Saw this winch at Tractor Supply and for the price, didn't seem to bad. Was wondering if anyone has one and if you like it.
Winch - Does anyone have experience
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As anyone at least seen one of these?
Looks very similar to the Harbor Freight 12,000 lb winches. I have only heard good things about them, and for the price, I say why not?
It looks like a Chinese copy of a WARN unit. Be warned the Chinese use cheaper quality steel and bearings. My advise to save your money for a Ramsey or WARN. I have used my WARN twice in emergency situations. Once two weeks after I installed it and then 20 years later. The second time I used it I hadn't done any maintance on the WARN winch in 20 years. That's 20 years of northern Arizona winters, mansoon seasons and it worked !!!!!!!!! You get what you pay for. Jason
Umm uhhhh, Warn also has made in China parts on their winches. Nice little Made in China sticker on my Warn 12K Power Plant. I have had a Viper 12K winch since 07 and use it both on the trail and on the farm. Zero issues. Made in China does not mean junk across the board.
As to the winch the OP is showing, never have seen one personally.
As to the winch the OP is showing, never have seen one personally.
There are tons of those overseas winches, most actaully seem to get decent reviews. Never used one myself
I live in the PNW....the home of Warn...so it seemed fitting to buy warn winches. We see 30+ year old warns in use all the time, chances are that won't be the case with most the offshore brands.
But $200 vrs 1200 I understand.
Back when I bought all my warns (5) they were not cheap, but all were under 1k,(and there not many other options ) 8274(s), 12k, 10k, 9.5.....all been on 10+ years and always work.....afaik, all those were made in Portland not china. Chances are a $200 winch is better than no winch....
I live in the PNW....the home of Warn...so it seemed fitting to buy warn winches. We see 30+ year old warns in use all the time, chances are that won't be the case with most the offshore brands.
But $200 vrs 1200 I understand.
Back when I bought all my warns (5) they were not cheap, but all were under 1k,(and there not many other options ) 8274(s), 12k, 10k, 9.5.....all been on 10+ years and always work.....afaik, all those were made in Portland not china. Chances are a $200 winch is better than no winch....
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Every single time I buy China it breaks. I have wasted a lot of money on Chinese tools. And whats up with that smell in Harbor Freight!? Smells like cheap plastic or something in that store, like bad.
Don't get me wrong, for certain things China works fine. My engine hoist for example.
Cheers
Don't get me wrong, for certain things China works fine. My engine hoist for example.
Cheers
Never heard of that brand. I run a Warn M12,000 in my ARB bumper and am very happy.
If your going to use it for pulling a couple times a year, I got the HF 12K for $279. and it's worked great for a few years, but I've only run it 10~12 times. If I were hard core, I'd get something name brand, but for my 5 times per year of crawling, the HF is just fine.
What's your reason for buying a winch? What's your usage look like? If you're like a majority that buy it to put on their ARB/4+/ETC to have for the once a year pull-out, you should be fine with a generic winch. Be sure to service/check it regularly.
Tractor Supply is selling that winch. I don't know if it's proprietary to them but the finish looks good.
I expect the internals are as to be expected for a 300.00 import.
George Straight does their commercials so maybe he'll back up their product personally
Personally, my attitude on imports is to just go on ebay and buy direct. I don't like rewarding
American companies for outsourcing and cutting jobs here. I bitched at my Ace H/W recently]
for carrying a exact knock off of the USA made Klein wire strippers. The Chinese made G-B
was 18.95 while the USA made Klein was 21.95. What's the point of the G-B for a 3.00 savings? If you want to buy Chinese make sure the price reflects the 10X difference in labor cost.
I expect the internals are as to be expected for a 300.00 import.
George Straight does their commercials so maybe he'll back up their product personally
Personally, my attitude on imports is to just go on ebay and buy direct. I don't like rewarding
American companies for outsourcing and cutting jobs here. I bitched at my Ace H/W recently]
for carrying a exact knock off of the USA made Klein wire strippers. The Chinese made G-B
was 18.95 while the USA made Klein was 21.95. What's the point of the G-B for a 3.00 savings? If you want to buy Chinese make sure the price reflects the 10X difference in labor cost.
Last edited:
Ditto
My 1979 Warn 8274, maintenance... one replaced cable, broken during a hard pull.. My Warn 9500I,
no maintenance since purchase in 1996
Granted, the Warn family still owned the company then and as far as I know all every one of their winches were US made when they ran it
omg, is anyone ever going to learn that Chinese made s*** is s***. I know there's brand name stuff made in china but at least there's quality control and materials are good. However, a Chinese copy of something is a bunch of wasted money.
my 2c
my 2c
I have a Warn winch (HS9500I) on my 40 and a Engo (Chinese) on my 60. The Engo has done everything I have asked it to. No if's and's or butts.. The only winch Warn makes now a days that is truly USA made is the 8274. Everything else is hecho en China (or other areas and assembled in the US, mostly). If you are in a competition, then I'd go with the Gigglepin for the best winch out there. If not, get whatever fits your budget from a place you know you can take it back to if you have issues. Harbor freight is one, I have no clue if Tractor supply is as good as HF is with warranties.
