Harbor Freight Wench

i keep seeing adds for Harbor Freight Badlands 12000 lb wench for $300. Does anyone have any actual experience with these winches? I’m looking for comments by people who have had them for a year or more and actually used them. Pros/cons?

 

Didn't know Harbor Freight had a Wench......


(sorry, couldn't resist)

Seek google and you shall find reviews..... Amazon sells them and there are reviews.
https://www.google.com/search?clien...0i13i5i30k1j0i67k1j0i22i10i30k1.0.hpNT38xOQ7A

Personally, if you're needing a winch for serious offroading, I'd go with a Warn. We owned one for many years on our Jeep and I wouldn't buy anything else.

 

When I typed the title my mind was obviously elsewhere. However if you have a harbor freight winch let me know your thoughts and if you have an electric wench not sure I want to know.

 

I have one it's a piece of shit. Broke all 4 bolts holding the winch onto the bumper, it's retracted its self before damn near broke a d ring, and my control box gave out and they refuse to warranty it

 

Go smittybilt, more expensive than badasslands but much less than warn and everything is hassle free lifetime replacement.

 

I've has 2 but they were both 2000 or 2500 pound models. They were on four-wheelers. Never had a problem out of them except for when the cable got hung up in one.

 

Ok I got off my ass and did a little research. Looks like the Harbor Freight Badlands winch is a pos. In one test of several brands by a major 4 wheel magazine the Harbor Freight broke down at the beginning of the testing. They were not able to complete the testing. That’s a pos. Few have anything good to say about it. I’m going to look into smittybilt winches. They are reasonably priced and most all the reviews give them high marks. If anyone has personal experience with the smittybilt let me know what you think.
I understand Warn are top of the line but are way expensive. I usually when it comes to tools and outdoor equipment buy the best there is or the best I can afford. But I don’t plan to use the winch much at all so I hate to pay the expense of a Warn. If the smittybilt is considered dependable I’ll go with that and take the $1000 or so I save and buy some other toys.

 

I love harbor freight for some things, but if it has moving parts or electronics/motors I generally just stay away.

I love my HF 6 ton jack stands, tho.

 

You get what you pay for. I made the mistake of putting a 12000 Badlands on my pelrfreybilt bumper. went threw the car wash, when I left the winch engaged and almost ripped the d-ring off and pulled the roller in an inch. I will be upgrading to a Smittybilt when I can afford it

 

I've had the 12k winch on my truck for a little over 2 years now. They get a bad rap but I haven't had any issues with it. I off road on the regular and probably used it about 6 times in the 2 years without issues. They do tend to overheat so it will stop working and start again once cooled.

 

You left the winch engaged? Can you elaborate on this, please?

 

I thought I was going to use the winch a lot more than I thought. Glad I went with an inexpensive winch and save my money to buy more important mods. Plus you can't beat the HF warranty. Swap out in store no questions asked.

 

For 300 I would just buy a Wyeth-Scott more power puller.

 

Spend the money up front. You say you won't use it much, but when you do use it you will NEED it to work. This is an item I would not skimp on. I waited longer and saved up a bit more money to get a Warn. The Excursion I pulled from the snow bank this past weekend was very thankful.

 

buy once/cry once.......

buy something name brand & decent......

 

Imagine my disappoint when opening the thread.

Thought it would be full of wenches......


























Instead of busted wrenches.........













Just kidding. Harbor Freight tools certainly have their place. When a neighbor needs to borrow stuff.....HBF tools to the rescue. For a cheap set to keep in the truck's toolbox, HBF tools to the rescue. Hell....for most of what I need around the house for projects, HBF tools does just fine.

 

Harbor Freight has never done me wrong.

 

Most of the time Harbor Freight does everything I need it to.