Cheap Winches

Hi Everyone, I suppose I am like a lot of people here who like to 'accessorise' their vehicle and add bling items when they can afford it. Well I have recently purchased a cheap ebay 12000lb winch for $299. Yeh I know, cheap scate. It comes with a wireless remote control as well as a wired jobby. Anyhow, I have received the item and pulled it appart, as you do just out of curiosity. I also gave it a little bit more grease although it wasn't really necessary, just a warm and fuzzies factor thing.

I have taken a couple of photo's of the winch in various stages of breakdown and appart from a little surface rust on one of the gears I am pleased to say it 'looks like' it will actually work. I am very happy now.

My honest opinion (for what it is worth) is that is was a very good cheap buy.

In addition to the physical breakdown I also did some googling and found a 12000lb winch manual from a product called and Atlas winch (USA) which has identical components inside. Even the part numbers in the manual are identical to the part numbers of the components in my winch manual. (Same manufacturer). This was giving me more warm and fuzzies and the more I googled, the hotter I became. I found a winch manual for the TigerZ 12000lb winch and low and behold the same series part numbers were in their manual.

The major difference is that the solenoid pack on the TigerZ winch is by far a better product and the TigerZ had a second lip seal protecting the motor and gearbox and they have different end casings. Other than that they are, I believe, identical products.

If I get chance I will be mounting it this weekend and hope I will never have to use it in anger, but hey thats what it's there for.

Hope this helps someone.

Regards to all.

Foxy

As a side note, just after I purchased the winch the price went up $100. In case anyone is interrested, here is the link: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110873865982&ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:AU:1123.
The winch in the ebay add picture is not what you receive. Pity though, it looks like an Ironman Monster winch without the stickers.

Sounds like a good buy mate! I may be wrong sure some one will correct me if i am. But im pretty sure that nearly all winches are made in China in the same factories. I have no idea on the difference but i think that most of the cheaper ones are all the same

Good buy Foxy. Parts will be easy to get as well if it shits itself

Good buying, you probably could have changed the seal on yours for a twin lip seal while it was apart, I believe terain tamer pull there winches apart in aus and change the seals

nice one, a mate of mine swears by aldi winches!!

That's a good buy but just a heads up... Tigerz11 are now selling their 12000lb winches for $329 (the Hercules model with steel cable) so there isn't as much price difference as their used to be between ebay and 'brand name'.

04SilverSTR said:

nice one, a mate of mine swears by aldi winches!!

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since when did supermarkets start making winches?? lol

Scooba, aldi do everything. If its cheap for them to buy they will bring it in. I've seen air compressor, power tools, tvs, computers... Pretty much anything from month to month will pass through an aldi store.

Builder I no bought a generator from there for 400 bucks and thought he could by 4 for the price of one Honda one. And the 1st ones still goin strong.

scooba_285 said:

since when did supermarkets start making winches?? lol

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Never ceases to amaze me, the shit you find at aldi. Theres a range of air tools there atm. Air drills, cutters, rattle guns, sanders, nibblers ect. was thinking about getting some but my arms were full of groceries.

lol i thought aldi was a different aldi, we dont have an here but at work we supply them with shit loads of lamb

Yeah? Are they buying the good lamb of you guys or the 2nd rate stuff? Alot of the packaged goods at aldi are really good (and cheap) but i'm a bit sketch on the some of the produce sometimes.

rabbit-chop said:

Yeah? Are they buying the good lamb of you guys or the 2nd rate stuff? Alot of the packaged goods at aldi are really good (and cheap) but i'm a bit sketch on the some of the produce sometimes.

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its good lamb, same as u find at wollies or coles which we supply too, aswell as america, japan, russia, china etc etc, our lamb goes everywhere lol

hey fox i got 12000 pound from super cheap with dynema for 400 and its copped a flogging never missed a beat. totally off the subject but whats the blumax suspenion like and how does your front diff etc cope with the locker in it? because im thinking on running same set up?

Hey Trevor1985,
The Blue is very good. I have a nice ride good handling and with the winch installed , the front sits a 2 inches above standard. I measured 570 to the front guard from the centre of the wheel ( I have a late 2010 STX which I think is a series 4 and its guard measurement specs are different to the earlier STX's). The rear is tending to squeak a bit now but I think it's the bushings. I have to get underneath and check to make sure they're not too tight.
The front diff lock is great so far no troubles at all. I don't have the luxury of a rear LSD in my model so the front will have to do most of the work (as it were). It is an easy fit but you have to watch the shimming during the process. It's easy to shim just make sure you have some on hand when doing the job. The shims supplied by 4WD Systems are the same as those used in Holden and Ford rear diffs. So it may be easier to get some from a diff shop before doing the job.
I fitted my winch yesterday and it was a bit of a shit to get the clutch handle into a position that I like. It's not great but it will do for now. I can always change it (without removing the winch) at a later date.

Cheers.
Foxy