Good quality car trailer winch for reasonable price???

BLACK BART · Post by **BLACK BART** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:44 am

I had to load a 4000 lb car on my trailer the other day with a pair of ratcheting tie down straps!

A winch is an item that I've been thinking about for a while but has been at the lower end of the priority list since it would not be needed or used very often. Needless to say, it's moved up the list pretty far and is now close to the top.

This will be my first winch purchase and I would like to buy something that is decent quality that won't break the bank. So, what winch do you guys use or recommend for loading cars in or on a trailer that's reasonably priced?

Thanks in advance for any help or information, CJ.

BCLS776 · Post by **BCLS776** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:45 pm

Check out winches used on all-terrain vehicles in the 2000-3000lb range. That's enough grunt to load a car in the trailer.

Warn makes a good winch. Avoid the cheapy no-name ones unless you want to replace the winch regularly.

BLACK BART · Post by **BLACK BART** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:23 am

Hi Bryan, I've looked at several different brands including Warn, Superwinch, Ramsey, Smittybilt, Tuff Stuff, and many other no namers. When I checked pricing on the Warn winches I just about shyt and fell back in it!

I've seen a couple deals on e-bay for a $375.00 Smittybilt 8000lb winch and a $345.00 Tuff Stuff 12500lb winch. Those prices include S&H and are to my front door. I know those winches have way more capacity than what I need, but they should last forever because they will never be "worked" enough to ever hurt them and the price seems reasonable. Anyone have any opinions on these for my application?

Thanks, CJ

BirdMan · Post by **BirdMan** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:05 pm

I bought a SuperWinch S5000 part #1450200 from Summit last year to replace a 3000/3500 lb one which the gears went out of and have the same small one on son's open trailer, it grunts a bit. The S5000 hardly grunts to pull in a 3200# dragrace car and it has a long actuating lead.

BLACK BART · Post by **BLACK BART** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:18 am

Hi Dale, the open trailer 3200lb car situation is the same one I'm in with my car that I take to the track, so it's good to know a 3000lb winch may be marginal and a 5000lb winch hardly works to do the job.

Thanks for the input, CJ

af2 · Post by **af2** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:15 pm

BLACK BART wrote:Hi Dale, the open trailer 3200lb car situation is the same one I'm in with my car that I take to the track, so it's good to know a 3000lb winch may be marginal and a 5000lb winch hardly works to do the job.

Thanks for the input, CJ

CJ.
The rolling is what they rate them at. I go by double the rolling weight and never had problems. I dead lift compressers at 200 lbs and have a 2500 lb winch that dead locks!?? Just trying to help!

RCJ · Post by **RCJ** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:06 pm

I have one of the cheap e-bay winches on my trailer it works good ,but it came with a wireless remote.The remote is great. I have a pit cart I winch on the trailer and I am always loading every thing by my self.What ever winch you get think about the wireless remote.

BLACK BART · Post by **BLACK BART** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:19 am

Well, I've decided to go with a Smittybilt XRC-8 and make my own custom mount so that I can remove it when not in use. After a bunch of research and taking into consideration what you guys had to say, I figured I would just go captain overkill so I would never have to worry about winch capacity.

I found a guy on e-bay that sells the XRC-8 for $319.99 delivered to my door, so I'm going to try this one. The smaller winches made by other big name companies are still in the $300.00-$500.00 range and half the capacity with no better features from what I can tell.

I'm hoping this one will last a long time just because it will never be worked near its capacity. If it does happen to be a real turd and grunts and groans due to lack of power I guess I can always use a snatch block to double its capacity and reduce its speed by half. I'll be real disappointed if an 8000lb winch has any trouble at all pulling a 3200lb car on a trailer.

Thank all you guys for your input and help, CJ

dwilliams · Post by **dwilliams** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:45 pm

I made a quick-disconnect mount for my winch since things like that tend to walk away around here. I've been meaning to make a carry handle for the winch, though.

A friend of mine has one of those big 9-car transporter rigs. He gave me his old control pendant when he bought new winches. There's a 30-foot wire between the pendant and the winch. This lets you walk alongside the car with one hand on the steering wheel and one on the winch, to load it without help. I'm told some of the newer winches have little TV-style remote controls with no wires, but I haven't seen one in person yet. Might be worth keeping a spare remote and batteries on hand...