I will be needing a winch here soon and I need one for $300 or less. I have been looking at Superwinch, Rugged Ridge, Smittybuilt, Harbor freight, and tractor supply brands all in the 8-9K range. What is the best deal in this price range?

 

you mean best just ok winch for under $300. i bought a superwinch for $350 , its ok. i ve had 3 great warns , but sold them all w/ the jeeps they were on. so now i go cheaper.

 

Don't know about Harbor Freights 9000 lb winch but I have one of their 12k badlands winches and wouldn't trade it for anything. Have used it for numerous things, pulled out stuck tractors, tree stumps, moved deer blinds, you name it. It's a beast. As with any electrical device, you need to be aware of it's duty cycles. Follow instructions, be patient and they will work like a champ. Picked my 12k up for $289 at Harbor Freight. The 9k usually runs about $50 less when their on sale.

My advice, for what it's worth, buy a Badlands winch and use the crud out of it.

Happy Jeepin'

 

What about the smittybilt XRC 9.5? It seems like a good deal for $299.

 

Just don't get the steel cable.

 

that kills his whole "under $300" idea. There's nothing wrong with steel cable. It's been around a long while.... just be smart and you're ok.

 

X2, I bought a cheap winch from Menards for a car trailer. After 10-12 pulls it died in a pile of metal shavings under the motor.

So I decided I needed quality and bought a $900 Warn winch thinking i'd be good forever, Warn is the best! It lasted 6 months for me and died, their warranty department wanted me to ship it to Billings for weeks and then they'd return it. I needed my trailer so I sold it broken and bought the HF Badlands 12,000lb winch.

That lasted over a year until the wiring went out. Replaced it with a new unit and bought the warranty that time, sold that one with the trailer several months later. I did not pay attention to the duty cycle in that year and i'm sure it would still be going if I had. (Duty cycle on that winch by the way is a 15 minute rest after a 45 second pull at full strength) For the money, that HF 12k sucker would be tough to beat in my opinion. I will be buying one for my ZJ and am not currently even considering another option. Good luck!

 

That's the problem a lot of people run into. They expect the winch to be able to pull for hours on end with no rest and expect it to perform flawlessly forever. I don't run a winch yet but have seen it a few times before

 

I have a coupon for the harbor freight 12k winch for $299 so I may go that route.

 

Harbor freight badlands 12k. Get the wireless remote with it.

 

I was very happy with my smittybilt xrc 9500

 

As with most things you get what you pay for.


A better bet might be a Hi-Lift jack and recovery items to go with it, much more useful and the motor never burns out. I have a winch and a Hi-Lift both are used many times when I have been stuck and needed to pull from 2 different directions, like to keep the XJ from sliding up against a tree on a hillside.


If I could have but one it would be the Hi-Lift over the winch and not a cheap piece of junk from China but the real deal.

 

SO what winch would you suggest then?

 

To hell with that. Hi-Lift winch motors burn out FAST! I used my hi-lift to winch my jeep out once. Huffing and puffing by the time I got it out. I'm 31 and in good shape. A hi-lift for primary winching use is too much like work.

 

Well, if the OP gets a 300 winch, after the 4 or 5 times it works before it dies, then he's gonna be hi-lifting it anyways.

Why not skip to that method until He can save the $$ for a REAL winch ??