Posted: 5/2/2025 8:06:26 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Gatorshooter2][Edited]
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Buddy is putting a winch on his rubicon. He was looking at badlands from HF or xbull that has better cost on synthetic rope/fairleads wireless remote. Anyone have any experience with that brand. His use is going to be minimal. It’s a beach cruiser and occasionally on muddy logging roads while hunting . No rock crawling etc. he is in south Louisiana. I haven’t been in the jeep stuff in 20 + years so my info is dated. Had 1980 CJ 7 with v8. And 58 cj5, My old warn 5k winch with a snatch block worked ok to extract me a couple of times. |
| No experience with xbull, in fact never heard of 'em. I'd tell him to stick with a name brand. A winch is the last thing you want to find out has shit the bed when you actually need it. Infrequent use is hard on things and if it sits on your bumper for a year with no use, chances are your china brand is going to be quietly laughing at you as you run around cussing and kicking shit when you're sunk with no cell service and no winch. |
Find around and fuck out.
| I wouldn't mess around on a winch. Buy once, cry once. The HF winches do actually get pretty good reviews. |
Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.---John Adams
 I've winched somewhere around 15 stuck vehicles with my Badlands 12K Apex synthetic winch. It replaced a Warn VR10 Evo steel cable winch that died on me, went back to Warn, returned, and died again. You can buy an extended warranty on the Badlands winch from Harbor Freight and swap it out for another one at the end of the warranty period. I wouldn't mess around with an X-Bull winch. Lots of cheap winches fail the 1st time they get wet. Note, he really ought to have a few things to go with his winch: A snatch block A couple soft and hard shackles A Tree Saver Strap If your friend wants to use his winch and gear to help others. Tell him to join these 2 volunteer off road recovery groups. The Off Road Portal. They have a phone app, phone number, website, and facebook page. They are active in all 50 states. https://offroadportal.org/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/offroadportal ORP will text message their volunteers to help stuck vehicles. I just did one last week through them. As a volunteer you can ask for gas money. Louisiana 4x4 Rescue. Each state has it's own group. I've helped a lot of folks in the Missouri group. This is also volunteer and you're not supposed to ask for gas money or accept any $. RhinoUSA aka Rhino China (off road recovery gear seller) sponsors this group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1111724602552735/ |
I have an xbull on my jeep with warn decals.  It's a good winch, and the wireless remote hasn't given me any trouble. I belive it has been on there for a couple years at this point and has been problem free. It does seem to be a bit slow when under load, but it does the job. |