It's a global market, if you are penny pinching, then you are looking at a Chinese made product..
Recovery winch, winch upgrades, 4x4 suspension, vehicle upgrades, competition Winches, Warn and Gigglepin
It's a global market, if you are penny pinching, then you are looking at a Chinese made product..
Recovery winch, winch upgrades, 4x4 suspension, vehicle upgrades, competition Winches, Warn and Gigglepin
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- #18
Thanks guys for all the comments. If I could afford a Warn, I'd buy one. Don't really know how often I would use a winch, but probably like others, it would be handy to have one if needed. The Traveller winch is $319, and I think it has a three year warrenty. They also sell a neoprene cover for it. Plus a bunch of other stuff like snatch blocks, tow straps, and a few other odds and ends.
Cruiserdrew
On the way there
Unfortunately, no winch might be better than this winch. Every time I've bought something mechanical and somewhat complicated from CHina, in the end, I've regretted it. You are buying a winch here that will have no support long term, and when the first little part goes bad, which it will and at the worst possible time, you will need a whole new winch.
At least with Warn, long term, parts are available. And their customer support is great. Don't know how many Chinese parts they use now, likely some, but I'll bet they will stock those parts, and you'll be able to buy those parts in 15 years.
Unfortunately, the strategy seems to be this...make something just shiney enough to make an initial sale. It looks like a winch, can survive a couple of pulls until the warranty runs out, but it is junk inside and out. But price it ridiculously cheap to get the doubters on board. Flood the market with this junk. If this happens enough, then the original company either goes broke or gives up, or is forced themselves to make substandard crap in China to at least try and compete on price. Either is a win for China Inc.
My vote--run far away from this. It is junk, and sometime in the next 5 years, it will be in your trash, and my 1991 8274 will still be on the front of my truck, still working fine. Instead, buy a Warn 8000. Even a used one. Not too much more money, decent winch, parts available all day long. Don't be fooled by the 10,000 pound rating of your Traveller. The Chinese make up specs randomly, and that's a nice round number, but won't pull any harder than a Warn 8000. In fact, I'm surprised they didn't call it a 12,500 pound winch. They probably did and paint it a different color and put it in a Harbor Freight box.
Just for the record, I am not a Warn shill. They just make a solid trustworthy product, and back it up long term.
1978 Warn 8274 works well, perfect inside when I had it apart last year. Bought from the original owner, who just got old
1991 Warn 8274 works really well, solenoid pack went bad-they sent me a new one, in 2005, no charge. I was not the original owner.
2002 Warn M12,000 works perfectly, needs a new cable for this upcoming year-my fault, not Warn's.
At least with Warn, long term, parts are available. And their customer support is great. Don't know how many Chinese parts they use now, likely some, but I'll bet they will stock those parts, and you'll be able to buy those parts in 15 years.
Unfortunately, the strategy seems to be this...make something just shiney enough to make an initial sale. It looks like a winch, can survive a couple of pulls until the warranty runs out, but it is junk inside and out. But price it ridiculously cheap to get the doubters on board. Flood the market with this junk. If this happens enough, then the original company either goes broke or gives up, or is forced themselves to make substandard crap in China to at least try and compete on price. Either is a win for China Inc.
My vote--run far away from this. It is junk, and sometime in the next 5 years, it will be in your trash, and my 1991 8274 will still be on the front of my truck, still working fine. Instead, buy a Warn 8000. Even a used one. Not too much more money, decent winch, parts available all day long. Don't be fooled by the 10,000 pound rating of your Traveller. The Chinese make up specs randomly, and that's a nice round number, but won't pull any harder than a Warn 8000. In fact, I'm surprised they didn't call it a 12,500 pound winch. They probably did and paint it a different color and put it in a Harbor Freight box.
Just for the record, I am not a Warn shill. They just make a solid trustworthy product, and back it up long term.
1978 Warn 8274 works well, perfect inside when I had it apart last year. Bought from the original owner, who just got old
1991 Warn 8274 works really well, solenoid pack went bad-they sent me a new one, in 2005, no charge. I was not the original owner.
2002 Warn M12,000 works perfectly, needs a new cable for this upcoming year-my fault, not Warn's.