I just mounted a 1 ton winch to the rear of my sportsman. Zip tied the remote on the rack to the left of the seat. I intend to use it for lifting attachments on the rear.
Can anyone give me an idea as to how much noise a winch should make. Granted this one is not US made, $45.00 VS $320.00 for one made here. This sounds like it's lubricated with gravel. Plenty strong though, pulled the chain link that i welded to the plow frame off on the second tug.

Deerkiller

 

My superwinch is sort of loud, but if you got one of those harbor freight ones, I wouldnt worry about it. For 45 dollars I assume it does not have bearings and lubriacation up to par with the American companies. For 45 dollars, you could buy 7 more before you got to the cost of one superwinch.

My winch doesnt make a scraping/grinding noise so much as just a loud motor sound. Like the sound of a dc motor amplified plenty loud.
I dont think you can compare sounds/quality/durability between the Harbor Freight winches and real winches, they are just too different in design and purpose.

 

That's a nice looking rig you have there.
I think you are absolutly correct with "you get what you pay for".
If this import craps out i'll need to get a real one. Hopefully it will hold up for awhile.
How did the 400 do keeping up in that storm. That's alot of snow.
I live on the south side of Lake Ontario in NY State. We get a ton as well. My plan is to try a back blade to try to keep me plowed out.
Thanks

 

Thanks deerkiller.
The plow kept up pretty well, but our plow guy this year didnt push the snowbanks back very far, so my driveway was getting smaller and smaller until he came to clean up after me. (The sportsman cant push new snow over an 8 foot bank like a real plow can). It kept the driveway clear, though. If I had been doing it all year I would have started the year with pushing the banks way back, and wouldnt have had a problem.

Tyler

 

A friend of mine bought a Harbor Freight winch and it is loud also. He has used it quite a bit and it is holding up well. He yanked a stranded sport 400 about 40 feet when he realized the sport had the park brake on. His winch is still working well.

Steve Lubecki

 

Well i am glad to hear it's holding up. I'm thinking it may quite down some after the gears get run in.
This one seems stronger then i though it would be.

 

Don't brag up the Superwinch too much. There was a long thread about the Harbor Freight winches several months back, and several posters had said the Superwinches came from the same factory. They sure look the same. There's a few other brands of bargain winches you can find on eBay that all look the same. I've got the Harbor Freight and it's held up well to a fair amount of abuse so far. Personally, I'd never buy a Superwinch when for a few bucks more you can get a Warn or Ramsey.

 

I wasnt saying that the superwinch was the best, just that thats what I have and thats what I have experience with. I would have liked a warn, but the place I got the quad from put on a superwinch when I asked for a winch, so I wasnt gonna have them change it. Held up great after a year of abuse so far, though, and excellent customer service.