Posted by John McNerney [108.162.242.49] on Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 21:14:56 :
In Reply to: Re: boat trailer winch posted by john eickhof [172.71.142.76] on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 21:31:10 :
If you're going with a Harbor Freight ATV winch, I STRONGLY recommend NOT getting their bottom of the line 2500# winch. The construction is significantly worse than that of their higher end winches.
The 2500# winch appears to be made with one thing in mind: Low cost. The drum is held in a U shaped bracket. There are complaints about that bracket springing open a bit under load, and the cable getting jammed between the drum and the bracket.
The 3500# and larger winches all have four posts surrounding the drum, which holds things in place much more securely.
I did not need the extra pulling power of their 3500# winch on my antique Coot ATV, but went with it anyway due to the more robust design.