I guess. For me a winch is my last saving grace piece of gear. I use it to get me our of jams where my lockers won't cut it or there are no other trucks around. Buying a cheap winch and then having it **** the bed when I need it most just doesn't make sense to me.
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I'm sure everyone knows what you're talking about. But, it's pretty clear, from the posts in this thread alone, that "cheap winches" if they are maintained, get the job done for our use. If you're using a winch often, then yeah, pay the $ for whatever floats your boat. And they can fail too. Maybe you need to throw a 2nd winch in your spare parts bin, just in case.
 
BamaPaul said:
I have seen warns and mile makers go out while making easy pulls. It's a piece of machinery and if it's made in the last 5-10 years then it's probably made by an 11 year old Chinese kid it doesn't matter which company you buy from.
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Exactly! Even toyotas break down every now & then. ;) best thing I've ever seen somebody carry with them is a manual winch..aka come along
 
Finally got to use mine for the first time. Pulls hard and its not that slow. Its faster than my smittybuilt xrc8. Much much better than the 10k Roadshock winch being replaced. Quality seems to be good. I'm happy with it.
 
I'm thinking about putting one on my 62. I'd get another warn if I can find a decent cheap one!

I was rescued the other day by a vr10,000 on a friends rig, but it is double the HF winch more if you have the coupon!
 
Winches are a commodity. They're like LED lights. You can spend as much as you want to spend, and justify it any way you like, but the market has evolved to the point where there are just too many good options in the $300 category to support the old song and dance that you're taking your life in your hands if you don't run a Warn. Let's hear it for the global economy.
 
Most Warns are made in china now a days too...

In the last winch shootout I read, warn was one of the broken ones.
 
Wiring Question

I'm finally getting around to installing my winch. Winch itself tucks in nicely to the Blueberry bumper. The wiring on the solenoid is different than the picture in the instructions supplied by Harbor Freight.

As you can see in the photo, the long red cable that goes to the battery is the third from the left.



However, the wiring diagram shows this cable as being the second from the left.



Anyone else's wired like this? Is this a problem? Should I open up the solenoid and swap the cables?
 
Hook it up and see if it works.
 
Well, yeah, there's always that. Process of elimination is usually how I eventually get it right. I wanted to make sure I didn't damage anything though by wiring it wrong. Doesn't sound like there's a need to be concerned here.
 
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