Pros and cons on Harbor Freight's 12,000 lbs Bad Land winch (1 Viewer)

[Dragos80]

I 'have' facebook.....

You are here too? Damn!

 

[LandLocked93]

...yeah I've seen what happens to vehicles that get stuck/fail on the trail and are left there until the owner can figure out how to get it back on the road. It's not pretty. Some get left for months depending when on the trail they fail. Especially if you trail solo, a little more spent up front - when it's easy - makes up for alot when it counts later.

FWIW, I run a SuperWinch 10k (SW, possibly defunkt, but rumors abound) And so far it has held up to a noob the likes of me. It saved my life once when I shattered a snow chain on the back side of mountain, 50 feet from the top, 45 minutes before sunset @ 9000 ft., by myself. I was off camber in semi-hard snowpack and sliding fast - and thoroughly unprepared for the weather AND an overnite stay- it was a test run lol. It needed to work in that situation. And it did, thankfully. But it's those situations while you try hard to avoid, happen none the less.

I recommend cable over synthetic. Personal preference and (my) trails dictate. Sharp pointy boulders lurk over every rise. Plus sand, grit, heat all work against synthetic much faster than cable. But they have convenience advantages.

 

[greentruck]

SNIP

Mechanical failures are actually pretty rare with most winches. A lot of the cheaper winches are using lower quality Chinese steel on gears etc and I've heard of some failures but it doesn't happen often. The more common failure is electrical. User error can be the culprit but water intrusion is what kills winches. Many of the cheaper winches don't have the best seals and some don't have any seals around the contactors. If you get a cheap winch it's well worth your time to do what you can to seal up the electricals better and replace the internal grease with some higher quality grease (Sometimes there's just not enough grease inside). Doing those two things will really improve the reliability of a less expensive winch.

Yep, I agree, I. even wrote up what you can do to deal with this but it does require investing some time and material. Creating quality feeder cables and fixing the typical half-baked grease pack should be in your budget if you saved a bundle on a winch. Here's more:
Getting Best Electrical Cables
Waterproofing a Winch

 

[LandLocked93]

Things like this. This WAS a 1ft deep 3ft wide creek crossing.

THIS guy (car owner, not pic't) got stuck in it in August. Pic is taken in November. It remained there till the following July, nearly entombed. (no political puns allowed lol)

So yeah, paying a respectable amount for a brand-name winch to avoid this sounds elementary. Of course in this case, any winch would have been a great start.

 

[flintknapper]

Things like this. This WAS a 1ft deep 3ft wide creek crossing.

THIS guy (car owner, not pic't) got stuck in it in August. Pic is taken in November. It remained there till the following July, nearly entombed. (no political puns allowed lol)

So yeah, paying a respectable amount for a brand-name winch to avoid this sounds elementary. Of course in this case, any winch would have been a great start.

View attachment 2088762View attachment 2088763View attachment 2088774

^^^^^

In the case above...it is easy to see the 'trouble'. (poor decision making skills) on at least two levels. see pic.

I agree pretty much any winch would have sufficed in that situation.

For more serious off-roading....I recommend something better.

8274 in action:

^^^^ Will do that over and over and over again.

 

[94landcruiser]

Things like this. This WAS a 1ft deep 3ft wide creek crossing.

THIS guy (car owner, not pic't) got stuck in it in August. Pic is taken in November. It remained there till the following July, nearly entombed. (no political puns allowed lol)

So yeah, paying a respectable amount for a brand-name winch to avoid this sounds elementary. Of course in this case, any winch would have been a great start.

View attachment 2088762View attachment 2088763View attachment 2088774

I see numerous poor decisions that happened before any winch might have been considered.

 

[greentruck]

I see numerous poor decisions that happened before any winch might have been considered.

Yeah, many old folks know this. That's why their decision to be frugal about winch choice/brand may seem silly to some. Many of us would say, "Don't go there..." or "...a man has gotta know his limits" before jumping in with both feet. Often it is because of a (or several) formative experience(s) where a truck, a winch, and a naive attitude got them massively stuck - or some similar stuck/trauma occurred. Or we're just getting old and don't have time to get stuck anymore.

Others are telling us they're ready to go to whatever extreme it takes to prep for extremes. It often sounds like they're ready to dive right in because, well, they're ready. And many of them are, because they've done things the gnarly way and know what they want to have when they do it again.

So I just wanted to bring up for those without experience like those who've made the intelligent choice for themselves about how they approach similar situations -- don't get overconfident about diving into obstacles just because you slapped a winch (ANY winch) on the front of your 80. Winching in the minds of most people should be limited to emrgency situations that were somehow not avoided. Whether you're running cable or synth, winching is chancy, dangerous stuff. There are situations where a winch won't save things. There is usually no need to get stuck and it's best avoided to keep your truck looking fresh and un-crunchy and all your bodily part inventory in good running shape. YMMV

Of course, experience is the best teacher. Caution may seem more relevant after the fact, which is where you can gain the advantage of knowing what others pass on if you weren't paying attention yet.

That's not an 80, but maybe the driver thought any 4x4 will accomplish similar feats in near-stock form? It wasn't to be.

 

[94landcruiser]

I bought the BADLANDS 12k, it didn't fit in the ARB due to the inability to clock the clutch handle.

I returned it today no issue to HF. I ordered the SmittyBilt 97512 which has great reviews and lifetime mechanical/5 year electrical warranty.

Smittybilt 97512 X2o-12k Gen 2 Winch

Smittybilt 97512 X2o-12k Gen 2 Winch

thmotorsports.com

 

[Hankg550]

Costco

 

[flintknapper]

I would never buy something that needs to work in a critical situation from harbor freight. I’ve bought their electrical power tools and they last about 1-2 years and I might use them 2-3 times throughout the year. That said Costco has one for $419 with 10,000lbs weight capacity. I trust Costco products more then I would a harbor freight product.

https://www.costco.com/Champion-10%2c000-Pound-Winch-Kit.product.100412085.html

I think the point has been well made that if your needs include using a winch in potentially dangerous situations that the Badlands 12K is probably not your best bet.

Conversely, for folks working on a tight budget or those whose use a winch infrequently...and will adhere to the somewhat limited duty cycle, it seems to fit the bill.

When the winch first came out....it quickly got a bad reputation for early failure. Owing largely to folks burning up the motors. Over time...consumers have realized you really DO need to use them 'sparingly' and let them cool off often. So...the winch now seems to be holding up better than before.

For what I do....I can't imagine ever purchasing one, but they seem work fine for many other folks.

 

[auttiman]

I’ve got that same winch. It works, is light and has a line-brake that I like. I’ve had it less than a year and only needed it once.

That’s all I got......

 

[Funner]

[QUOTE="inkpot, post: 10808287, member: 1033"
tv with vcr built in, John
[/QUOTE]

Only posted two years ago and is still so outdated it made me smile. Let me know if your vcr is still working, I have some old Disney tapes you can have