Looking for a cheap electric winch ?

Looking for a cheap electric winch. I need to hook it up to a car battery.

I need a hook on both ends..

Strong enough to pull a car in to the car trailer if it will not start..

That looks like a piece of junk! Meant for a small boat. Look at Summit Raceing at the superwinch products. Expect to spend close to $500

I bought a cheap one ($79 bucks) from Harbor Freight that I bolted to one of my four post lifts to pull a car onto. Works good for me, it's also got a remote switch. Sure beats trying to push a car up the ramps.

Harbor Freight, ATV winch. 2500#, or 5000# if you use a snatch block. PULLING a rolling car requires a fraction of the weight of the car. You do not need a winch with enough pull to lift the car off the ground.

Make a plate to bolt to the bottom of the winch, put a hook on it, you'll have what you describe.

GLong

In a pinch a come along works fine, the "battery" is always charged, it's cheap, takes up little space, and you can use the excercise......................Bob

In a pinch a come along works fine, the "battery" is always charged, it's cheap, takes up little space, and you can use the excercise......................Bob

Unless it has 4 locked wheels and or flats, when the Temperature is 90 in the shade , sunny with 90 percent humidity and the closest you can get the trailer is 40 feet away. Ask me how I know. LOL

Boy a winch would have been nice.

In a pinch a come along works fine, the "battery" is always charged, it's cheap, takes up little space, and you can use the excercise......................Bob

I'll second the come along in a pinch action... Getting them on the trailer with 2-3 resets isn't bad but getting them off the trailer can be fun, as in no brakes!

When you buy cheap you get cheap. Harbor freight has those.

if you will only use it occasionally Harbor Freight will suit your purpose. It is not meant for commercial but then again it is not the price of a commercial unit. If you want commercial at a cheap price they don't exist unless you find a used one !

Wayne

Here is my opinion for what it is worth. I have watched in amazement over the years how someone would have a great restoration and then shove it in a less than ideal trailer, with less than ideal hitch and with less than ideal tires. We are all not millionaires and money can be tight but I would always do my best not to skimp on anything that involved keeping my "investment" safe. Have no idea how good some of these inexpensive winches are but if I ever remotely suspected I would need to winch on an incline I would find a way to get a proven name brand unit. In my world "Murphy"s Law" is supreme so I take no chances! I know of a winch failure and the car went.... It happened to a good friend of mine with a very valuable car.

I was about to respond, but Steve said it all !

A quality product will better protect your loved vehicle, but more importantly will protect you and your loved ones from injury. I've seen the results of "cheap" products, and it isn't pretty. A snapped cable can whip and cause permanent injury, and a car rolling backward uncontrolled can cause property damage, injury, or death - you don't have enough insurance or enough conscience for that event.

By the way, I used to have a "cheap" winch - the same one as shown in the earlier post, and after seeing another one fail, I wouldn't even put it out for a garage sale - just junked it.

If possible get 2 come alongs so you can hook up the second when the first is fully pulled up, then alternate. This way you don't lose any ground when you move the come along.

If I had to move a vehicle 40 feet I would tow it, even if I had to use a 50 foot long chain or cable to do it.

Please don't skimp on parachutes, winches, chains, or come alongs.

Or women................Bob

Do parachutes come with a warranty?

Put a parachutes on that 58 chev...

That trailer has a Winch on it..

But I have one with out .. Need it next week..

To bad it was not centered. I could of had my Christmas card photo...

I need a cheap one for a small car Like a Sun Beam. Not a 19 foot boat..

I will install a 600.00 one down the road.. This is just for a one time use..

I am with Steve, but believe in Schwartz's law, that is , Murphy is an optimist !

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

Read the latest Skinned Knuckles if you would like to know about the quality of Harbor Freight's merchandise.

Don't forget the risk of an injury when a failure happens. Sounds like you sold yourself on the Harbor Freight Junk, but it can cost you a lot more then an extra few hundred.

In defense of Harbor Freight I have used one of their products for the last five years without failure. If you are going "cheap" oversize the winch. Mine is the 12000 lb model and I always use a snatch block with a heavy auto. Just my two cents worth. Bob Smits

Nick, I like your latest Avatar. New purchase?

Do parachutes come with a warranty?

Marty. Yes. But it only applies to the original owner.

I'm a belt and suspenders guy. i.e. buy a quality, over-sized winch.

Then attach jumper cables to it long enough to reach the battery of a tow vehicle. That way you don't have to rely on a trailer battery or undersized trailer hitch wiring, and you can use the trailer winch with any car/truck that has a hitch.

Like Dwight, I'm also, and always have been a "Belt AND Suspenders Guy" - I have stated this on other posts.

We cannot be too careful where safety is involved. If you must go for a cheap price, at least go with the higher capability.

When I did use the basic unit like the one above, it did not give a feeling of genuine security. The unit I currently keep in my trailer is substantially oversized and exceptionally well-made. My wife thinks I'm worth it! (You can fool some of the people some of the time...?)

