atv winches-question

[stevinator]

Anyone ever try one of harbor freights small 3000# or so remote winches for their atv.A co-worker of mine saw some when we were in the store and wondered about them.

[carphunter]

i've mounted winches on three so far .haven't need them yet but they do work just fine.

[stevinator]

Carphunter do you mean the harbor freight ones?

[carphunter]

yes i'll shoot some pics a little later.

[FABMAN]

Anyone ever try one of harbor freights small 3000# or so remote winches for their atv.A co-worker of mine saw some when we were in the store and wondered about them.

I mounted a 2000# to my sons Honda 4-trax a few years back. Just welded a 1/4" plate to the front of the front rack and drilled / bolted it on. Worked great ! Mostly just used it for pulling the ATV out of the deep mud. The only problem I ran into was the on/off direction switch. Don't skimp on a cheap switch. We burned up two switches before we finally found a good one that would handle the amp load. Also a winch with the free spool out mode is really handy.

[taylorkh]

Not exactly an ATV application but it is an ATV winch. This is the third winch I mounted on my 1983 John Deere 314.

mediamax.com/walker_52/Hosted/logging.jpg

The first was from Tractor Supply - a generic Chi-Comm model. The clutch did not work so it went back. The second was from Harbor Freight - the 3000# unit with wireless remote. When the remote was released the winch continued to run for about 1 - 2 seconds. Dangerous! So it went back.

I inquired from a Warn dealer on-line as to what was the smallest USA made unit they carried. They never had the courtesy to respond to my email. Tractor Supply had this 2000# unit for $79 a few months back so I decided to give it a try.

Worked fine the one time I needed it to pull the tractor and a load of wood out of a boggy area. Unfortunately I had been using the winch platform to carry my chain saw and the winch was in the shop Had to hike back and retrieve it, attach it to the tractor and pull it free.

As to Harbor Freight - so far 5 of 6 items I purchase there were trash. I have not yet tried 6th item - some heat shrink insulation.

Ken

[stevinator]

Thanks guys I will pass on the info to him.

[alanh]

Here's the $50, 2000 lb. HF winch I put on my mower in Oct., 05. Have used it several times and it works fine. I had to make the fairlead and I added a friction brake to the spool so the cable spool doesn't spin freely when released, you can end up with a real birds nest of cable.