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Product Review: Repco Winch

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  • Product Review: Repco Winch

    There's been a fair bit of discussion lately regarding the range of electric winches available, more specifically Chinese made electric winches.

    Firstly a bit of a background on my situation. I originally purchased a SuperCheap hand winch, for about $250 or something. Got it home and took it out of the box and played with it for a short while. After winching about 6 inches through it jammed up - tried everything and it wouldn't release the cable. So this scared me off, I took it back the next day and (luckily) managed to get a refund. Once bitten...

    Then I got a Black Rat hand winch off eBay. It was much better made. But after owning it for a few weeks and loading it in to the back of the car I concluded that a hand winch isn't really for me. They are bulkier than they look and take up a bit of room. Not so bad if you have drawers, but I don't have that luxury. So I offloaded the hand winch to a mate (Camo) who couldn't install an electric winch on his vehicle - it suits him down to the ground.

    Looking at electric winches, I simply can't justify the expense of a Warn or similar "brand name" winch. I just don't have the spare cash for that and other accessories. Also, I'm not one of those types who drives a brand new vehicle into an ARB dealer and says "I'll have one of everything thanks". I'd rather put it together myself.

    After reading a very useful article in 4WheelingOz titled "Which Winch" I decided I was going to give a Chinese made winch a go.

    I had just about settled on the Ironman unit (although the wireless seemed to me to be a cheapo gimmick that could easily go wrong) when I visited my local Repco store. I seem to remember reading on a forum somewhere (might have been ExplorOz) about a couple of people with Repco winches.

    Visiting Repco at the end of January turned out to be a real bonus, they were having cracking deals on their winch range. I ended up getting the 12,000lb model for $655, down from their "usual" price of $1,099. I inspected the winch in the store (the salesman was very helpful and patient) and I was happy with what I saw. Sold. And it has a three year warranty. Nice.

    I decided to follow some advice I'd read in a couple of different places on the web that it was a good idea to basically strip the winch down and inspect it and re-pack it with quality grease.

    I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the gearbox, all the gears were well engineered and it all fitted together nicely. But the Chinese quality control on the assembly line was obviously lacking:

    It's just as well I fussed pulled the gearbox apart because if I hadn't it would have ended in tears. I found a 20mm long by 4mm round piece of steel in the gearbox grease that would have definitely killed it under load. :shock: The standard grease was shite also. I cleaned all the gears in petrol and re-greased the gearbox with Castrol LMM. The gearbox felt like a different unit after re-assembly.

    I pulled the motor apart and it all looked good, very good quality sealed bearings - good brushes and springs.

    The whole unit was re-assembled and I took to waterproofing it with some silicone sealant.

    I also put a bunch of silicone in the solenoid box to keep the rain water out.

    Installation in the 120 Series Sovereign bar was interesting, more on that in here.

    I've used the winch a few times in the couple of months I've had it installed, one lot of testing and "in anger" about four times. It works a treat. The motor doesn't get too hot, although I treat it kindly and let it cool when working it hard.

    It's done quite a number of miles off road, it's been covered (literally) in mud, and it's still working like a charm.

    One thing I forgot to mention in the installation thread is that I installed an override switch for my Redarc battery isolator so I can parallel my batteries together when winching. I feel this is important to prevent voltage drop and give the electric motor it's best chance.

    The only thing I think I might have problems with in the near future is the remote, the rocker switch is a bit of a cheapie and has failed to spring back to off once. (Something to be real mindful of when you are packing the cable away). No biggie, easily worked around if it fails in the bush and easily repaired.

    All in all I'm very happy, let's see how it holds up over the coming years.

    Photos to follow.

    Hope this has been useful for someone,

    Drew.

    This article is general in nature and should not be used in place of personal professional advice. Readers are reminded of their responsibility to make their own informed decisions and to not rely solely on the content of this article.:-)
    2005 Toyota LandCruiser GRJ120R Prado "Pilbara" (GX+) Petrol V6 5 Speed Auto, ARB AirLocker rear diff locker, Safari Snorkel, Bilstein Shocks, OME 2" Lifted Springs, PolyAir airbags, bash plates, Icom HF Transceiver, Uniden UHF CB, HID and LED lights, Black Duck seat covers, Tekonsha Prodigy trailer brake controller, Redarc Dual Battery Controller, ATS4X4 Side Steps/Rock Sliders.

  • #2
    Top stuff Drew.

    I also bought a Chinese winch. Off eBay.
    About the same price as yours.

