Cheap Electric Winches -

[bluespanner]

Everybody wants a winch - its the number one bolt on goodie for your truck.

On ebay or in shops you always see winches that resemble eachother... Champion, Britpart, TMax... then ones on ebay for £200 plus postage! Thats got to be a bargain for a 12000lb winch... but is it any good? Are any of them any good? I assume they are all made in a factory in China.

Anybody know about the origins of these winches?

cheers,

Roly

[stobbie]

I've got two of those 12000LBS China winches. Just put one on my trailer. Work perfect, with wireless remote.

I've paid only 125 pounds each, incl postage for them about a year ago.

[BogMonster]

Getting spares for the no-name ones is likely to be the issue, if it goes pop in a couple of years.

[stobbie]

Then, you just throw it away and buy a new one... Spares for another one are probably as expensive as a new china one.

A friend of mine has taken one apart, and build quality does look good..

[SteveG]

The problem with the 12k winches for off-roading is they are slower, heavier and if you are fitting it to a land rover, then 9k or 9.5k will be fine.

Steve

[m&mv80]

i know a chap who imports/sells them and spare parts are not a problem,

he has most in stock and if not he will strip a new winch to get the parts you require,

to be honest the older 12k ones were quite slow as they just changed the ratio in the gearbox to get the extra power so a 9.5k was a better option, the latest have more powerfull motors fitted and are actually quite fast.

at the end of the day its a 12k winch for not a lot of money and for play day type use i dont think you need anything better imo

[bluespanner]

I'd use it for very occasional use... ie when my mate gets stuck in a field. No competing. Anybody know a good (non spurious geezer on ebay) source?

[m&mv80]

pm sent