[Stripes]

I need some suggestions on a decent winch to pull a car into my 24' enclosed trailer. Max car weight is 5000 lbs rolling.

Appears warn and most all are made in China. The issue I am finding is most winches are only rated to run for 2 minutes with a 15 minute cooldown. At 5 feet per min pull rate loaded, it would taketake 19 minutes to get it in a trailer! There must be a winch made for car haulers with longer run times??

[Jim Zeek]

superwinch

[Elarson]

I'll second the vote for Superwinch.
I haven't ever timed it but it takes something like a minute or less to drag the car into the trailer.

Eric

[Trulyvintage]

I am never in a hurry when I load or unload a vehicle - sometimes I have to unload one car to put a second in - sometimes I am loading & unloading (4) times to change vehicle position(s) for drop off.

There are a handful of 12VDC winch motor manufacturers in the world - when you buy a winch you are buying a brand.

Harbor Freight Badland winches are independently tested & rated best value.

I use mine almost daily - it has never failed.

It has power in & out along with a clutch release to free spook the cable.

12K model can be found on sale as low. as $289.
( Super Bowl Sunday Sale ).

Get the mounting plate & wireless remote control ( sold separately ) - install a length of dimensional lumber equal to the winch plate footprint as a shim under the plate so the roller fairlead clears your deck.

Properly wired 7 way trailer plugs have a 30 amp 12VDC fused hot lead from your vehicle battery - this charges the 12VDC deep cycle marine battery I have installed adjacent to the winch.

The 12K Model has a cable tensioner that helps somewhat to keep the steel cable from getting tangled on the drum - I like the slow speed of the low gearing - keeping tension on the cable at all times will minimize cable tangle..

I use the winvch to load & unload all vehicles - if you park on an upgrade & block your wheels -,line the vehicle straight - keep the front windows rolled down & go to town.

The wireless remote has a long range - I have a 34 foot enclosed car hauler with the winch mounted at the front - with cable spooled out it is over 80 feet to the front of the vehicle - the slow motor speed of the 12K model allows me to walk around to check clearances while loading loading & unloading - gravity keeps tension on the cable so when loading on an upgrade the vehicle does not roll forward once it enters the trailer - gravity assists in unloading allowing the vehicle weight to do all the work.

I try to haul two vehicles at a time to keep full.

That takes patience for loads to line up ....


Jim

[The Boss]

I have the Harbor freight one myself - will drag a car with 4 flat tires in park up onto my trailer.

[muscle_collector]

i quit paying the money for the ramsey on my electric ones. we use them daily and drag cars on trailers with no wheels and tires all the time. i was burning up a ramsey once a year. i switched to the harbor frieght badland 12k one and they will last 2 years and this is loading over a thousand cars a year 7 days a week. the cool down time is all bs. i still have a ramsey hydraulic on my rollback however.

[Interceptor]

Badlands 4500lb here, pulls a big-block 63 Chevy pickup on no problem.

[61-63]

+3 for the Harbor Freight. I have one of the big Warn $2000+ jobs but it pulls the car waaay too fast for me so I bought one of the $299 12,000lb HF wenches and it works fine. I set a deep cycle battery beside it and put a full size early 60s car on the trailer in one pull.

[GT182]

+ 4 for the Harbor Freight Badland winch. A couple of friends of mine have one in each of their race car trailers, and they both work great.

[72projectbird]

I just acquired a used Badland 12k winch for free, so I guess that's what I'm using lol.

[Stripes]

I really thought Harbor Freight winches would be really talked down here. I checked the Badlands 12k owners manual and it says:

This Winch (Badlands 12k) with a 5% duty cycle at its maximum load must be allowed to rest for at least 14 minutes, 15 seconds after every 45 seconds of continuous operation.

A 4000 lb load has a line speed of 8 feet per minute. So, theoretically, if you pushed runtime to a minute, you would move 8 feet. Then wait 15 minutes. Then pull another 8', wait for 15. Pull another 8. That's 33 minutes minimum not counting the 6' ramp.

I know everyone isn't doing this, maybe that's why the winches burn up in a year? I hate it when the stats don't seem to match the practice. Who knew the max cold start on this winch is 45 seconds? (per the owners manual)

manual > Failure to carefully observe duty cycle limitations can easily over-stress a Winch contributing to premature Winch failure.

[Trulyvintage]

Read what you just posted.

I have never pulled a 100% load with my 12K Badlands winch.

I have loaded & unloaded (2) vehicles - (4) winch uses in a relatively short period of time.

