Diy Winch Install

[Shankem-Deep]

A little update on my Harbor Freight 12000lb winch. I had the replacement installed for a few weeks before I actually got to put it to real use. My father in law called me and said he had his tractor stuck in a creek and needed my help. I quickly drove over and hooked up the winch and started pulling him out. Everything was fine until the winch really got to pulling the full load. It quit on me just like the 1st on did. It wouldn't even pull the line in without a load. I ended up just wrapping the cable around my shackles and just pulling the tractor out with my truck and a chain. Fast forward about 2 weeks later and I finally get around to start taking the 2nd winch off to return it. I thought I would try it again before I took it off just to see. To my suprise it worked! I was standing in front of the truck using the wireless remote watching it and noticed some smoke then it quit again! I looked where the smoke was coming from and realized that the terminals were grounding out on my skid plate! I had the skid plate too close to the terminals! I thought about this when I built the skid plate. But thought since they had rubber covers over the terminals and weren't actually touching the skid plate that it would be fine. They were just too close to the skid plate and ended up touching. I temporarily used some washers to space it away and the winch now works fine! I've pulled out a buddy of mine who was buried up pretty good no problem! The winch is slow but works well. The first winch I had was most likely just fine, I just missed the problem.

 

[K9Vic]

A little update on my Harbor Freight 12000lb winch......... I looked where the smoke was coming from and realized that the terminals were grounding out on my skid plate! I had the skid plate too close to the terminals! I thought about this when I built the skid plate. But thought since they had rubber covers over the terminals and weren't actually touching the skid plate that it would be fine. They were just too close to the skid plate and ended up touching. I temporarily used some washers to space it away and the winch now works fine! I've pulled out a buddy of mine who was buried up pretty good no problem! The winch is slow but works well. The first winch I had was most likely just fine, I just missed the problem.

Exactly as I suspected, but never posted before today that it has to be something with your install to cause the problem with the HF winch. I have two 12K winches on two different CUCVs and both have never had any issues with pulled other trucks or tree stumps. I also had the older model 10K with no issues. These are the same as what Smittybilt uses for one of their XRC models if you look at the two side by side. They are made in China, but so are most of all these low end winches like Smittybilt. If these HF were so bad, I would think the reviews on their web page would be flooded with complaints, but it is not with a 4.1 star overall rating.

An electric winch will not be fast and you have to stay within the duty cycle or it can burn out.

Always be safe and follow these rules of winching.
http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticles/trail/131_1004_winching_101_basic_use_and_safety/

 

[Shankem-Deep]

Exactly as I suspected, but never posted before today that it has to be something with your install to cause the problem with the HF winch. I have two 12K winches on two different CUCVs and both have never had any issues with pulled other trucks or tree stumps. I also had the older model 10K with no issues. These are the same as what Smittybilt uses for one of their XRC models if you look at the two side by side. They are made in China, but so are most of all these low end winches like Smittybilt. If these HF were so bad, I would think the reviews on their web page would be flooded with complaints, but it is not with a 4.1 star overall rating.

An electric winch will not be fast and you have to stay within the duty cycle or it can burn out.

Always be safe and follow these rules of winching.
http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techarticles/trail/131_1004_winching_101_basic_use_and_safety/

I should have posted a couple weeks ago when I figured out the problem but wanted to really put it to use before deciding to keep it. I never posted any reviews about the winch on HF's website. I wanted to make sure it wasn't something I was doing wrong before making any final conclusions. I wish I would have figured it out on the first winch. Chalk it up to good ol' operator error.

 

[truck1]

Just finished up my Badlands 12000lb winch installation on my 1028. Thanks to Shankem for the behind the bumper idea. I did mine a little different. I had the engage/ disengage lever on the right side of the truck. This allowed the cable to operate on the bottom of the winch and not near the the bars that hold the unit together avoiding possible jam ups of the cable. That also allowed the fair lead to be mounted directly to the bumper in line with the spool out of cable. The solenoid was mounted on the left side radiator support next to the blackout light. Fit was perfect. I also changed out the cheap Chinese wire that came with the winch to #2 AWG battery cable . That added 130$ to the total package, but I paid 299$ for the winch. That upgrade should hopefully help the unit run cooler and reduce overall stress on the circuit. Also the new units from HF have a spring loaded spool friction device which helps reduce birds nests while free spooling. I like it, and it works . Will update after load test.

 

[Sephirothq]

nice

 

[richingalveston]

The install looks good, I however would look closely at some type of backing plate for the bumper and fair lead. If you have to pull yourself out with the cable at an angle, I think you may bend the bumper.

 

[Gonzomatic]

What are the spring loaded bars visible in pictures 2 & 3? They definitely didn't come with my harbor freight 12k. Wow, it helps to read the entire post first, huh. Apologies. Nice install. Btw both the chrome lever and tie bars are starting to rust on mine. I'll throw up a picture tomorrow. Sandblast and paint would hold up better I think.

Cheers

 

[truck1]

The spring loaded bars works well to level the cable wind and free spool. I believe HF just started selling the 12K with this feature . It is a bolt on so maybe you can source the parts from HF. Nice rig by the way and I wish we had some of that snow out here on the west coast!

 

[Gonzomatic]

Thanks again Truck1. I'm definitely going to try to get those from HF. That's a pretty stiff cable and there's not much room on the diameter of the spool before it jams up on the bars.

P.S. it's 50* today and raining like a son of a....

heres the picture I promised

 

[StrykerPerry]

The at what I'm gonna do with mine thanks for the info