Did I BREAK it? Long term review of the Harbor Freight Badland APEX 12k Winch.
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- Опубліковано 7 лип 2024
- I finally get a chance to give you guys my opinion of this winch after a year of abuse. I do a review and install some new parts. Also go over some things that happened to it over the last year. Thanks to @DirtLifestyle for some of the footage in this video.
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Great video! This is a great response to Wranglerstar who had his break in a similar fashion and declared it a dud.
He's a ninny crybaby (Wranglerboohoo).
Thank you for your honest review. Unlike Wranglerstar, you put the blame where it belongs: the mounting plate. I for one like that Harbor Freight keeps the weight down instead of building it such that it would hold up even if your mounting plate isn't up to the task. I don't want the extra weight because I would already have it in a proper mounting plate.
Thanks, I have gotten a ton of comments saying I am wrong and telling me to watch the wrangler star videos on it. I can’t seem to convince those people otherwise…. Thanks for the comment 👊🏻
We all know Matt’s Offroad Recovery uses them on all his vehicles. Over and over. Never had an issue.
Well it depends how you use it. But I also think that Matt might be sponsored by them since they gave him a special 1 of 1 controller for his wrecker.
Matt is sponsored by Harbor Freight
@@appalachainrider5961 - And again, he uses them and doesn’t have issues. Their Badlands APEX units are made really good and have tons of great feedback. Every brand has an occasional defect including Smittybilt and Warn.
true but sponsorship goes a long way, is all I am saying
@@appalachainrider5961 - Absolutely. I think he'd be more hesitant to say something against Badlands because its sponsored.
I bought one of these when they first came out I had one of the old HF 12,000lb winches and loved it. I use it alot, never as hard as you though. They have both been great and I am glad to see it can handle a lot more than I am giving it. Also thanks for showing me they have replacement parts available. Awesome video!
WOW I'm super impressed. I never would have expected that. I used to use the older 5k's to pull cars up on my flatbed trailer but, they never lasted very long. Your winch is truly impressive especially at the price point.
Good to hear. I been holding off getting one until this review dropped
Good review Kelly, definitely nice seeing you put it through the paces versus that first video 😜 but I definitely agree my Apex has been pulling my JKU out of some decently stuck positions and is doing great!
Thanks for the review. I’m glad your experience is in line with my own. It’s been a great price of gear.
Love the honesty thanks for the content hope the channel continues to grow I have high hopes to meet up with you guys and do some wheeling one day
Excellent video thank you for answering all my questions about the apex . I just mounted one on my jl excellent videos .
Love the guy trying to help the winch bet it really appreciated his input.
Great review. Now I’m going to get one for my 76 CJ7 Thanks!
Great review. I’m impressed that they have a list of replacement parts. I’ll be buying one soon. Thanks
Great video and review. I had an Apex literally save my wife's life weekend before last on Black Bear Pass. First major switchback her front driver tire went just over the edge. I quickly came around in my Jeep, hooked up to her rear recovery point and winched her back. We've installed 3 Apex winches on our Jeeps now. We do use Factor 55 FlatLink E's instead of the Badland hook though.
Badass rig you have there. And I’m picking one of these winches up this week. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for the great review, I just pulled the trigger on one 😁
My Apex has more than payed for itself in recoverys and it pulled a stump out of my front yard. I love it.
Loved the review. Just mounted it to the bumper. Now going to add more beef to the mount.
I think this may be my new winch. I've never heard anything bad about them since they came out.
I'm not planning on doing the offroading you do but I do want to have it for times I might get stuck.
Thank you for a good video and review.
Thanks, still a great winch 3 years later.
I purchased the winch yesterday because of your review. The install was very easy in my factory jlu metal bumper group I am a weekend Warrior .
I really have to say thank you! You have helped me with my decision! I have seen another person break this winch and he seamed to be to prideful to admit he broke it and instead blamed it on the winch
👊🏻
Great review. I’ve been watching this winch for a while
I’ve been watching this winch too ! Just purchased a ‘05 Tacoma and putting a badass front bumper on . 12K badlands winch next
Great video, Great honest review 👍
I am so stoked that the winch is a good buy i cant wait to install it.
