Looking at winches for the Ram and ran across these Harbor Freight winches.
I looked at the reviews and they show pretty favorable.
Does anyone have real world experience with these winches as I’m skeptical about the quality of anything HF.

I used one on my a 6.7 F250 one time. It struggled but I was frame buried. Note that that 12k rating is with one or two coils. I was also using a pulley so it should of be 20-24k of pull power. I think for a 1/2 or lighter it’s a better fit. If you go diesel I’d look at the 15k +

BOBO, I’ve got the 6.4 Hemi in this one so I’m thinking I might go ahead and get one due to the price. Comparable 12K winches from Warn and others are at least double what I can get this one for.
I’ve also been through the return process at HF and they have always just given a new one for the old one.

I’d get a snatch block/pulley also to double the rating. I also keep a bubba/voodoo recovery rope. I think the elasticity really helps when combined with winch.

I tend to push the limits a touch. I’d think with elastic rope/snatch block/winch you should be good

Just remember, no matter how strong a winch you have, if your charging system won't deliver the amperage they need, it's wasted money.

https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/1112or-badlands-12000-pound-winch-best-deal-in-winching/

To get 12k of pulling power it needs 320 amps, just for the winch. I remember square body Chevys are like 65 amps w/o A/C, something like 100 with A/C. I think my EFI '57 has a 150 amp alternator.

Charlie

So to run it continuously at full power you need an alternator that puts out 320 amps or more. Replaced the battery in my pickup a few months ago, it has 980 cold cranking amps, an HD diesel would have 2, I dont know off hand how to calculate how long it would run it at full power before it ran out, but seems like winches are for short term heavy pull, not long periods.

Duty cycle won’t let it go long enough to kill it if he is letting it cool every 45 seconds, the OP is fine he has at least a 180 amp alternator and 700-800 amp battery.

My Truck will smoke most winches before it runs out of juice with the truck on.

Plus I’ve always tried to drive a truck out while winching, why God made remotes

If there is anyone who knows how to properly and effectively bury a truck on this forum...it's Bobo or BigPig. I can't give any better advice than them because they have a lot more experience getting stuff unstuck than I do.

Had one on my CJ5. Good winch, never had any issues with it. Always worked when I needed it. Winched out a Chevy Silverado with a trailer stuck on the County Road outside our deer lease years ago.

Well, you’d have to take your station wagon off paved & rock roads.

Yes, I have a lot of winching experience. I run a 15.5k Smittybilt winch. I severely dislike Warn, Ramsey, and just about all other winches except for Mile Marker. My worst stuck in this Ram required my 15.5 and a buddy’s 18k Warn that was 2 days old. We had to tie him off to other trucks and at tue end of a 3 minutes pull his winch was smoked.

A winch is only as good as the equipment supporting it (not the Mount) but the anchor, snatch block, and other pieces. Technically, for a 12.5 winch, you need a snatch block of a minimum 25k rating, those start getting pricey real quick, I have a couple.

Don’t fall for the hype of synthetic rope being better then steel rope, it’s life expectancy is very short. It doesn’t like moisture, sun light, dirt, obstacles or really anything except being covered and clean.

The winches strongest pulling power is only achieved on tue first spool of the drunk, it drops constantly after that. So don’t be afraid to start pulling rope. Don’t worry if you have to reset your anchor numerous times to get out of a jam. I’ve been stuck on the frame with a 50hp tractor on a trailer that was also stuck on the axles. My 15.5 was plenty once the snatch block was used, but it took me 3 different pulls to get all the way out.

A winch is a tool and is incredibly dangerous if not used properly.

Why?
And does that go for ATV/UTV winches as well or just the bigger ones?
Thanks

Warn, both large and small, has a terrible duty cycle and undersized solenoid.

Ramsey is just junk, period.

I’ve probably owned 20-25 winches in my life time, everything from 1,500 pounds up to a 20,000. The only ones that haven’t failed me were Smittybilt and MileMarker. The Smittybilt I have now isn’t without its issues, it’s a 15.5k winch that takes 3-4 grown men to pull cable when in free spool mode. Other than that, it’s a freaking beast of a pulling machine

Interesting. Thanks.
Looking for a winch for a Pioneer 1000-5 and wanted to buy USA made. That leaves Warn and Ramsey. Ramsey are expensive.

I have the older HF 12000 lb winch, not the newer brushless one, on my F450 flatbed farm truck. I only use it a few times a year to pull a dead 12,800 lb track loader onto a trailer and it works well with a snatch block. When I first got the loader the tracks would barely move and I used 2 snatch blocks and drug it onto the trailer with the tracks only occasionally turning. I always do short pulls with plenty of cool down/recharge breaks and have had no problems.