I was in Princess Auto the other day and looking at winches. I came across a winch called a KEW 8000. The sales guy told me these winches had been tested against the Warn M8000 winch and pulled just as well and were just as reliable.

Does anyone know anything about these winches? They were made in China I believe. The reason I'm asking is they were half the price of the Warn winch. If it's just as good or even close, I'll buy it. I am little leary though as I've found nowadays you usually get what you pay for.

Anybody know???

anything from China Blows the big ones, but who knows about whiches?!

Find out who made the motor for it.  If it isn't a big name company I would be pretty leery of it.  

even if it had the same motor as the warn it could still suck.

that china made it and its half the price... they cut some corners no matter what the sales guy said

You can get more info on the Kew winches from their corporate Website:

http://www.jhrh.net/2/jdgsproductse.htm

We've never used a Kew winch, but a look at the specs suggested a few things:

First, it's down on power compared to, say, a comparable Warn model. The Kew 8000 (biggest model available) uses a 1.8hp motor (12-volt version). By comparison, a Warn 8274's motor is rated at 4.6 hp. (24-volt versions of each winch are about equal in hp, however.)

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the Kew's no-load retrieval speeds are not terribly impressive. The Kew 8000's no-load speed is 13 feet per minute. An 8274's is 73.4 fpm. Some of this is also likely due to the Kew's much-lower spur gear reduction, 210:1 vs. a Warn's 134:1.

What does it mean? Again, we've never used one, but we'd guess that if you own a relatively lightweight vehicle like a Jeep, and most your winching is of the basic straight-line variety---and you don't mind waiting a little longer to get unstuck---the Kew might be fine for what you need. On the other hand, if you own a heavier vehicle and do a lot of long and severe winch pulls . . . well, we'd wonder how long that 1.8hp motor would hold up.

But again, it all comes down to how your vehicle is set up, what kind of wheeling to do, and how much you're wiling to spend.

Douglas McColloch

Editorial Director, 4WOR

Thanks for the info. I own a 78 Ford Bronco, so this winch is probably not for me.  

here is my question.fficeffice" />>>

you have done tire shootouts, you have done truck comparisons, tests on wheels, axles and just about anything else other then winches.>>

have you done a winch shootout yet? why not? i dont remember seeing one. >>

put Warn Ramsey and anything else that says its just as good. >>

do an underwater pull. >>

max pull.>>

run the motors until one breaks.>>

winch up and down hills in hot weather.>>

test line speed.>>

we want to know whos king of price and whos winch lasts longer>>

We've discussed the possibility of a winch comparo before. The big sticking point is largely the time and effort involved to do it correctly.

To do such a comparo properly, you need to limit your test platform to a single vehicle. That way, each winch would be pulling an exact identical load. You also ideally want to test everything in the same day, in the same location, as changes in weather and trail conditions from day to day can have an effect on the results of the test.

Now when we compare tires and wheels, for instance, we can easily test several different models in a single day on the same vehicle, and in the same location, because they're quick and easy to install and uninstall---a matter of minutes in most cases. By contrast, it would be a lot more time-consuming to install and uninstall a series of winches on a single vehicle. There could also be fitment problems involving the mounting hardware (depending on the dimensions of each winch), so we might have to install and uninstall additional bumpers and brackets, too, which would take up LOTS of time. It would also be difficult---though not impossible, granted---to maintain a constant optimal state of charge in our test vehicle's electrical system (i.e., the battery) over the course of a day without more delays to allow the battery to recharge after each winch pull, to test and re-test it, etc. 

Again, it could be done but it would be a lot more time-consuming and labor-intensive. We'll keep mulling it over, though.

Douglas McColloch

Editorial Director, 4WOR

well since im SURE you know someone to make adapter plates from one bumper to every winch. make a simple square 1/4th inch plate and use it as your adapter. make sure every winch fits the same bumper. an adapter plate for each winch even... i mean steel isn’t rare is it?fficeffice" />>>

get a good week of about the same conditions and go for it.>>

or if the adapter thing isn’t good enough find 4 of the same trucks and use them as the testers. >>

run the winches uphill and down hill (find a wide even hill) do that for a good amount of time, ide say an hour.>>

now you don’t really need a winch to be on a truck to test it in theory.>>

try finding heavy masses of something say a pallet of bricks (weighing 8000lb) lift it up and down a few times (say 10) check the temp of the motor and housing too.>>

stick the winch in a pond lake or a neighbors swimming pool run them for a minute.>>

a winch race (flat ground). >>

if one of the winches hasn’t all ready blown up or just stopped trying to win, run the test again. Or just see what one lasts longest like a Energizer - Duracell commercial. i like to see things break and i think your other readers do too.>>

> >

What if you used a multi-mount system for each winch? Then all you would need is a front receiver on the vehicle being used and a quick release for the winch power cables. That way it would take only minutes to change winches.