The thing ive found about harbour frieght is they cheap out on quality control and pass the savings on, this is the biggest reason i havent bought one and shipped it up here to alaska, the warenty isnt worth it and i dont trust it in water crossings🤷♂️
Did you not buy the extended warranty? I bought the winch and went back-and-forth on buying the extended warranty but it is $180 for two years.
Just bought it last month. Got 30% off of the 599 with a coupon and opening up a credit card. This video makes me oven more confident about my purchase than I already was. Thank you!
Thanks for the review. I already have one ordered. They were on sale last month for $530. I see rock bouncers and everyone else using them. If it’s trusted on a $100k rock buggy, it should do fine on my WJ.
exactly what i was thinking and if she works good on my wj then she will work fine for whenver i get around to building a bigger rig i wanna do
I'm planning on getting one for my wj too
thanks for the update bro,
Thanks for the review. I bought one last month myself from all the good reviews on the internet. Harbor freight did a smart thing passing these out free to UA-camrs. But yesterday I saw another video where it had failed and he said he was going back to Warren witches. But what he showed us was basically the same thing the housing had broke. The winch itself still work fine. At that time I thought to myself the winch didn't break your mounting plate broke. You have to consider 12,000 lb rating will probably pull half again that much. I'm building my mounting plate out of 3/8 plate steel. Hopefully if my mountain plate fails it'll be because it pulled the frame out from underneath the truck....😁
No problem, I am sure there will be more than one person that blames the winch and not their mount. I thought the same thing. I talked to the engineer on the phone and he told me to look at my mount… sure enough, it was very twisted.
yeah, that guy was very unfair in his review. He referred to that as a "catastrophic failure" which it wasn't as he was still using the winch afterwards.
It also resulted from the same thing, a mounting plate fail not the winch.
@@marvindebot3264 yep that damn stump vid lol even his waren does trying to pull the stump out
I've had 5 of these over the years! Never a problem. NEVER! It has pulled my 3500 4 door long bed dually up a tree. Pulled 13k backhoes onto trailers over and over. Never a problem. Other than connection to battery issues... fixed by wiggling connections..
Good review. Thanks for your service sir.
Thanks, glad it helped
Great review, new sub. I’m in Tacoma so see you on the trail.
Like the regular joe shmo LOVE IT! Thanks showing us how to have fun on the value parts
Thanks for your experience and and sharing
I just installed one today. It was on sale for $450. I had a 10% no exclusion coupon. I’m glad it held up when you tortured it. I have an old Chicago Electric 10K on my gooseneck trailer. I used dual line to load six 7500 lb concrete culverts, (two per load). It still works fine.
Where for 450.00?
Where for $450
I bought one of those Apex winches in July of 2020, and it didn't last 2 months before literally burning up. Again, I can't blame the winch. I had it in my buddy's shop and was planning to fabricate a mounting system for the front of my Excursion. Creek Fire in September took out his whole shop including a 2001 XJ which I had been working on. The worst loss for us in that fire was the log cabin my grandfather had built in 1921 at Huntington Lake and which had been our family's real home all those years, wherever we moved around the country.
I was planning on getting one of this and wasn’t going to do any hardcore off-roading like shown in this video. Now I’m definitely getting one since for my purposes it’ll be just fine
great video. this is the winch I have had my eyes on
Very detailed video! Thanks for the information. Heading to Harbor freight this weekend. Thanks man
🤟🏻
THAT WINCH GIVES YOU THE OPTION TO RELOCATE ALL OF THE ELECTRONIC PARTS TO ANTHER SPOT ON YOUR RIG. Mine came with all the hardware and instructions. I am glad I bought one.
I mounted the electronics box under my hood with the supplied wire and hardware that cane with the winch. It is very strong! I use it all the time for myself and friends in the mud, high centered on the trail an so on.
This sounds like a good idea. Thanks for sharing!
That's a good idea as I have seen a lot of people complain about them not handling water
Put one of these on my 04 Grand, got it for a little over 4 bills. Glad it was cheap seeing just how much it cost to put a hidden winch on a Grand Cherokee. Have only had to use it once so far, worked great dragging the big G out of the mud pit. Pretty much paid for itself at that point in my eye.