At least one of person who uses their 12k Badlands winch daily posted about their experience .

If you want to ignore advice you sought posted on the thread you started .....

Jim

[Stripes]

I'm not ignoring anything. I'm taking it all in!

I just got the phone with HF, Badlands tech department. They say "we find people ignore the duty cycle and then complain when their winches burn up." He did say a 6000-pound pull should have a 1.5-minute duty cycle as it was 1/2 the rating. That's 11.1 feet you can move a 6000 lp load before a 15 min cooldown.

I really expected there to be a trailer winch that could be rated to pull 5000 lbs over 25 feet continuously without potential damage. Meanwhile, the Badlands 12k appears to do the job of pulling cars into trailers, although it is not rated for a continuous pull.

[Trulyvintage]

Originally Posted by Stripes

I'm not ignoring anything. I'm taking it all in!

I just got the phone with HF, Badlands tech department. They say "we find people ignore the duty cycle and then complain when their winches burn up." He did say a 6000-pound pull should have a 1.5-minute duty cycle as it was 1/2 the rating. That's 11.1 feet you can move a 6000 lp load before a 15 min cooldown.

I really expected there to be a trailer winch that could be rated to pull 5000 lbs over 25 feet continuously without potential damage. Meanwhile, the Badlands 12k appears to do the job of pulling cars into trailers, although it is not rated for a continuous pull.

That’s right ....

Ignore first hand advice from someone who uses a 12K Badlands winch
on a daily basis to load & unload cars from an enclosed trailer ....

Instead .......

You actually call a “ tech line “ to seek advice from someone who likely has no real world first hand experience using a Badlands 12K winch ......

It is a $300 winch

Either you are some type of engineer or you just are not mechanically inclined ....

This is a waste of my time

Jim

[The Boss]

You can't go wrong with it - we wouldn't give you bad advice. There are enough of us here who have them, use them and trust them. If it was **** we would tell you so.

[61-63]

Stripes I just noticed you are in Texas. The $2000+ Warn winch I mention in my first post is an 8274-50 and I will sell it to you for $750 as is. It works fine except for the fact that it needs a brake kit installed in it. I have the kit but haven't had the time to put it in yet. When I do I'm going to put the winch on Houston Craigslist for $1000 and expect it will sell at that price zip-pop. Warning about this winch though it will run you over with the car you are pulling if you aren't careful; it pulls that fast. I just looked on the net and they sell new from what I saw for $1900 or so. I was therefore wrong about the $2000+ price but that is what I saw one for at an off road dealer here recently. I am near Beaumont in SE Texas. PM me if interested. The 8274-50 is an 8000klb winch.

[marxjunk]

i will never own a warn winch again..always probs, and service parts are nuts..a controller is $300...thats just the controller..the off roaders rave about them, my trailer came with one new..and things where good for about 2 years, and it really was a struggle til the day i took it off..i scrapped it..lol..i was that mad..


i have a super winch, its the best ive ever owned...i was always a warn winch owner...for decades...but the last 2 where just terrible..

i love the super winch..service parts are cheap, ( researched it before i bought) and ive pulled 4500-5,000 pound cars loaded with parts etc, up hill and i mean up hill onto my trailer, never shut down..never over heated..and is the quietest ive ever had too....my next will be a super winch..if i need one...i wear them out, i pull stuff out of ditches and junkyards...

i ask for opinions and i still research stuff..its my nature...after all, its my money

[rsavage]

I have a 5000lb Badlands (actually I have 2). Works fine in my 22' enclosed trailer. I winch my GTO's or Fairlane in and out. I had to buy a second one when the first one quit working the afternoon before I was leaving for the Fairlane Nationals. When I got home I had time to figure out what was wrong - an external relay failed. Less than $20 and I have a spare winch. I think I paid about $160 or so for each on sale and another 20% off coupon. Because I have to do the loading and unloading by myself, I make sure that the nose of the trailer is higher. Keeps tension on the cable in and out and the car doesn't try to run you over. I never stop winching except to check side clearances etc. I wish the remote cable was longer on this unit, but it works fine. I have to wear gloves and make sure the cable is "level winding" on the spool - you can move the cable as it is being wound in to keep it even.

[72projectbird]

There's no way you'll burn up a 12k winch just pulling cars up a trailer.

['ol Pinion head]

Have a 9000lb Badlands winch on current open car trailer. It is at least 3 years old, bought it with trailer after previous trailer was stolen. Winch works fine, would like a copy of the instruction manual addressing maintenance if anyone has a 9000 lb Badlands winch w owners manual.