Thread: Are these winches any good?

As Didge above said, Ive had two Ridge Ryders from Super cheap, the 9000lb with cable and a 12000lb with rope not once have I had any issues.
my tigerz11 9500lb 2 speed motor self destructed, my mates Warn XD9000 was gutless (assume worn brushes?) and the warn solenoids crap. ridge ryder never failed me once.

ive now taken the motor and drum from my 12000lb ridge ryder and mated it to my Tigerz11 2 speed box, thing pulls a heavy load in 'low speed' with no signs of struggle (talking a bogged troopy that a 9000lb couldn't budge) and a light load (loss of traction not really stuck) in 'high' speed like lightning fast. . best of both worlds in my opinion. I don't know why there aren't more 2 speed winches around.

(i believe ridge ryder as the same build as the Aldi winch which is the same as 90% of those ebay ones)

Leroy

Originally Posted by Sharkee

Hi I know you get what you pay for but I'm curious, has anyone bought/used one of these? are they any good?

★12V 12000lbs/5443kgs★ Wireless Electric Winch 4WD | eBay

I have one of these I-Max Winches, 12,00lb with Dyneema Rope, i have not mounted it as yet, its Still under the bed in a Box (yes i know No good there) it was bought for me as a present, i have opened the box uop and had a good look and it appears very well constucted, it stacks up against German Supermarket and the Large Wild Cat Brand Visually, havn't pulled it appart yet but i will, info on these on the net is very limited, however when i recived it there was a number on the sticker which i googled and came up with this

Ningbo Chima winch co.,ltd.

i believe this is the 12,000Lb I-Max winch, as its almost identical to mine and this company is one of the many chinese winch companies that sullpy all over the world thay just get branded when they hit the retailer.

only time is going to tell whether its anygood or not at this stage im not going to put 100% faith in it till ive fitted it and given it a good workout then pulled it appart for a look

hope this helps

Kevin

Other threads on here have suggested (and I haven't read all the comments in this thread so someone may have already suggested this) that you remove the cheap grease and replace with good quality stuff and then keep an eye on it. If you think its gonna struggle, use a snatch block; only takes a minute or two longer - big deal - gives people time to get their cameras together

my chinese 12000 LB fitted but not used in anger yet.
My research shows it is a very close copy of the Warn XD 9000,
down to HP (4.6) and gear ratio (200:1). Brake is different , its a 2 way brake not a friction auto like the warn.

The chinese version has a 9.5 mm cable, but looking at HP and ratios the same i think its labeled for the max pull rather than the nominal pull of the WArn.
i ALSO REGREASED MINE,very little grease in planeteray gears, gearbox can be swivelled easily to fit bullbars.
The XD Warn is a great winch to copy as it is completley waterproof.
I've attached a winch comparison test for you guys to peruse.
Few surprises here particularly temps of motor, and the smaller 8000 warn was down low on the list, and overheated severely.

So make your own conclusions, remember a 8000 LB Warn is only $600
in the USA, the extra $1200 is just import charges, check on ebay thats why a Warn has a $1200 freight charge to Australia !!!!!

regards
OZ

Yeah, isn't our govt a wonderful bunch of people. Tax the hell out of us, then send some of that money overseas to people who want to bomb us! Sorry - rant off track
I wonder what the import charges are on the cheap chinese jobs
Mind you, I have an inherent dislike that those Chinese b$%^&*ds are ripping off other people's designs and making a profit from them. It's ok if they do the design themselves and then sell them cheaper but just imagine yourself if it was you losing sales cos they were selling what is essentially your product, cheaper than you could

What would people recommend for genera / utility use (and recovery obviously) - wire rope or dyneema ?

Personal choice - I've read numerous threads here with opinions for and against both, being steel kinks, is heavy, breaks and cuts your fingers and dyneema is easy to abrade against rocks, not uv stable, melts on the drum if it gets too hot, can get caught up and bound on itself if not wound no the drum properly (as does steel), etc. I'm keeping the original steel on my winch until its damaged to the point where it needs replacing. I have 45m of dyneema I keep as a winch extension strap - light and easy to store.

Originally Posted by VladTepes

What would people recommend for genera / utility use (and recovery obviously) - wire rope or dyneema ?

Depends.
I hardly ever use my winch, and for that the steel is good.
Dyneema is much more prone to damage from rocks, etc as well as UV degrading, but if I was doing semi-regular winch work I'd take dyneema over steel any day of the week. Safer, much more user friendly, etc.
Depends what you want to do of course.