[Kampr]

I'm going to buy a winch for my car trailer and just wanted some advice on what I should buy. It won't be used that much but on occasion I may pull a junk car up on my trailer that may not even have wheels on it. Will a 9,000 lb winch be OK for this? It seems like Warn is the name brand but what other brands would you guys recommend? I'm looking for good quality at the cheapest price possible. Any suggestions welcome.

Danny

[chappell]

Shame you didnt ask last year

My dads a reposesor and he just threw a winch away. Maybe 2 years old if that. He got a new quick pick and he threw the winch away .

Good luck

[schnitz]

I too am really considering one for my trailer. This crap of rolling the parts car on and off whenever I need the trailer for anything else is just getting old. Not to mention my come-a-long is just about broke now... The local Harbor Freight has a 3 day sale Friday thru Sunday, and maybe I'll get lucky.


In a while, Chet.

[Kampr]

Harbor Freight has a 10,000 lb. winch for $399.00 but I hate to spend that much and get junk. It may be just as good as the other brands but HF stuff is hit and miss with quality and I'd hate to miss on a $400 purchase.

Danny

[awert]

I too was looking at getting a wench....HF 9 or 10000 are real cheap, A guy sells them all the time on ebay, there all cheap and all are returns or broke, ( do a ebay search for "winch as is" ) He doesn't put a name on them but they are HF....I used to repair hand tools, HF tools are very poor. I'm still looking, i can't afford warn, but there are others out there, I think 9000 lb. pull is about right. My friend has a 6000 on his trailer, says it O.K. but nothing heavy duty.......

[leldai73]

I can't attest to any other brand but warn is great. We have a 9000 pounder on the tongue of our trailer and haven't hooked it to any thing we couldn't pull yet. the most memorable was an old F-250 with all 4 tires flat and locked up. I've used a come a few times before we got the winch, the winch is a million times better.

[awert]

Another thing to look for, SPEED.... the HF are very slow, check out the gear ratio when buying or looking...The way i figured , it would take 8 minets to pull a car up onto my trailer with a HF cheapie......

[schnitz]

After doing some looking at prices, I get the feeling I'll be buying a new come-a-long....


In a while, Chet.

[powerrodsmike]

I think 9 or 10,000 pounds is for heavy equipment...
I have a 3500# winch on the front of mine, I think it's a Warn.

I drag stuff up and down my trailer with it tilted like that all the time, because I'm too lazy to pull the ramps out....

I have never had a problem dragging anything up the ramps, I have a pulley block to double up the cable if I need to.

Later, mikey

[jimfulco]

I've used a Warn 2000# winch to pull a Lincoln Town Car onto my trailer, but the TC had all its tires with ~30psi in them. I now have a Dayton (like a SuperWinch but sold by Grainger) 5,000# one that's way better, but you said WITHOUT TIRES, and I haven't tried that trick yet, nor to I intend to. One of the local junk-car-haulaway guys has a flatbed truck with a big roller across the back of the bed, and that seems to be helpful for bottom-draggers.

[Rambo_The_Dog]

I bought a cheapo HF winch for my trailer on sale for 99.00

It works well enough - the only feautre it doesn't have that I would call MUST HAVE if I were to do it again (or when this one give up the ghost) is to have a free-wheeling clutch design...it takes about 1-2 minutes to run the cable out to the end of the trailer since you have to do it under power.

Other than that the pull strength has been adequate for the price.

[Beenaway2long]

I use a 2500# Superwinch to pull the race car in. You really dont need much, until those times when it has no wheels. You can literally lift the cable to pull the car in when its rolling. I've never so much as strained the winch.

I think 5,000 # MAY be overkill, but overkill never has to be upgraded.

Superwinch, Warn are the 2 best out there.

I bought a H-F special one time. Worked great for the first 2 times I used it...I use the cable as an extension now.

[Kampr]

I looked on ebay and they had 2,500 and 3,000 lb winches for ATV'S. That really sounds like overkill. How are these winches rated. If I have a 5,000 lb winch would it work like a hoist and pull 5,000 lb straight up off of the ground? I'm traditionally an overkill person and sometimes I regret it. Maybe a 5,000 would be more than enough for me.

Danny

[Kruzin Karl]

When I was researching the exact same scenario, it seemed to me that all of these ratings were for pulling something straight up in the air off of the ground.

I went with this Warn 3700 lb. winch off of eBay after pricing them at my local Northern tools, saved a LOT of money, brand new.

Here's how I did mine, deep cycle battery inside the box that also runs the electric jack with lights, also quite a bit of storage in the box.

A friend of mine and I welded flat stock across the trailer tongue and welded up a base for inside the box. We cut a notch to mount the fairlead on the outside towards the trailer, and bolted the whole assembly through the base, box, and flat stock, sturdy as can be.

It's pulled everything i've loaded up so far without a problem.

[59 wagon man]

here is what i have used over the years and they have worked to pull my 59 chevy 4 door brookwood up my driveway numerous times

harbor freight and northern sell trailer hitch mounted winches just slip over the trailer ball hook up 12 volts and your in business.( i have put a 3/4" anchor into the floor in my garage and use one of these cheapies to drag the car up my inclined driveway0 SOMETIMES THEY TRIP OUT ON THERMAL BREAKER AND I HAVE TO WAIT A FEW MINUTES FOR IT TO RESET.being that harbor freight is one of my customer's i get lot's of deals from them in exchange for my service. i have the 8000 lb winch and it works fine seems to be the same thing summit and jeg's sell as the mile marker line i believe .wait till it's onsale or they send out a 10% off coupon