Good stuff Kelly. After this review , the switch is definitely a possibility on a replacement if my Warn ever decides to go out on me
Well I hope the warn doesn’t go out on you, lol. But this winch it is a good option for sure.
Right on ...was considering it for my rig...now I'm sold...thanks.
Still love this thing, actually used it an hour ago moving cars around the yard, lol. Wireless works so good I was inside the car I was winching operating it with the controller.
There’s a lot of people who are afraid to buy it just because it’s from Harbor Freight,me included but I’ve also been seeing/hearing a lot of good things about this winch to the point I might just pull the trigger on it? Great review,thanks.
I see pro race teams using them. They’re legit. Harbor Freight’s new line of hand tools, whose name I forget, is being made for them by Snap-On tools.
I had a 10k winch with a wire cable. Gol dang thing frayed and snapped whilst in the midst of a pull. That flying cable sliced straight through my buddy Elliot's cowboy hat (he loved that hat) and took a little of his scalp with it. Needless to say, Elliot's a lucky feller. Ever since then, I've went with the synthetic rope.
Thanks Kelly! I bought one after your first video💪🏼👍🏻🇺🇸
Awesome 🤟🏻
Great Review, I have the same Winch and I have it on my 2018 JL Sahara. I went with the Mopar Winch Mount Plate and had it installed at 4 wheel parts . I have the Mopar Steel Front Bumper as well. I can say so far it is very responsive and it is extremely heavy duty and well built.
Did you have to modify the steel Mopar bumper?
@@richardremmers6969 very slightly , only cut a very small piece that was where the wench would test the front left side , it’s not noticeable at all .
The Badlands Apex Wench is amazing and I’ve had it now 2 years with no issues at all .
Thanks for this 1 year review. I was seriously wondering about the quality of ANYTHING sold by Harbor Freight but this video took away any fears of inferior quality and reliability.
Also, I’ve never seen anyone do what you did with a Wrangler regarding how you drove over the rocks you showed in this video.
Nerves of steel!!! Thanks again. I liked and subscribed.
I have this same winch on my trailer, it has pulled everything and anything I wanted to onto the trailer. I let my brother use the trailer over the weekend and now it won't winch out. thanks to your video I mow know how to go about replacing the control box.
On sale right now 12/29/2020 for $499. I picked one up yesterday. 👍🏼
$479 with discount. 👍
I remember somebody at one point commenting on how factor 55 stuff is cool and well engineered nothing beats a giant open hook that just works.
got a gen 2 i believe smitty bilt 9500lb that i beat like it burnt dinner, its holding up great, used it pulling tree stumps, pulling the jeep 100s of feet through bog, snow, up hills ect with straps for extended reach, i use it on tree jobs as a remove trees from around peoples houses as a side gig, have had it scalding hot along with the alternator and drained a battery to the about 8v with engine running at 4k rpm.. it doesnt quit, only issue is where controller plugs in it uses little pins that inevitably corrode and brake off.. wire up a switch to the interior when you get it way more convenient than the controller anyway, i was actually ably to opened the winch control box up with channel locks and operate the contact with a knife blade when the pinbroke off and i was stuck to the frame for 340$ canadian its a steal
i need a cheap 15k winch for my dodge 12v soon if anyone has any suggestions for that in canada
It looks like a great value with the features and extras included. it looks like they are similar in design to all the other winches out there with similar gearing to an M8000 with a more powerful motor and nice modern looks.
I have the old 12k badland and never had any issues , been using it for 2 years , i used it at least 15/20 times .
👍🏻 Nice
Same here. No issues at all with e old model. 15+ years of heavy use.
@@jarodneedham9538 great to hear. Just installed....haven't used it yet
Great video. Ive been thinking about buying a Bad Land winch. Now, I’m confident that they are a good buy. Thanks
Was one of the first ones to pick up this winch when Harbor Freight finally brought it to the shelves. And let me tell you, it's truly a great winch. Put it through a lot of tasks and it really has performed. I also remember all the WARN fanboys coming out talking mad sh*t about this winch. From everything that I've seen online, it's pretty much shut them up at this point. the fact that they even advertise their opposition (being a WARN winch) on their website, is very ballsy! Great product, Harbor Freight!
Great video! Now I don't have to make my own long term review video.
I've got the 12,000 lb on the front of my diesel. It's not the apex and I don't have the fancy hook or wireless controller but the winch itself has never left me stranded. Even if it were to quit working I'd get another one. It's already paid for itself multiple times
I mounted mine to a 1/2 wench plate. I highly recommend it.
Great video! Thank you! 👍
Honestly, I like how the control box wiring mounts directly to the winch. Warn has the relocatable control box with a bunch of unnecessary wires hanging out and rubbing all over if you decide to leave the control box mounted to the winch.
When I installed my Warn I saw those wires as just one more thing to rub over time and cause an issue.
This actually comes with a relocation bracket for the box and all the wires. if you want to mount under the hood.
Finally found a review from someone who actually wheels. I keep seeing the “Jeep club” reviews no real world abuse. My engo finally quit after 5 years of abuse. Looking for a replacement around the same price point.
Thanks, I have used and abused it for years, still works great. As long as you have a solid mounting point. I will be getting another one for the Montero over land project
I'VE owned and installed many winches and found that almost all had little to no grease in planetary assembly's.A glob on each gear that was it,I now out of the box pull em apart and service with a Lucas or graphite type lite viscosity grease no more than half pint.
Great review. I’m glad you re-did the “stuck” from the first video. I have a Badlands 12k from 5 yrs ago (3rd one from warranty, 1st one pulled so hard it bent the mounting plate and case; second wouldn’t pull it’s own shadow) and I was getting ready to upgrade to the Apex. I’ve watched the Dirt Lifestyle video, but have you put the Apex to the test with a heavy pull? I would love to see a video on that. Keep up the great work- I miss WA!
I was considering this winch for my dodge/ tow rig when I put the winch bumper on last week but they didn't offer a big enough model since my total weight pulling the trailer loaded with the crawler is about 17.5 . I wanted to be able to just hook cable up without a block so I went with Smittybilt x20 17.5 from 4wp it was $820 with a 3 year no questions warranty it's a pretty nice winch a warn in 17.5 would cost big money . Next winch for my crawler will either be the hobo or smitty ... Warns stuff unlike my old Warn is either made 100% in China or the parts are made China and they only assemble in the USA...lol... so warn is basicly a China winch now with made in Clackamas Oregon pricing .
Agreed if you go to warn website they say engineered in America..
Ah dude I love reiter. Used to see tons of people there when I took my 4runner out there. Almost always there is a silly Jeep with a broken u joint in someone's way.
I was off roading a few years back and ran into these two heavy machinery mechanics on the trail. They had an old Oshkosh fitted out with every tool a mine mechanic would need and enough Jeep parts to rebuild several drive trains . I asked them if they were going to help out a friend and they pulled out a mobile credit card reader and said that on the summer weekends they are up here to make a quick buck. As it turns out those guys made more on the trails in three months than they do at their shops in a year.
I like my 8274 on my TJ, but I'm probably getting this for my truck after your review
You would trade an 8274 for a Badland??? just drop the 8274 in the mail for me... I’ll pay shipping
@@Cotton088 did ya get it yet?
@@coryallen6980 hahahha
Great review! Also, great idea with the lock tight and the rubber washers. Time will tell if it works out, but even if it doesn’t, it was worth trying for sure. On another note. If you ever find yourself tearing apart the gear set again I know that many of us would be interested in seeing the wear pattern and seeing you clean out the old grease and putting in some high grade lube. I’m my personal experience the better the lube the better and longer the equipment performs.
Thanks, I thought about changing out the grease but there was plenty in there and it looked new still. I will be doing another tear down and inspecting and replacing the grease for sure in the near future
@@MuddyBeards4X4 Awesome. I look forward to it. I must say though. I have never been a fan on anything Harbor Freight but this winch looks like something I would buy. I appreciate the review. You probably saved me $1200 and that’s definitely worth a subscribe, like and comment.
Yeah, I did notice some teeth missing on a gear. I would have been intrigued to see the wear pattern as well.
Great Video, I just bought a new 2021 Broco Badlands/Sasquach and have a birthday coming up, Gonna see if this will work on my Bronco without blocking my front camera. Again, Excellent video...
Nice, good luck👊🏻
Great video Kelly.
Thanks man🤟🏻
Nice review! Harbor Freight does make some good stuff! One question on a different sibject; what is the background music you are using? Thanks, Tom
When i built the bumper for my ZJ i made the winch plate out of 1/4 steel. Then welded done 3/8 plate to it for a total of 5/8 thick.
Now some people might call that overkill. But i say that's the best kind of kill. I will never have to worry about it flexing.
Been waiting for a review to go buy one
Thx’s, I have been one of many asking several times for your view.
I have two of the old 12,000 lb ones. Never had any problems and I use them for logging. Lol. Definitely a little bit tougher on them then any recovery I have done. I bent up my mount plate too but it was a receiver mount plate.
Yea, I think it is safe to say that any kind of logging aka tree tugging is a fantastic way to shorten the lifespan of....well....EVERYTHING, from the winch to my knees back and shoulders haha! I started high lead logging in Forks Washington, in about 1993, and after way to many years on steep ass ground I finally graduated into a nice warm machine! However I still bring my boys firewood logging every weekend with the F350 and our less than stellar 12V riggin Lmao! Honestly it is darn hard to be impressed by any electric recovery winches once a fella has had some of the finest logging hoists that money can buy, just waiting for a whistle to pull as hard as you wish with the beep beep beep of a whistle!!
They are discounted $100 right now for Inside Track Club members.
The 20% off coupon works on them too. Got mine for $479.99 last Thursday
@@ncv4708 Nice!
Thought...buy the 2 year replacement plan! It is cheaper than replacing the parts, and if this happens, just take it in for a new one! Mine is setting in the garage awaiting my new bumper.
not only that, but at the 2yr mark can turn in for a new one and buy another 2yr warranty
@@Copehagn02 yes before you know it you have thousands of dollars in a 500 dollar winch makes no sense
May I make a SUGGESTION to improve the efficiency, help the winch run cooler, and give it a slight boost in power?? This is a fairly simple alteration to make. First, let me explain why you would want to do it. As with most electric winches, they sent it with two lengths of battery cables to furnish the power to the winch from the battery. Those battery cables will do an adequate job, but there is a much better choice of power conductor. Before I tell you what that is, I want you to do a little experiment. Go hook your winch to an anchor point about 30-feet away from the front of your rig. Have someone ride the brake or use the parking brake to add resistance to the pull. With one hand on the positive battery cable supplying the winch power, begin pulling the vehicle. You will feel it begin heating almost immediately. With each degree of heat that builds, less power (amperage) is able to move through that cable. This causes the winch to work harder and the motor and switching will begin to heat as well. Heat is a natural enemy of electrical current. The easy "fix" is to either find a used (retired) welding cable or a new one if used is not available and replace that battery cable with it. It is best to solder the connecting ends to the welding cable with some substantial ends. (don't use the typical wiring ends, you want the maximum current to run through). I also recommend putting shielding over the cable to protect it from grounding should it wear on something. Try the hand on the new cable and you'll be a believer. This is especially a good idea for those of us who USE our winches often. For the ones who have the winch as an ornament, it won't make much difference.
Car audio wire is better just make sure you get the ofc and if it is a real long run to the battery use zero gauge or even 0/2 if your batteries are in the back or if you're using your winch in the back and your batteries in the front .
Or you can also use a shackle and snatch block to multiply the effort of the winch for a 1/4 of the price unless of course your to far away from tie down
This has nothing to do with winches but it might help in the area mentioned. I have a 1000 watt Inverter inside my tool box in the bed of my pickup. I used 3/8ths 5 stranded copper wire used in houses and ran it down the truck frame up into the tool box. The Inverter does as well in the tool box as it would being a foot off of the battery. I do not have a winch but know it works really well with my inverter.
The best jumper cables I've ever used were made out of welding leads
@@ericbest9562 yep also great for actual battery cables.
Best review yet! I'm sold!
QUESTION!!?: Your smittybilt mount was bent, you replaced it.. with what?
I did a video on that. I built a new bumper with the Barnes4wd winch plate and my old bumper.
A friend uses it on his humvee, it doesn’t say it’s rated for 24v but it sure does work well.
I purchased the 9000 lb badlands wench on sale and that thing has more than enough power for my jk 2 door
I'm definitely getting one for my F250 once I figure out a mount for the factory Tremor bumper.
Not sure if I like the “wench” or the “winch” better. Appears everyone has an issue saying “winch” multiple times without dropping a few “wenches” in! Lol! Nice rig and video!
I bought one after your first video. I've only used it once but it went full send and got me unstuck!
Nice, glad you like it👍🏻
Just curious why you don't use that winch with a snatch block? That essentially doubles your rate. It also puts a lot less strain on the winch thus keeping it cooler.
Other than a 3/8" mount plate you could start with an estimated stack of washers in the low corner and slowly Tighten the high side to preload it it torsionally and let it set several times resetting it's memory. And nest the bottom in with a group of heavy C channels for the girder principal. It would never deform again. Dandahermit
Thanks for the videos on this. Quick question since you have had this apart- do you see any issue with mounting this “foot forward “? I’ve found nothing about mounting orientation. I have an older ARB front bumper with only the front forward mounting. There’s plenty of room to reach in and engage our disengage it. I’m curious if there are any vents or drains that need to be oriented as I know some winches can be clocked.
Nice review Kelly....
Thanks👍🏻
Looks like a decent little winch
Great video man. High Test raiting on a hook is a little worrying though. Good looking hook though. And the price on the hook is more than reasonable if you have to purchase another one.
Great review. Harbor Freight has come a long way in the past twenty years. On a note of safety: always use a cable dampener blanket, tarp, or other recoil dampening device, or maybe two. Load lines of any type have a tremendous amount of energy stored in them under heavy load tension, and can do some serious damage if they fail. I worked in heavy power line construction all my life, and one incident really put the fear of God in me: we were trying to untangle some broken and blown down wood poles after a tornado. We had four heavy nylon slings on a broken pole in choker configuration, and were winching horizontally to pull that pole out from it's entanglement with another one, and a truck that had gotten mixed in with the wreck. We had a length of about eighty feet from the shackle that connected the slings to the one inch braided nylon rope that was run around a winching drum on our fifty ton line truck, and we were controlling the rope from behind the cover of the back of the truck. we almost had the pole clear of the wreck, under tremendous strain, when the slings let go. We had laid two heavy folded tarps over the rope as dampers, but when that mess let go, the rope just slithered right through those tarps, streaked past the side of the trucklike a clap of thunder, and smashed into the side of a car parked in the ally some sixty feet behind us. the impact smashed in the front door, cowl, front fender, broke the windshield, folded the dashboard in half, and totaled the car. It was a good thing nobody was in the way. Safety first.
ua-cam.com/video/WT15jeGCMI8/v-deo.html
There's an Australian UA-cam channel where the owner put dampeners to the test. The trouble is physics. Dampener blankets are lighter than you tarps. When a line fails under several thousand pounds of tension, it will require a lot of mass to dampen any recoil. Being under cover as you were is a far better tactic for safety than trusting to that dampener. In the Australian video they destroy a truck with repeated tests using various kinds of dampeners.
I have owned like 1 warn, 1 super winch, and a couple harbor freight ones. However I learned that the Warn was not as good as I had hoped and cost to much and replacement parts cost what a new HF one cost. The Superwinch never disappointed like the warn and I sold it well used. It definitely was a higher quality grade of metal and even cables lasted longer on it when compared to the HF ones. I usually reorder the cables from HF by calling the number in the manual. . The stupid harbor freight ones are dirt cheap and delivered beyond expectations. I always made my own mounting plates because I don't think the bought ones are ever heavy enough. I did mount my Superwinch on a Warn plate I guess. Otherwise made my own.
It is a very good winch. I have 2. I will soon buy a 3rd.
I bought one of these, first time out the control box broke. Harbor Freight replaced the winch. Think I will do a remote mount this time. I may make a 1/4 thick plate to bolt on top for strength!
Love mine and yes the freespool is awsome 😎😎
love my HF apex winch
I have one of the old winches and this new one. The first time I used the new one it would thermal shutdown every 20 seconds of pull on a rolling chassis, maybe 5k lbs. Frustrating. Thankfully I still have the old one to use.
I've used them on ATV's and SXS's for years. Absolutely zero issues!
Use nylon / plastic screws in the cover so if it twists, it will snap the screw off and not crack the cover.
Just bought one!