Runva winches - opinions?

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finderscuba

finderscuba

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I came across these winches on eBay (Shop eBay Canada Store - ATV Winch:: Jeep, Electric). I'm considering the dual speed wireless 10K unit. I'm located in Canada and these ship from Ontario. Around $500 shipped or less if you can win one of their lower priced auctions.

Any opinions on this brand? Looks like a good unit.
 
96r50 said:
IIRC Titan Winches is based out of southern Ontario. They have had good reviews on the FJC forums (Titan Winches??? - Toyota FJ Cruiser Forum) and a couple Jeep forums as well. I'd consider one if I was looking for a (electric) winch.
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The Runva's are still cheaper. And the dual speed version has had some good reviews. I probably will only use it 3-4 times a year, so price is the motivating factor.
 
Runva winches are sold in Spain under the name of Goldenwinch and seem to have good reviews, but I wouldn't think they are the best option for heavy duty use (except the hydraulic). But that's not your case so I'd say go for it.

I got a really cheap 12000 Champion winch for the 80. Some people told me to stay away from cheap winches. It hasn't rescued me yet (hope it will this weekend, cause I will do my best to get stuck), but we tried it winching a 1800 kg Suzuki on big MT tires on a really steep cement floor hill, with the suzuki handbraked and the gearbox in P, and it dragged it without any effort.

The mechanic was really impressed, he said they did the same test with a 9000 Ramsey (OK, it's less powerful but it's a Ramsey and it costs 4 times as much as mine) winch and it felt much more struggling than mine.

But about reliability, I bet the Ramsey will last 10 times longer.
 
no customer service

bought one of these and first time I used it it stripped the gears and try to call the Canada warehouse that I bought it from and it`s an answering machine that you have to leave your name and number.
After many left messages with no call back, I wrote 4 e-mails a day for a week with still no answers.....
so I call their USA wholesalers with same treatment, and after about a week I got a reply telling me that they don`t keep replacement parts for them winches and they didn`t know where to get them!!!!!
The waranty states that they warranty the gear case for life and 3 years on other parts!!!
all I want is the 3 gears that stripped, and am willing to pay for it, but just can`t get them!!!!
don`t be fooled by the good reviews on these winches, like I was......I got what I thought was a good deal,,,a brand new 500$ winch that don`t work!!!
 
frankl36 said:
bought one of these and first time I used it it stripped the gears and try to call the Canada warehouse that I bought it from and it`s an answering machine that you have to leave your name and number.
After many left messages with no call back, I wrote 4 e-mails a day for a week with still no answers.....
so I call their USA wholesalers with same treatment, and after about a week I got a reply telling me that they don`t keep replacement parts for them winches and they didn`t know where to get them!!!!!
The waranty states that they warranty the gear case for life and 3 years on other parts!!!
all I want is the 3 gears that stripped, and am willing to pay for it, but just can`t get them!!!!
don`t be fooled by the good reviews on these winches, like I was......I got what I thought was a good deal,,,a brand new 500$ winch that don`t work!!!
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Hmm, from my experience this makes no sense whatsoever.

I bent the drum on my 11k Runva last winter, all my fault. I ran some heavy side loaded pulls at least 50x during a snow wheeling trip and kept loading all the line on one side of the drum. Killed the drum. Never did it stop working though.
I called (after emailing them) Runva the following Monday, and got an answering machine. No big deal, a lot of smaller outfits will send you to voicemail and get back to you later.
An hour later I got a call from one of their engineers asking me to send photos of what happened and to write up what I was doing while using the winch. I gave them a detailed synopsis and about 20 photos. The next day the engineer called to say that a new drum was ordered and I'd see it in 10-12 days (coming from their supplier) along with new case screws just in case I'd torqued the case. I paid for none of this.
To me that was phenomenal customer service.
I've used my Runva countless times now and its never let me down, not once. I would happily buy another of their winches and would recommend them.
Also, I've been into the internals and gears to remove the factory grease and add a high quality Moly. The internals on my 11k are all machined. No stamped metals holding the gears in place. A true three stage gear drive planetary.
 
frankl36 said:
bought one of these and first time I used it it stripped the gears and try to call the Canada warehouse that I bought it from and it`s an answering machine that you have to leave your name and number.
After many left messages with no call back, I wrote 4 e-mails a day for a week with still no answers.....
so I call their USA wholesalers with same treatment, and after about a week I got a reply telling me that they don`t keep replacement parts for them winches and they didn`t know where to get them!!!!!
The waranty states that they warranty the gear case for life and 3 years on other parts!!!
all I want is the 3 gears that stripped, and am willing to pay for it, but just can`t get them!!!!
don`t be fooled by the good reviews on these winches, like I was......I got what I thought was a good deal,,,a brand new 500$ winch that don`t work!!!
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Hmm, two posts and both are spamming Runva. I call bullsh1t. I've used my Runva 12k heavily and it's been perfect. Go troll somewhere else.
 
If it matters.... "RunvaUSA is a subsidiary of Runva Zhejiang in China. Headquartered in Minneapolis Minnesota, we are central to North America for sales, service, and engineering.

http://www.runvausa.com
 
I went down the road of a cheap winch once. It broke a few times, I was able to get parts for a while. Then I found a good deal on a used Warn 12K for about the same as I paid for the first one. Just saying….

Warn's are easy to refurbish as they pretty much stock parts for most everything they ever sold. Mine did not need much other than grease and some paint. I'm in it for $750 with a new synthetic line and battery cables.
 
Corbet said:
I went down the road of a cheap winch once. It broke a few times, I was able to get parts for a while. Then I found a good deal on a used Warn 12K for about the same as I paid for the first one. Just saying….

Warn's are easy to refurbish as they pretty much stock parts for most everything they ever sold. Mine did not need much other than grease and some paint. I'm in it for $750 with a new synthetic line and battery cables.
Click to expand...

Runva's been around for a while as a company (15 years). Maybe not quite as long as Warn, but I'd stack their products (and certainly their warranty) against Warn any day. The only thing I'll give Warn is a nod for their line speed. Other than that I find them no better than anyone else. Particularly when it comes to warranty issues.
 
If you can get parts for them then great. The main point of my post is that you can have a used high dollar winch for the price of a new in-expensive if you choose.

I don't have any personal experience with Runva, never even heard of them until now. My cheapo was a early T-Max. The parts were easy to get and customer service great until the company changed hands. After that, no go. So I found a used Warn to replace it.

Now that I looked at the date of the OP it looks like this thread was dug up to simply bitch about a bad experience...:bang:
 
I have a Runva 12K hydraulic on my 97' 80. Its been fine for the few times I've used it.
I had to get custom hoses for the fittings which weren't cheap (MileMaker comes with proper sized hoses but double the price overall). I also had a minor leak at the control box that eventually got fixed (fluid leak sealant)

Customer service was always good with them.
 
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