HF 12000# winch

[1507dennis]

I am thinking about buying a HF winch and have been looking at the 12,000# one. Has anyone had any experience with these??? Or is there something better.
I will use it on my car trailer. I am sure a smaller one will work but there is a good sale on the 12,000# one.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[LWW]

And don't forget to get a 20% off coupon as well. I picked mine up for $280 after sale markdown + coupon. I wouldn't consider it a 12k# winch. It's internals are more like a 5-6k# winch. There are way better ones out there, but the price is right if you're not going to use it for commercial level work. Mine has worked fine for the last 2 years of infrequent use on my F250. The 3k# Warn on my trailer gets a LOT more use. I've used the 12k# HF to pull a unibody race car "straighter" after an on track incident and it worked fine after using a pulley system to effectively double it's load capacity!

 

[1507dennis]

I have a 25% off coupon and that is why I am considering it....

 

[Diesel Dan]

Or is there something better.

Yup, Warn.

Have 3 winches,
-8,000lb Tulsa
-9,000lb Superwinch- for the trailer
-10,000lb Warn

IMO, all those cheap chinese winches will force the good winch builders to cheapen their products. There is a reason a warn 8274 still costs well over $1K.

 

[KPSquared]

So...freakin...slow...

But probably just fine for what you want it for.

 

[brownbagg]

i bought a used 8274 for $500 and it had a jeep attached to it

 

[Attackcammel]

I got stuck in the woods for three hours with a hf 12000# winch I would literally get three second pulls out of it before it would overheat on me when I got back I fixed up an old warn 8274 I picked up for cheap and haven't had trouble with it yet even with 90% for the parts being about thirty years old.

 

[RickP]

I looked at that HF winch, but the 90 day warranty scared me off. If I were to buy an inexpensive winch today, it would be a Superwinch with a 2 year warranty. The LP10000 is $432 on Amazon. Its motor is slightly smaller, but the cable is 20 feet longer.

 

[owenst7]

After rebuilding a lot of winches over the years, I've determined that the Warn solenoid-style planetary winches are just as much garbage internally as any other. The 8274 on the other hand is the quality that the market should have followed.

The electronics of the Warn MOSFET winches are worth the money.

 

[c4cruiser]

I have a 25% off coupon and that is why I am considering it....

Look carefully at the "exemptions" on the coupon. If an item is already on sale (like that 12K winch on sale at $299) the coupon usually can't be used. If you can get it by the cashier, that makes it a good deal.

The winch does run slow and is a little noisy, but if line speed is not an issue, it should work fine. One thing about the HF winches is that their $25 wireless controller will work on them. The wireless controller can keep you out of harms way if the cable should break. From what I have heard the HF wireless unit will work on other winches.

Last month, I bought a Superwinch Terra 4500 lb unit from Amazon for $209 and it's going in my car trailer. I also got a SmittyBilt ****** block that will effectively double the pulling power to 9K! That also came from Amazon and the block is rated at 9K (1/4" wire cable) and it has a grease fitting which is supposed to be a big plus if it gets used a lot.

 

[oilslick]

My scrapper buddy uses the piss out of his. He is very hard on **** and his last one was good for 3 years until the scrap yard damaged it while taking a load off his trailer. The replacement he just got seems ok but no comparison to warn. Bang for the buck it is hard to beat.