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Harbor Freight Winch Test for Truck Owners

Will a $350 Harbor Freight winch perform as well as a twice as expensive winch designed for truck owners? Find out with this review. Plus, an important winch-to-truck connection you will want to avoid.
Is Harbour Freight's Badland Winch for You?

Which Winch is Best…Or At Least Good Enough

In earlier articles we’ve seen some Harbor Freight tools put to the test to see whether or not they were as good as the more expensive name brand tools, or at least good enough under the view that a reduced cost outweighed some minor differences in performance and/or features.

Related article: Harbor Freight Makes the Top Ten List of Top Tools for 2022

In today’s article we are going to find out how the Harbor Freight Badlands winch does in a tool test comparison against more expensive brands and whether or not you should even consider GHF “Going Harbor Freight” on this one.

The Value of This Video
The value of this video is that you will discover some surprising results with tests between a range of 12,000 Pound Rated Winch brands: Smittybilt, WARN, Badland (Harbor Freight), SuperWinch, Mile Marker Maverick, Zeak, and Rugcel.

Spoiler alert: Not all the winches survived this test with two winches experiencing synthetic rope failure.

Follow along with this test review as the winches are put through some real-world practical tests that will help you determine the right winch for your truck and your needs. Plus, it gives you a feel for what your expected uses might be and whether you really should just invest in a higher priced winch that tests well overall.

Best Winch? Is BADLAND Better Than WARN? Is Rope Better Than Steel Cable? Let's Settle This!

And finally…

For additional articles about Harbor Freight tools, here are a few for your consideration:

• The Best Harbor Freight Tool Brand That Wins in Price and Performance for This Job

• Best Floor Jack Comparison Tests Reveal Which Harbor Freight Jack to Buy and Which to Probably Avoid

• The Harbor Freight Gift Every Car Owner Needs

Timothy Boyer is a Torque News automotive reporter based in Cincinnati. Experienced with early car restorations, he regularly restores older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites for daily new and used vehicle news.

COMING UP NEXT: Used Luxury SUVs to Avoid and What to Buy Instead Per Consumer Reports Update

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