Topic: After this last week I have decided

[grumpygy]

  That a winch is my next purchase.  We had snow, heavy rain then Mud slides in my area.  Me I decided to take the jeep out to play and did not even make it out of my drive.  Was not paying attention and got to close to the left edge.  Slide right down the embankment into the ditch.  That was so steep my GMC 4X4 truck could not pull it out.  Went an bought a com along and was doing good  but near the top it was so steep the my Brakes and leaving it in gear would not hold it while I reset the com along.

  Since I had no power at home to I decided to call it quits and took the truck to town so I could get dinner.

  While driving to town it hits me, just cut the fence, back into the pasture and drive it out.

  15 minutes after getting home the jeep was back on the drive.

But with a good winch I would have not needed to cut the fence.  I also have downed trees that need to be dragged out of the pasture and some areas have deep water, be great to just winch them out.

[Jeffy]

Make sure to get a tree saver and maybe even a ground anchor.

[grumpygy]

So who has one or heard anything about these.



The Quadretec line of winches.

[sharpxmen]

$394, 11,000lbs, 4.8HP, 295:1 planetary, 3/8 cable, 100 ft length

they're no-name though so you might want to shop around if you go this route
12,000lbs, 6HP, 235:1 reduction, 3/8 cable, 100 ft
 
http://www.harborfreight.com/12000-lb-off-road-vehicle-winch-with-automatic-load-holding-brake-68142.html


comes to $319 with this cupon (i tested the code 72876237 online and it works with the winch, $6.99 shipping if you get it there, expires tomorrow Mon Mar 26, 2012)
http://widgets.harborfreight.com/wswidgets/common/displayCoupon.do?week=1212&campaign=b2&page=20off.html&cust=99999999999&keycode=1002&single=true

[stan98tj]

So who has one or heard anything about these.



The Quadretec line of winches.

Recently saw these advertised. They boast better marks than their competition (line speed, amp draw, pull capacity, price) BUT I'm not sure what brand they are rebadged from SO the reliability may not be there. I do like that it's 11k pull capacity, I doubt you will EVER pull near that limit and so the strain from your average pull probably won't be too much of a workout for this model, BUT again, who knows how many pulls you will get out of it. I would do a bit of research and try and find what brand they are originally. Personal choice: Warn VR10,000, why? Cause I have one :) and I think it's a great price for Warn quality. Another good choice would be the Superwinch LP series, 8500 for $300 or the 10,000 for $469 ( I'd go with 10k) these are Quadratec prices, you may be able to get these cheaper elsewhere. With a winch, I wouldn't advise cheaping out on it....you want it to work every time. Cost of a "cheaper" winch and a replacement for it when it craps out would total the cost (if not more) of a good, reliable winch.

[Jeffy]

Just about all of the store-brand winches are just picked from a catalog and relabeled in China.  Although some of Warns stuff is made in China, they assemble as much as they can in the US.  Warn is known for their AAA Customer Service and is an industry leader.  I haven't really heard much from Ramsey but their permanent-magnet REP8000 was well known as the old orange Harbor Freight/Chicago Electric winch.  It was made in Chaina as well.  Most winches these days are in part made in China but are usually assembled in the US by the big three winch companies.

You can see many of the store-brand winches here http://www.made-in-china.com/productdirectory.do?action=hunt&code=2900000000&code4BrowerHistory=EEnxEJQbMJmm&order=0&style=b&page=1&memberLevel=&asFlag=&comProvince=&propertyValues=&from=hunt&word=winch&mode=and&comName=&comCode=&subCode=&size=30&viewType=1&toTradeMarkets=&sizeHasChanged=0&viewMoreOrLessClass=viewMore&isProdCom=

At minimum, I'd suggest cracking open one of these winches and making sure there is a proper amount of grease inside.

[grumpygy]

Some info I've found on the Quadratec winch.  The bold is replies by Quadratec.

Originally Posted by thejafe 
Looks like Quadratec is now offering their own line of winches. Very interesting, considering the price. Only $294.99 for a 9000lb winch? Only a one-year warranty though, and not available until March. Are these being manufactured by another company then labeled with the Quadratec logo?

It is a 1 year warranty on electrical and limited lifetime on mechanical components. We are not relabeling the winches. We have these made specifically for us and they were designed by us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by woodie416 
looks almost identical to my Smitty xrc8. Only differences are the control box and the clutch lever.

We use different internals than than the XRC-8 and I believe those are produced at a different facility.


Quote:
Originally Posted by muddr1 
I am sure they have slapped there name on someone else's winch. But a 9,000 lb winch for under 300 bucks, I think I am all set.

We designed these winches to fit the daily jeep driver's needs. They are made specifically for us, and are not a rebranded winch. Some appearances may seem similar to others, but the internals are the main difference that we were able to fully customize. We are also one of the few companies offering a 9000lb winch with 3/8th inch winch line.