In the old days, I remember using a series of cheap come-alongs in series - winch in the first one, and then the second, and then the third -- because I didn't have enough really good chain - and they were Really Cheap Come-Alongs which would sometimes bind during the process. Once the car was in place, one of the guys said thet just holding them with a come-along was enough (one in front and one in back) - but I have an aversion to dangerous travel !! My preference was to use a chain and a Load-Binder to lock down all four corners, and then to use wire to lock the load-binders.

Nick, I like your latest Avatar. New purchase?

No just another car. That was in the collection..

If it is as you say, a one time deal, why would you not rent one for the day !

Wayne

I went to Harbor Freight. I did not find anything that would work.. Al I will use the old paint bucket, the log chain and the come along..

It is not my Trailer to cut a hole for the winch.. I just wanted a portable winch.. The one I found on line was 750.00...

And once again, why not rent one for the day !

Wayne

Can not find a portable winch for rent.... online in my town...

Unless it has 4 locked wheels and or flats, when the Temperature is 90 in the shade , sunny with 90 percent humidity and the closest you can get the trailer is 40 feet away. Ask me how I know. LOL

Boy a winch would have been nice.

I've seen a roll back wrecker winch fail at pulling a car in that condition....

Larry the cable guy ... Get her done....

Just because an item is from Harbor Freight does not mean it is junk. A winch, used occasionally for say 1/2 or 1/4 it's rated capacity will last for years. I too have used multiple 'come-along' cable winches. I have a very 'serious' one, uses 5/16" cable, is made of heavy cast aluminum. But as mentioned, a 90* day, sunshine and 90% humidity can actually be DANGEROUS to some of us. So think about your health. Very few of us are in our 20's or even 40's anymore. Working too hard under arduous conditions can be very bad for our health.

I use the cheap Harbor Freight tools for some of the 'one time' jobs that require some odd tool that I don't already have. For example, I have a set of 30*/60* open end wrenches that start at 1" and go up to 2.5", this is a $5-600 set from Snap on, Matco etc. The set was $50 or so from HF. I used these to change some hydraulic hoses on an old Hough Payloader. Saved me weeks of labor/time and Hundreds of dollars. Obviously if I worked on heavy equipment all the time, I'd invest in a very good set.

GLong

Today I will be dropping off this 1950 Merc Old School Lead Sled built in the 80's ....

Like all the cars I haul - running or not - it will be unloaded by electric winch just as I loaded it up a few days ago.

I use my electric winch every (3) days on average

My choice is a Harbor Freight 9000 pound model

Not so much for the capacity - but for the line speed

Consistently proven dependable day in & day out

@ http://www.harborfreight.com/9000-lb-off-road-vehicle-electric-winch-with-automatic-load-holding-brake-61325.html

Jim

With winches, in my humble opinion, it is all in what you use it for. I have a 5,000 # capacity "boat trailer" winch from Harbor Freight fastened to the floor of my trailer. I only use it for the rare occasion where my cars will not or do not run. I do not pull every car on and ease off every car every time. If I did, I would buy something more substantial. The winch has a manual crank for times of failure (which have not happened) . I would not ever, as I have seen done, use the winch as a securing device to hold the car in place on the trailer (I have seen a winch used in place of tie downs...Very Risky). For the occasional use, I have found it to be more than adequate, hauling up to a non running 72 Chevelle onto my trailer. For the cases where I have had to drag a car longer distances than the winch cable, I carry an extra length of braided wire cable, drag the car the length of the winch cable and reposition (placing chocks under the car wheels while I adjust).

Personally I'm looking for a cheap eclectic wench.

These guys have some good quality snatch blocks that will aid an inexpensive winch tremendously. The import is a good quality product, and they load test product before offering it for sale. I used to work there, they are good guys.

http://truckntow.com/c-147053-snatch-blocks.aspx

We've had a small relatively cheap WARN winch in our enclosed trailer for 15 years. It's been used probably a hundred times or so and despite me swearing that it would never hold up it has, even tugging cars weighing 6000 lbs plus up the ramp. Best advice when pulling something heavy is to do it in short bursts of 4-6 feet, giving the winch a few seconds to cool off between pulls.

I have a Super Winch over in my pile at the warehouse. (The pile that I keep telling myself to get rid of at a garage sale or swap meet).

It is outfitted to go into a trailer ball mount receiver on a pick up. It worked but is missing the cord with the switch on it. I took the cover off and tricked the solenoids to test it. The kit in the Super Winch website was around $60.00 to fix that.

I will sell it cheap, but its heavy.

If there is any interest I will take a look at it next time I am over there to see the capacity and such.

PM me if you want.

Personally I'm looking for a cheap eclectic wench.

My wife agrees that although eclectic nature is desired, cheap isn't always good and quality is important, and would likely campaign against my use of a "Cheap Eclectic Wench"...

Great comment Mr. Restorer32 !!

Restorer32--WARN is a quality brand, I would trust their "cheap" winch over Harbor Freight or other China junk, and would pay a little more for the WARN. Sometimes you can't go on price alone.

The obvious question is why would you use a cheap winch on that car ? Wayne

Here is picture of the sunbeam I was going to load..

Nick, that is a 1954 Kaiser Darrin, not a Sunbeam.

Did you post the wrong picture?