Ask the Editors: How To Identify A Winch?
Unidentified towing object.
Believe it or not, nearly every winch manufacturer takes the spray paint scenario into consideration when releasing their products and supply a data plate with the model and serial number engraved upon it.
Additionally, most winches have the serial number steel stamped into a housing or side plate. So, if you can’t find the data plate (sounds like yours may have been removed), you should be able to locate the serial number stamping on the housing itself.
Where do you find this? Naturally it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer but thankfully we have a resource we use to take the guesswork out of the search.
Click here to access the winch manufacturer resource – then just click on each manufacturer on the page for illustrations on where to find the elusive number.
Like all things this day and age, though, there exist those occasional stubborn units that have no name aside from a cheap sticker (we’ve seen some units from Harbor Freight like this in the past). If this proves the case, most universal 12-volt parts (wiring, switches) or universal winch accessories (cable, hook) will be compatible. If the winch’s internals fail, though, replacement may be your only option.