    I put the 3 year warranty, Parts availability, and price up against a Warn and there was no way I was going to pay through the nose to get the Warn.

    I would go through 3 chineseies for the price of a warn.

    I'm a fitter machinist and figure that if anything does go bang I can fix it.
    If the thing bangs louder there are spares at a reasonable price.
    That's if they weasel out of a warranty claim.

    One thing I found with my install on the ARB deluxe winch bar was that the supplied cables from winch to control box were to short to mount the box on the bar.
    It came with mounts to mount the box on the winch motor itself.
    Now the box is only accessible by opening the bonnet.
    Plug in the remote, Shut the bonnet and your away.

    I will now organise a strip down and do what you did with the grease and silicone.

    Again, Drew, Top post.
    Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.
    W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

    Comment


    • #3
      You might find the following review of winches interesting:
      http://autumn2006.4wheelingoz.com/au06% ... iscock.htm

      I am still deciding between Warn 9500XP ans Ironman Winch....
      [color=blue][url=http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread.php?12128-2004-120-GXL-V6-Petrol-Buildup-*Warning-Picture-Heavy!*&highlight=picture+heavy][b]My Prado Buildiup Since 2004[/b][/url][/color]
      [b]2004 120 GXL V6 4sp Auto D694 LTs and MTRs with Kevlar (best of both worlds )[/b]

      [url=http://www.fuelly.com/driver/lc120man/prado][img]http://www.fuelly.com/smallsig-metric/48063.png[/img][/url]

      Comment


      • #4
        The repco, ironman and terrain tamer are all the same winch, Im led to believe
        They come out of the same factory as the "crap" chinese winches but are built to significantly different spec's.

        You hear a lot of complaints about chinese built goods in general, but what people miss is simple

        Manufacturing in china has two very distinct opportunities

        If you tell them you want a price competitive winch, they will build you one, may not be fit for purpose, but it will be cheap

        If you tell them you want a price competitive winch and here is the tech drawings, specs and metal grades, they will build that too !!!

        Chinese manufacturing and QC is pretty good.

        The importers and hustlers who get them to build crap are the ones to blame IMO

        Comment


        • #5
          Yeah your probably right.

          The one I got is identical looking to the ones in repco.
          From the outside.. Down to the stickers, 12000lbs etc..
          I dont know about the inside.

          The seller of mine said he went to the factory on one of his trips and saw the QC. rated line pull tests etc
          Listed all the ratings per coil of wire on the drum, current draw and line speed.
          It came with a video of how to use and what not to do.

          Jeff.
          Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.
          W. C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

          Comment


          • #6
            So much stuff is made in China nowadays. The laptop I'm currently using is (IBM).

            I just purchased a Honda lawnmower, $1,400 worth self propelled professional grade, and the donk is made in China. :shock: Let's hope the quality is there.

            I'm hoping to take some photos today of the winch installation.

            How nerdy is this? The missus and I are both sitting up in bed on different laptops surfing the 'net. And guess what site she's browsing? PradoPoint! :shock: I better watch what I say in here or I could end up in a whole world of hurt. :lol:

            Cheers,

            Drew.
            2005 Toyota LandCruiser GRJ120R Prado "Pilbara" (GX+) Petrol V6 5 Speed Auto, ARB AirLocker rear diff locker, Safari Snorkel, Bilstein Shocks, OME 2" Lifted Springs, PolyAir airbags, bash plates, Icom HF Transceiver, Uniden UHF CB, HID and LED lights, Black Duck seat covers, Tekonsha Prodigy trailer brake controller, Redarc Dual Battery Controller, ATS4X4 Side Steps/Rock Sliders.

            Comment


            • #7
              Great review.

              Screamer of a price for a 12,000lb winch though. Nice work!

              Comment


              • #8
                Now for some photos:


                View showing installed fairlead on Toyota Sovereign Bull Bar. For more details on the installation process on a Sovereign Bar (including photos), click here.


                Showing the installed winch from below.


                View from above.


                Detail showing the solenoid box installation.


                Another view from below, showing the gearbox end.

                Drew.
                2005 Toyota LandCruiser GRJ120R Prado "Pilbara" (GX+) Petrol V6 5 Speed Auto, ARB AirLocker rear diff locker, Safari Snorkel, Bilstein Shocks, OME 2" Lifted Springs, PolyAir airbags, bash plates, Icom HF Transceiver, Uniden UHF CB, HID and LED lights, Black Duck seat covers, Tekonsha Prodigy trailer brake controller, Redarc Dual Battery Controller, ATS4X4 Side Steps/Rock Sliders.

                Comment

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