[stan98tj]

Some info I've found on the Quadratec winch.  The bold is replies by Quadratec.

A better question would have been "what company makes your winch?" and then find out what other winches they make. Lines speed isn't all that important. The Warn VR line came out to offer the weekend wheeler an affordable, reliable winch for folks who aren't competition wheeling where line speed could be an issue. As a result, the VRs have a pretty slow line speed. Unless you are expedition wheeling (cross country or the like) or competition wheeling, you shouldn't have a need for the top shelf Warn or SUperwinch...which is why the VR and Superwinch LP series is so attractive right now. By the way, I think I remember a thread on JeepForum concerning Rough Country's line of winches where the RC rep was giving the same "These winches are customized for us only and aren't rebadged winches" and I think it's just a technical response. Who knows, they may legal consider rebadging to mean buying Milemarker winches, scraping off the stickers and sticking your name on it. Not exactly what folks are asking. What we want to know is if it's basically a Smitty or Milemarker or HF winch, made in the same factory and has a couple different parts...that allows them to then say it's basically their own winch...but to us, it's the same.

[sharpxmen]

parts are generic, assembled per specs for customer - they're only assembled at a factory, individual parts are made by larger industrial manufacturers from which all the others are buying from (electric motor, planetary, drum, etc). Warn has most likely a better quality control (probably other known brands too, that's why the difference in price), Qtec ones are just logo-ed
"our own design" means "use this motor, this planetary, this remote, etc"

[neale_rs]

A winch is great to have. The Warn M8000 on my YJ has never let me down and is reasonably priced when on sale.  The Warn VR line looks really good too.

[chardrc]

A winch is great to have. The Warn M8000 on my YJ has never let me down and is reasonably priced when on sale.  The Warn VR line looks really good too.

X2, great to have in those unexpected situations when you get highcentered after breaking throuhg a icy mudhole.. my m8000 has never let me down... we have only had 2 ocations where a warn didn't work. 1 was when a soloinoid died but we where able to jump it to get out. Another time we submurged it a few tomany times and water found a way in and rusted up the internal contacts this was on a 15 year old second hand 7000 lbs warn winch... after cleaning up the insides it has worked great so far afterwords...

[Jeffy]

parts are generic, assembled per specs for customer - they're only assembled at a factory, individual parts are made by larger industrial manufacturers from which all the others are buying from (electric motor, planetary, drum, etc). Warn has most likely a better quality control (probably other known brands too, that's why the difference in price), Qtec ones are just logo-ed
"our own design" means "use this motor, this planetary, this remote, etc"

Warn still makes many parts in house still.

A winch is great to have. The Warn M8000 on my YJ has never let me down and is reasonably priced when on sale.  The Warn VR line looks really good too.

The problem with the M8000 is that they jacked the price up when steel prices started t shoot up initially.  I got mine for $400 new in '98 right before they changed the HP ratings and everything was HS.  The other thing to consider is that a used Warn will still have a lot of value.

Also keep in mist that many of the newer winches now use Contactors and not relays.  I'm partial to relays because they're cheap and there are also 4 of them, two for forward and two for reverse. If one goes bad you can either replace it with a $5 Ford starter relay or swap the relays around so you can continue winching.  Some contactors are waterproof while many aren't.  The contactor is self contained and should be fairly compact.  The main difference is that there is no arching like with the solenoids.  Although the solenoids are usually robust enough to work even under water.

I get a laugh out of this:

We designed these winches to fit the daily jeep driver's needs.

Frankly speaking 90% of Jeepers never use their winches.  99% of the time it's sitting on the front doing nothing other then aging.  This is really where the quality shines though.  A quality winch will still work like when it was new. 

[neale_rs]

On 4wd.com, the M8000 is at $629.00 right now. I paid $529 a few years ago, so it has gone up but it stills looks like a reasonable price for a good winch.

[Jeffy]

On 4wd.com, the M8000 is at $629.00 right now. I paid $529 a few years ago, so it has gone up but it stills looks like a reasonable price for a good winch.

For that price I'd get the VR8000 and call it good.  They use contactors rather then solenoids but that's OK.  Maybe carry a spare around.  IIRC, contactors are around $15 but you have to order them.  The Tabor 9000 was also cheaper then the M8000 but has been discontinued in teh US market in favor of teh VR series.

For some of those no-name winches they have undersized contactors or contactos that aren't waterproof.  Make sure they're waterproof.  Contactors biggest advantage is that there is no arch when switching.  They aren't as robust as solenoids and can't be found at any auto parts store.

Funny thing is, they use the same large controller box as if they have solenoids in them, even though the contactor is a fraction of the size.