Dropped $700 on a winch that barely pulled my quad out of a ditch

Bought a cheap Chinese winch off Amazon last spring. Looked fine in the box. First real test up near Drumheller and the cable snapped halfway through. Had to call a buddy with a truck to pull me out. Put a Warn on there now and it actually works. Anyone else get burned by cheap ATV gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

jade_lane1912d ago

That line about the cable snapping halfway through got me thinking. Sometimes the problem isn't the gear, its how you use it. I've been running a no-name Chinese winch on my old Yamaha for three seasons now and it's still going strong. You have to take care of things. Keep the cable clean and dry, don't pull at crazy angles, and for goodness sake don't try to yank a stuck rig out without some careful spooling. Most people overestimate what a winch can do and blame the tool instead of their technique. I'm not saying cheap stuff is always the answer, but I see a lot of guys blaming the parts when they should be looking at the operator.

emma52211d ago

Man, you're totally right about technique over gear. I learned that the hard way when I tried to pull a friend's truck out of a ditch and ended up snapping my strap because I didn't give myself a straight enough pull. Now I always take the time to use a snatch block and spool evenly, and even my cheap setup hasn't let me down since.