"Cheap" Warn vs "Top end" Smittybilt winch questions

wayoflife said:
Encouraging people to buy safety equipment that's made in American and has a proven track record of working time and time again over one that is made in China and one that I have personally seen fail time and time again is far from what I would call "hate". As it has been noted, WARN does make a line of winches that are made in China and I would not recommend them for the same reasons. Of course, I'm sure the wheeling in Florida is badass and I'm just a mall crawler who's new to this Jeep thing so, people can take what I have to say for what it's worth.
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Not to throw fuel on this small flame but I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that the winches Warn has made in China are built buy a company that builds only for Warn to their specs, and Warn does keep an eye on the quality control. Hopefully someone else heard this too.


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Gadget said:
Not to throw fuel on this small flame but I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that the winches Warn has made in China are built buy a company that builds only for Warn to their specs, and Warn does keep an eye on the quality control. Hopefully someone else heard this too.
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What you heard is true. I was told as much directly from WARN when the new VR's were introduced. This is how they are able to give a much better warranty on them. I should note that they also assured me that their premium line of winches were still made right here in the USA. Of course, I could see as much with my own two eyes.
 
wayoflife said:
What you heard is true. I was told as much directly from WARN when the new VR's were introduced. This is how they are able to give a much better warranty on them. I should note that they also assured me that their premium line of winches were still made right here in the USA. Of course, I could see as much with my own two eyes.
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I would also say I would give Warn credit as with any company you do have to compete and if another vendor is offering what at first glance appears to be apples to apples. And I would say that as you can see from this thread alone that the uninformed without the benefit of finding threads like this would go ahead and buy the Shittybilt or others just due to this winch says 8000 pounds with synthetic line for $400 and the warn is $700 or more... But instead Warn instead of compromising quality as they know there are still a large quantity of their very loyal customer base that will buy the Made In USA and pay the premium went ahead and to compete made a completely separate line known as their VR winches to competes with the Shittybilts and Engo's out there... But, to not compromise the quality too much they maintain to just build their VR line in a chinese factory that they can insure the quality does not get compromised.

I have to say I respect that as they keep themselves competitive and still maintain to build their mid and top of line winches in the USA...

Just to mention another company I love my LOD bumpers and I have made several calls to LOD before and during the purchase and was surprised to find that those bumpers are made in the USA with even US Steel....
 
Been said many times already, but you can find an M8000 for $500 new. Great winch and American Made. Just one of those thing that have to count on when you need it.
 
I too, have been debating about which winch to get. Doing a Google Search of Smittybilt vs. Warn brought me to this thread.

Thanks for the information and input everyone. I'm of the mindset that it IS a piece of safety gear. I don't want to skimp in that department. I'm going for the Warn.

For what it's worth, I have one buddy who's trying to convince me to buy a Harbor Freight winch. Hahahaha. Yeah, not going to happen.
 
Killjoy said:
I too, have been debating about which winch to get. Doing a Google Search of Smittybilt vs. Warn brought me to this thread.

Thanks for the information and input everyone. I'm of the mindset that it IS a piece of safety gear. I don't want to skimp in that department. I'm going for the Warn.

For what it's worth, I have one buddy who's trying to convince me to buy a Harbor Freight winch. Hahahaha. Yeah, not going to happen.
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Hey I think I might have the same buddy.... He couldn't believe how much I would spend to rebuild my old Warn 8274 (originally built 1992) instead of buying a cheap winch... He even said I should just grab the Harbor Freight one... I told him I would do that just as soon as he buys and uses the $80 Haida tires for his new Charger 392 SRT. He was unwilling to put shitty tires on his 500HP car and I am unwilling to put a shitty winch on my Jeep.

On another note, you have to agree how much Warn stands behind their winches when my 25 year old winch I can call them up and they will spend 30 minutes or more explaining the do's and do not's to watch out for when rebuilding it... They even sent me a sticker pack since my old stickers on the winch have long eroded away.

20170707_124033.jpg

I believe she came out really good....
 
NotInStock said:
Hey I think I might have the same buddy.... He couldn't believe how much I would spend to rebuild my old Warn 8274 (originally built 1992) instead of buying a cheap winch... He even said I should just grab the Harbor Freight one... I told him I would do that just as soon as he buys and uses the $80 Haida tires for his new Charger 392 SRT. He was unwilling to put shitty tires on his 500HP car and I am unwilling to put a shitty winch on my Jeep.

On another note, you have to agree how much Warn stands behind their winches when my 25 year old winch I can call them up and they will spend 30 minutes or more explaining the do's and do not's to watch out for when rebuilding it... They even sent me a sticker pack since my old stickers on the winch have long eroded away.

View attachment 268938

I believe she came out really good....
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Factor piece looks sweet in that red!
 
Winch

So I ha e a 2015 hard rock I’m about to get a winch but I’m trying to decide on what one to get been looking at the Smitty built and the warn vr ? Any input???


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What Smitty? I just installed the Quadatec Stealth 9500. Comes with a synthetic line as well. All black for that stealthy individual.
 
You either get a Chinese winch or a warn.. Warns are by far the best (coming from a guy with a cheap Chinese winch) Chinese winches are the cheaper option. /thread ?
 
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You can cheap out on a winch if you never plan to actually use it, if you wheel your rig, do yourself a favor and spend the coin on a good Warn winch.
 
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