Cheap China Crap That Gets It Done - Badlands 2000lb Portable Winch Is Slow But Strong

We needed a simple way to pull non running cars up the incline in front of our shop. When we happened across this cheap, portable, universal winch on the shelf at Harbor Freight, we figured for the price, we'd give it a shot.
Turns out it fit the job perfectly and actually exceeded our expectations in several ways.
#diy #tools #cars #trailer #towing
MERCHANDISE:

[abeld.]

The Trolls: “No wonder Tony doesn’t get stuff done he’s still waiting for that winch to move his cars”
😅

[hearttraveler]

Tony reminds me of being a teenager 🙂 Thank You Uncle Tony !

[donaldgilbreath]

I bought one of those winches about 20 years ago. I love ot. I keep it in my wife's mudder 89 Trooper. I've used it several times to pull that Trooper out of the mud.

[mikealkarout]

Coming from a 15+ year owner of a Tow truck company and have done many recovery jobs a good way to lose some teeth is standing right in line with the winch cable while under load with a big smile on your face. Trust me when you think it's no big deal and it's only a 3000lbs vehicle your winching and that cable lets go, it can ruin your day real quick. Stand off to the side or you might as well change the channels name to UTTG, the extra T is for toothless lol.

[pferris]

The smile on your face when you showed us the clip of you loading up your new purchase says it all, lol. Cool idea, and congrats on the new purchase. If I had the room, I'd adopt a fleet of XJ's. My favourite vehicle of all time, it's just a great little machine.

[eyerollthereforeiam]

Americans have Harbour Freight, in Canada we have Princess Auto. Also a lot of cheap Chinesium crap, but sometimes you can find a diamond in the rough.

[genejustice]

I did the same thing for my motorcycle rescue trailer. It's working smarter instead of harder.

[ClaremontClassicGarage]

They're great. I have one. Handy when you need it.

[glennjames]

Believe it or not these things generally hold up pretty well.
I've seen them on old boat trailers where the plastic housing had long ago departed, and all you could see is a rusty hulk where the winch should be, and yet they would keep plugging along. These things have been around for years in the boating world and I have used them along with all of my friends for years to do the same things Tony is. If you got the time, they are a Godsend !

[joeeckert]

Watching this reminded me of the time I had to repair a bent dock railing that had been ripped out of the curb. The only thing I had to push it into place and hold it was my truck. So I pushed it into place, poured new concrete around the base. Then I literally had to sit and watch concrete dry until I could move the truck.

[quintonb]

I rigged up a bumper mount winch in a bay for the same reason. I mounted the winch with a hitch tube, then welded some square tubing to frame that would pin to a plate that I bolted to the concrete. That way I could remove the winch when it wasnt needed. Worked great when I needed to pull doa cars in by myself

[dontblameme]

Try an ATV winch instead. Build the simple universal mount bracket. Easy. Still dirt cheap. Much faster.
Time is money.

[gregschultz]

If your landlord would allow it, Mount the winch plate to the floor with concrete anchors, That’s what I did in my shop

[SSid-orrv]

I've had one for a few years and have done a couple of mods to it. I mostly work alone so it's a great tool to have around. Too bad I can't post pics here but I added a cheap universal wireless controller which is great when I'm at the load end or if I don't want to be near the winch lol. Also built a u-shaped steel bracket with a tow-ball welded to it. The bracket simply slides over the front frame of the trailer for quick and easy attachment of the winch. My next mod was going to be replacing the steel cable with a synthetic rope for the ease of use and less weight.

[StonehopperHMG]

You should literally drag race this winch pulling this Jeep vs a snail.

[dillonpieper]

Glad to see the glasses aren't sitting at a 45° angle this time. Also a nice used/bad tire on the front bumper is a nice tool for pushing a vehicle

[crashsroadrunnergarage]

Uncle Tony, I've been doing that for 40 years in my current and former shops. I anchored it in the slab opposite of over head door. Can use snatch block to get more power😎😎😎

[aprules]

Tony I think this is an awesome idea, I ended up buying the Badlands electric winch, its rated for 2500lbs and came with a remote that had a key chain, it's marketed for quads. I mounted it to my tow dolley then ran #6 wire back to the battery on my truck with alligator clips. It works great, I've also ran it off a jump box, and a marine battery, if you want the model number I can get it for you. The best part is I sit in the car and use the wireless remote to run the winch, then steer it right onto my tow dolley.

[merr]

15 years ago I used a model like that to winch a 3/4 ton chevy onto a trailer. The truck had completely frozen brakes on all 4 corners. We had the winch wired into the power from the trailer wire attachment so we had a full 13 volts. It labored like crazy, but it did it. Little trooper. Lol.

[donaldhalls]

My freind had one of those on his boat, worked well, so I got a cheap Atv winch mounted a square hitch to it and put it in the tow bar hitch, great for the money, thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones