Champion Winch--first impressions

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
So I decided to go ahead and try out the Champion Power Equipment 8000 lb winch from Costco. It'll be a while before I'm able to actually use it, but here's what I found when I got it home:

First thing I noticed was the super-crappy photoshopped "installation" of this winch on an H2 on the box. :rofl:
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Second, the box is the perfect size to house an almost-two-year-old boy:
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Then, the good stuff. The kit comes with a mounting plate that appears to be punched with all sorts of holes for mounting to a variety of vehicles (including, apparently, floating in space ahead of an H2 front bumper...). For my application, if I use the plate at all I'll be cutting it up and just using the middle bit and fairlead mount.

A roller fairlead is included, which appears generally equivalent to any other roller fairlead.

A snatch block is included, though it's pretty small and cheesy-feeling. It looks like it'll work, but just because the pulley diameter is smaller than the usual, it'll put more strain on the cable. (assuming I keep the cable and not swap to synthetic rope, that is)
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The bad: This thing isn't very stylish or sleek. The Warns I've had in the past have been nicer-looking, and the newish ones are almost sexy in comparison to this boxy thing. The solenoid housing is very large for what I know must be inside it, big enough to make a perfect seat for the aforementioned nearly-two-year-old kid.
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The last thing is the controller. It's ridiculous. I'll definitely be hard-wiring a switch in the dashboard so I can leave this thing at home.
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Overall, it does seem like a winch. It's heavy, nearly 120 lbs with everything in the box....so that must mean it's good, right? :) I don't expect any blazing-fast line speeds out of it, I just want something that will work for the occasional use I'll likely put it through. If it does that, it'll be WELL worth the $299, especially with the accessories it comes with.
 

spencurai

Vanilla Gorilla
Location
WVC,UT
As long as the seals are good on the solenoids and the motor, I don't see why it wouldn't work for the occasional use....you talk a lot about the 2 year old kid but what about the wookie holding the remote...lets see more of that hairy bastard ;)
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
As long as the seals are good on the solenoids and the motor, I don't see why it wouldn't work for the occasional use....you talk a lot about the 2 year old kid but what about the wookie holding the remote...lets see more of that hairy bastard ;)

I'm not gonna feed your fetish for hairy men. I'm sure I'm much sexier in your fantasies than reality anyway. :p
 

nate__82

The Mighty Green
Location
lehi
yeah my dad got one of those earlier this summer after i rolled my jeep in moab. i guess he figured he needed one to pull me out when he comes with. so far its been great for the price, but we havent really used it for anything extreme yet.
 

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Interesting Carl... thanks for the writeup. I'd like to see how it compares to my cheap Warn M8000 winch. I think we need to go run Upper Helldorado. :D We'll do a comparison of the 2 cheap winches, including time to pull 2 similar 4Runners up the waterfall.
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
Interesting Carl... thanks for the writeup. I'd like to see how it compares to my cheap Warn M8000 winch. I think we need to go run Upper Helldorado. :D We'll do a comparison of the 2 cheap winches, including time to pull 2 similar 4Runners up the waterfall.

It's a deal! Springtime-ish I should be ready. (obviously I need to make a winch bumper first, and a couple other things)
 

jdub

Scrambler
Location
Provo, Utah.
Nice write up! Very curious on how you'll hook it up to the dash. Let us know how it is to install.

Aparently no one at Champian has a hummer. or any wheeler to install their goods. Scary.

Thanks for being the guinea pig for us wheelers on a budget.
 

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Interesting Carl... thanks for the writeup. I'd like to see how it compares to my cheap Warn M8000 winch. I think we need to go run Upper Helldorado. :D We'll do a comparison of the 2 cheap winches, including time to pull 2 similar 4Runners up the waterfall.

I'll follow with my Tmax 9000 on my non-Toyota rig. :D
 

cannoncrawler

TWERNT THE MORMONS!!!!!!
Location
Idaho
I have the tmax 9k on my hunk o trash, and it works great.....I have pulled HARD on it and it never let me down. When the UA rolled through idaho this summer it spent the day pulling the rigs out of mud holes and it never heated up or stopped working.......it is not the quietest out there, but it never stops pulling (sorry for the hijack)

no back to regular schedule.......
 

Crinco

Well-Known Member
Location
Heber
The one thing that jump out at me is that the controller has the same buttons on it that my cheapy H.F. controller has. I think the H.F. winch (small, like 1500# ish) is made by Mile Marker, or the same supplier.
IIRC, the T-Max has the biggest motor of the bunch at 6 H.P. doesn't it?
CR
 
The one thing that jump out at me is that the controller has the same buttons on it that my cheapy H.F. controller has. I think the H.F. winch (small, like 1500# ish) is made by Mile Marker, or the same supplier.
CR

The HF versions are the same as the Mile Marker (and one other brand that I don't remember) with different branding. The guys at MoabJeeper.com did a pretty intensive analysis and found that most of the cheaper winches were practically the same once you took off the exterior shell. Their conclusion was that if you weren't going to buy a Warn, you might as well buy the cheapest of the knock-off winches available. They have an article about it on their website.

A friend has the same Champion model from Costco on his j**p. The couple times he's used it, it has worked fine.
 

SAMI

Formerly Beardy McGee
Location
SLC, UT
Interesting Carl... thanks for the writeup. I'd like to see how it compares to my cheap Warn M8000 winch. I think we need to go run Upper Helldorado. :D We'll do a comparison of the 2 cheap winches, including time to pull 2 similar 4Runners up the waterfall.

wanna throw my MileMarker8K into the mix?;)
 

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
The one thing that jump out at me is that the controller has the same buttons on it that my cheapy H.F. controller has. I think the H.F. winch (small, like 1500# ish) is made by Mile Marker, or the same supplier.
IIRC, the T-Max has the biggest motor of the bunch at 6 H.P. doesn't it?
CR

It looks similar to the controller for the HF 2K one, but it's different. That one has contactors inside that are pretty heavy-duty since all the winch's power runs through it--this one has small wire since it's just activating solenoids, I can't say for sure what's inside the hand-held piece though.

BTW, I didn't like that controller for my HF winch, so I made a control box using 4 40 amp relays so I could use a toggle switch on my dashboard instead of the bulky controller. (if you want to get rid of yours similarly, you can)
 
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