Northern Industrial Winch

[jynx]

Just saw a 9000lb Winch in the Northern Tool ad and I did a little searching and didn't see anything in the the Winching and Recovery forum, so I thought I'd see if anyone has tried one out.

I know you get what you pay for, and I don't expect it to be the best on the market, might be a POS, but for $350, would it be worth a try. The reviews on the Northern website seemed to be mostly positive, and I don't hit the hard stuff, so for occasional use it might be ok.

Specs from website:

Volts 12
HP 6.6
Line Pull (lbs.) 9,000
Gear Train 3-stage planetary
Gear Ratio 172.8:1
Clutch Freespooling shift pin ring
Braking Automatic mechanical in-drum
Remote Length (ft.) 12
Rope Type Single line wire
Rope Size L x dia. (ft. x in.) 94 x 21/64
Fairlead Type 4-way roller
Battery Leads Yes
Mounting Hardware Included Yes
Dimensions L x W x H (in.) 22 x 6.3 x 8.1
Manufacturer Warranty 12 months parts / 12 months labor


Whatch think?

Thanks,

Tucker

 

[1911]

I know you get what you pay for, and I don't expect it to be the best on the market, might be a POS, but for $350, would it be worth a try.

...

Whatch think?

It's your money; personally I wouldn't spend $350 on it (or anything else I thought might possibly be a POS).

 

[batcon]

When it comes to a winch, you need to have something that you can trust. Money shouldn't be the determining factor. Personally, I would look for a used quality brand thats in good shape.

 

[Tapage]

Superwinch it's a great price/option to look ..

 

[mike9ftw]

id def look for a nice used one. i just picked up a used warn m8000 for 300 bucks off craigslist.

 

[landcruiserjunky]

I would lean on feedback on northern tool's website versus ih8mud. We're generally pro warn/ramsey. No one here (very few) believe budget winches and cruiser's mix.

Personally I've been eying Harbor Freight's 10k for 299 or whatever for the 80 series.

 

[greentruck]

Most winches fail because of operator error or poor installation practices. While quality plays a part in these issues, if you overheat your winch or use flaky cables even an expensive winch can quickly become a boat anchor.

For occasional self-recovery, a budget priced winch can work well. And if that's your budget, it beats being without when you need it, presuming you don't cheap out on the install or abuse it.

Here are a couple of links with some discussion of my research and install.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/winching-recovery/371911-waterproofing-winch.html
https://forum.ih8mud.com/winching-recovery/387546-smittybilt-xrc12-80-series-arb.html

True, if I anticipated hard, multiple use pulls with a winch, I'd agree that you want the very best electric winch available. In many cases, you might even be better off with a PTO winch, though.

 

[Tapage]

my cheap MM e-12000 winch common failure occurs right here ..

where there is not enought meat to hold the gearset agains the carcas ..

Photo from you thread greentruck thanks !

 

[Sno bored]

I saw this thread a couple of days ago and ordered one. I know warn winches are good, and $460 isn't much more than what you were planning on paying for the Nothern tool one. https://forum.ih8mud.com/sale-parts/440579-brand-new-m8000-warn-460-a.html

 

[greentruck]

Tapage,
Glad I got the Smittybilt instead

And I'm pretty sure you're right. There's nothing magical about a planetary winch. And the flaws are pretty common, too, no matter how much $$ you put down. What counts is some PM and common-sense in using it.

Let it cool when in use. That's the first killer.

Most of all on our heavy 80s, rig the pull right! Even if you have the mightiest brand name winch around, it's still good practice to safely rig things so that the cable gets good leverage at a good angle. Use that snatch block, instead of trying to avoid using it.

I've never broken any of my winches and I've always come back -- so far. But I learned on a Warn 8274, so there was an extra margin for error. Good thing I put to use some things I learned by abusing it so I don't abuse what I owned since and now. Do that and I'll bet most users will be pretty happy with a more modestly priced winch.

 

[greentruck]

I saw this thread a couple of days ago and ordered one. I know warn winches are good, and $460 isn't much more than what you were planning on paying for the Nothern tool one. https://forum.ih8mud.com/sale-parts/440579-brand-new-m8000-warn-460-a.html

Yep, that's a good price and I'd probably hold out for the Warn if I wanted an 8k winch. Sort of figured a 12k would be better on our 80 and I found one for $10 more.

 

[Tapage]

Tapage,
Glad I got the Smittybilt instead.

I paid 350 bucks 6 years ago for this winch

if you see carefully you will found are the same

I use it pretty hard .. It never let me down ..

But it's a common failure there is not enough teeth contact between the gearbox and the carcas .. when you moove the lever to the max position there is still not enough ..

I never open any superwinch but I'm very interested to lookinto it due the diferent clutch lever system

 

[greentruck]

Tapage,
Definitely, lots of winches come out of those T-Maxx molds. Hopefully, they're paying at least a little more attention to quality control with a long-standing but likely easily resolvable issue.

But your T-Maxx clone looks like it's performing OK.

If we ever get our 80 down in some mud like that, well I wasn't paying attention to the trail I'm on.
I probably would turn around and find something more scenic and less muddy.

Seriously, if someone from Panama is getting his junk hauled through mud by a winch, that's pretty solid testimony about its capabilities. I lived briefly in Panama for a couple of years (59-60) as a kid and remember those tropical rains (and my wife's father's family still has roots in Panama.)

Heck, I heard in the last couple of days that they're going to close the Panama Canal because of FLOODING:whoops:

If Tapage reports his winch is still working after this is over, well...heck that's already good enough for me.

 

[Tapage]

Heck, I heard in the last couple of days that they're going to close the Panama Canal because of FLOODING:whoops:

they did .. last friday for about 12 hours.. it's back on bussiness again .. but is still raining down here ..

If Tapage reports his winch is still working after this is over, well...heck that's already good enough for me.

for 350 bucks you can't complain .. what I did from the very begining was moving my solenoid box to the higher spot in my engine bay ..

Last weekend our club ( Club 4x4 Panamá ) helping in some flood areas ..

YouTube - SANY0015

 

[greentruck]

Whoa, that's some serious fording!

Good point on putting the control box as high as possible. I likewise have my control box high and mostly dry under the hood.

Sure, it's designed to get wet (and it just might in a situation like in the video above), but protecting it to the extent possible will yield the benefit of longer life and more reliability, no matter whose name is plastered on your winch.

 

[cody c]

great video David, the camera man needs a little work to keep his hand steady though for your next video!

 

[shelfboy1]

i bought a skid of 24 cheap 10,000 lb winches for 100.00 bucks at a tool auction.the ones we used have worked ok .under heavy load the gear cover would flex and strip the drive gear.we put the gear in backwards and rienforced the cover and havnt had a problem,i have 2 on my plow truck 1 on the acura and 1 on the trooper so they are not over worked maybey used twice a year.

 

[80t0ylc]

Looking at the winch on this site, it looks tempting. It appears like a lot of bang for the buck. The 6.6 hp motor sounds awesome. (My 20+ year old Ramsey 8K motor is only 1.8 hp. But, it's still works well after all that time and I bought it used.) Some of the reviews and warranty help to give you the warm fuzzies, however the ones that had difficulty wiring it up makes me wonder about their opinion. So, I guess my biggest doubt is how long will it last and will it die when you need it the most? Winches that don't get used regularly have a tendency to be neglected until you need them. Food for thought.

 

[Tapage]

Note: having a nice bigger and powerfull winch motor it's nice .. but it will demand more from your alt and batt than having an slower with more gearing small winch motor ..