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cheep winch brands warning ! ! !

sweetk30

sweetk30

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just had to test and fix a bad lands brand winch from the cheepy brand places .

this winch is used only for trailer pull on duty . it has been used less than 2 dozen times until a month ago .

the guy said it just clicks and nothing from the motor . well i started looking it over and removing the unit from the trailer . as i was un-hooking the batt + & N the neg terminal end fell off the cable with the heat shrink . . :yikes:

so as i looked it over the wire was heavy corrosion . i cut it back 6" as its to long anyways and found the same problem . also there is no signs of copper . . . . :dunno:

i cut the neg wire 2 more times and still solid corrosion and no copper color . . . . this is when i remembered the race car world stuff . . . copper coated aluminum wire for weight savings . . and this stuff was light weight and falling apart like dust . . .

so the whole winch got 3 new wires from relay to motor . then 2 new batt wires to motor and relay .all with REAL solid copper wire .

then to my surprise the winch worked 100% as it should .

just goes to show you why YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR :deal: spend cheep get cheep .
 
They probably use that crap wire as a fusible link to prevent the motor from going up in smoke!..
 
I wonder what the motor itself is wired with. Did you get a chance to peek inside it?
 
I bought a hf gantry crane used for next to nothing. Cut a bunch of crap off of it that I didn't need. This thing was pristine and only used once. The amount of rust under each piece I cut off was mind blowing.
 
it's like a HF circ saw, they literally weigh like 5 oz when ya pick it up... my boss used to buy that cr@p....
 
My HF winch works great. Had it about a year and a half, used 8-10x's with no issues. Doesn't have the stock cables though.
 
So the winch was fine, but the wiring was bad? So it would work to buy a cheap winch, but just add sealing to the wiring? Anytime you have wires that can get hit by salt spray, it absolutely has to be sealed. Even just having the exposed ends soldered can be enough. If you can see the strands, that cable will fail, just like you observed. It probably would have been fine in the desert.
 
Go on google and look at wire coming from China. As mentioned, it's almost certainly due to cost.

If you are lucky it's copper clad aluminum, some of it is straight aluminum. It's also angel-hair thin, which takes almost no corrosion before the strands break/corrosion ruins it. GM did the same thing with the battery cables (and some interior wiring on the cars) but at least the battery cables are large strands that hold up better. Still not good, but not as susceptible to failure as the chinese garbage.

The difference when you get actual copper wire is amazing. Always make sure you buy stuff that is pure copper.
 
When I ditched the factory aluminum/copper battery cables on one of my trucks,the starter speed increased dramatically...
I used some 2/0 welding cable I had picked up at a salvage yard to make new cables...used copper tubing to make the lug ends myself..

I think the aluminum/copper stuff develops a high resistance after it has been heated up enough a few times by high amperage draw,like a long cranking period on a frigid winter cold start...once it gets "roasted" a few times,it does not conduct worth a squat..yet it still LOOKS perfectly OK...

Its common knowledge on the internet that China doesn't make good rubber or wire,tires from them dry rot fast and turn hard and crack,wires are made with recycled copper and whatever other trash is mixed in with it..
 
Even though CCA wire requires you to go to a larger size (typically about 2 #'s of AWG) for the same current handling as all copper, it still ends up cheaper. However, I think it's more about perception. The consumer feels the install kit is beefier with 4AWG CCA, instead of 6AWG copper, which performs about the same. Kind of a shame since the smaller copper is easier to route. You can solder the CCA, but it's not as easy. Pure aluminum, no way.
 
My dad and brother both have the HF 12k winch...both have had theirs for years and both still work just fine. Both are always stored inside away from weather (both on cradles that sit in the back of trucks and only get taken out when needed). Most of the HF winches have problems when they get wet. Yes they are cheap, but they have their places for stuff.

I always find it entertaining that every so often threads pop up about a HF tools that broke and it's just a pile on the "HF blows" bandwagon, but if all of us took a hard look in our garages...I bet you have more HF tools then you care to admit :haha:.

The reality is HF does make cheap crap...but some of that cheap crap actually works pretty good. Their electrical tools are hit and miss (I have their electrical impact gun that I abuse like no other and it's still going strong after 5 years...best $30 with a coupon I've ever spent :pimp:...and it gets used every time I'm in the shop). The winches I've heard some say work fine for them, and some say they break the first time using it (starting to wonder if some user error is the culprit of some of that :thinking:). Either way, HF has it's place for many of the tools in our shops/garages.
 
I'm planning on buying the HF Badlands 18,000lb winch in March(ish) time frame. and buy the warranty. You pay a lil fee ($30 I think) and if it breaks you return the entire thing and get a new one. I was told you bring it back before the warranty is over to just get a new one; however, if your works great and no issues, they allow you to renew the warranty!!!!

HF - $699
Warn - $2000
Smittybilt - $800
Ramsey - $1700
 
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