Heads up - Harbor Freight has their 10k# winch on sale.

[Dreadnought]

I personally tend to save overloading electrical/mechanical things for 'life and death' situations where there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. But just a short story here from my experience that some electrical motors are built to take it. Many years ago I ran Trucks (not many just 3, two 30 Ton Leylands and a 24 Ton Ford Cargo with a Deutz Air cooled 10 Litre Diesel) The deutz had a funnly heating system for the cab, theheater radiator was run with oil from the engine and was part of the oil cooling system. From the day I got that truck I turned on the fan of the heating system and I dont think I ever turned it off, I was one of those truckers with the window perpetually open and the heating on full blast, in summer heating off and just blower, (which I might add was the best I,d ever had in any vehicle...boy could that thing shift air). One day about 5 years in (working truck 6 days a week and I never took holidays) the heater blower stopped!!!! so off to the dealer for a new one (took the old part with me to make sure I got the right one) The guy read the numbers on it and looked at his screen, asked 'what did it come out of?' I told him, he grunted. smirked and said how many weeks have you had it? this is a 12v motor!!!!! "5 years I said...I,ll take another one please" in the end, I didn,t chance a second one being as long lived as the first, so I paid the usual extortionate price for a 24v version..which was a poor blower in comparison!!!! I think the moral is if you are going to pour double the power through a motor, do it in an application that by comparison doesn,t switch on and off so often....I put it,s long life down to the fact that I switched it on full and the only times it shut down was when I switched the ignition switch off every evening, maybe somehow this ignition switch on and off protercted it from surges??? It was a Valeo part made in Italy (owned by Iveco, who owned Ford Truck Europe at the time mine was built.)

[Pinzgauer Pete]

There are guys running 12v winches in the pinz and other military applications. The ppl that had expierience with this posted on this site and others that they were able to use the 12v winches in their vehicles with no problem. To me it makes sence, a inexpensive 24 volt winch generally costs almost a grand, whereas a 12 volt winch can be had for as little as 250 dollars....and even if it lasts for a few years, you will be ahead of the game with respect to price. I just bought a 10k lb. winch equipped with a wireless remote for 300 dollars. I figure it this way...if it works, and lasts, I will be ahead of the curve, if it fails...I will have a nice boat anchor and only be out a paltry 300 bucks, and as to Scotts previous posts...I will not be one of those guys that call the seller complaining of the quality of the product when in reality the item failed due to unsupported installation.

[undysworld]

I almost posted earlier, and didn't. But then I read Scott's further defense of his well-placed comments, and decided to chip in.

A while back, I worked as a manager in a large electronics service department in Madison. We performed in-, and out-of-warranty repairs on audio/video. Because we were actually diagnosing and repairing the problems, we would refuse warranty coverage when the product had obviously been abused (ie. melted voice-coil on a speaker).

But nowdays, not many sellers actually repair the product. Defective items are either scrapped or returned to the manufacturer. The dealer rarely has employees with the technical ability to determine non-warranty abuse. So the seller just makes an exchange, and that leads to people abusing the policy.

As a dealer, I don't blame Scott for having a problem with buyers doing that. I guess it is just human nature to take advantage of a situation. But I'm reminded of the old saying about treating others the way you'd want to be treated. Applying that, I think that if you use a product in a manner inconsistent with it's design, you should be willing to bear that financial loss in the event it fails, even within the warranty period.

Just my 2 cents...

[pinzwheeling]

Are these the real line speeds? They are insanely slow for the size of motor and gearing in the winch. Anyone own one of these? 6.56 FPM at 2klbs....It would take over 10 min's just to spool in the length of cable it comes with!!


Line speed (in feet per minute):
6.56 FPM @ 2000 lbs
6.23 FPM @ 4000 lbs
4.92 FPM @ 6000 lbs,
4.26 FPM @ 8000 lbs
3.28 FPM @ 10,000 lbs.

True that it's insanely slow, but it's probably faster than walking into town to get someone to help you out of your stuck.

just sayin....

Of course at $399, I'm not sure that it's a great deal. You can find all sorts of winches used and new near that price.