I don't know how you would get around the battery power drainage problem though.

Just a thought.

just keep your motor running

with a good battery it should last for a little wile.. if not get that truck with the 24 voltsystem

A few quick responses:

Some good points have been made about an adapter plate and/or some kind of quick-disconnect. Something along those lines could likely be cobbled up and deployed. I also like the idea of using a 24-volt truck for such a test. (Pinzgauer, anyone?)  On the other hand:

As to the idea that we don't need an actual vehicle to test a winch in theory, of course we do. We wouldn't conduct a "theoretical" winch test any more than we'd conduct a "theoretical" tire test by spinning a tire on dyno rollers to see how fast it'll rotate and how hot it'll get before chunks of tread start flying off. We wanna know how well the product works in REAL-WORLD conditions.

In addition, a static load like a pallette loaded with 8,000 pounds of bricks (as if that was something we could just summon out of whole cloth) is going to have completely different levels of rolling resistance and center of gravity than what you'd find on any 4x4. In the end, we'd only know how well the winch pulls a pile of bricks, not how well it would actually pull a truck.

As far as getting four vehicles to speed up the test . . . well, none of our personal vehicles are identical, so about the only way we'd be able to accomplish this would be if we could get ahold of four brand-new identically equipped 4x4s---say, four bone-stock Jeep TJs, or four Toyota Tacomas. Sounds easy, but (a) getting four test vehicles of any kind from an OE is nearly impossible (they only make so many available to the media at any given time), and (b) it's not likely we'd ever be able to obtain permission from the OE to install any kind of aftermarket product for reasons of warranty and liability. Yes, we do obtain a vehicle once a year or so for project buildups (e.g., our Ultimate Adventure vehicles), but four at once? Ain't gonna happen.

As an aside, how do you think the winch manufacturers would react if we asked them "Hey, we're conducting a winch test to see which one of your guys' stuff breaks first. Wanna play?" Good luck pitching that one to their P.R. reps.

But like I said, you've made some really good points about the mechanics, and about test parameters (uphill, downhill, etc.) as well. We'll keep your suggestions in mind. Anything IS possible, after all. Thanks again for all your feedback, and for your support of the magazine!

Douglas McColloch

Editorial Director, 4WOR

 

I like the multi-mount idea with quick release battery cables. That would be a quick easy way to test all the winches on the same vehicle.  Pick and average sized vehicle with the appropriately sized winch (1 1/2X GVWR) and have a winch fight to the death! Keep some extra Optima's charged up so each winch has a fresh battery.  Is the old Ramcharger that you guys ran the electric v/s hydraulic winch shootout still around? OK, so the winch manufacturers might not want donate winches, (they will if they have some cojones) but they can't keep you guys from heading down to your favorite off road shop and buying a few to test. I'd like to see Warn v/s Ramsey v/s Milemarker v/s whoeverelse   I know there was some whining from Milemarker after the electric v/s hydraulic winch shootout, but as long as you guys run a fair test, I say bring it on!  

If you really wanted to compare winches Im sure you could find a way. It sounds like my teenagers looking for every way not to do something rather than finding a way to do it.  

Ok nice ideas! i am curious too, ok to the grits n gravy
Ya need a steady power supply
Find your jegs cat,inside there is a handy gadget all of yoy should already have,the Jacobs Accuvolt,it bumps and maintains a steady voltage,up to 16 volts, my knowledge is limited,so ime probably wrong but...if ya bump up the volts it takes less amps to run the winches,more efficient!

ok there are competition batterys used in the car stereo competitions made for high amp forays.look at car audio and electronics,the sister petersen mag,
also there is a thing called a stiffening cap,used to bolster an amplifiers sagging output,they are used at about a farad per 1000 watts, u do the math, to figure out how many watts a winch is pulling..that ones a hmmm,think and be very careful!!! with these puppys they can and will kill you,thats my disclaimer OK BE SAFE FIRST!!
ask your sister mags to contribute?
this one truly, four wheeler, diesle power, and others.
use 0000 gauge power and ground? with a quick disconnect,and a front trailer hitch mount??? on each one?
ok what have i missed...hmm
i wonder if any of the readership from the varied mags would be willing to contribute some time and effort? to provide a somewhat identical fleet? releases signed of course,cant have damage suits can we.
hoolister hills,hmmm secret test ground and  four wheelers shootout digs,
all this is hypothetical of course,but personaly ide like to see a truck bury itself in the adobe like goo,or the louisiana mud, or buried to the frame in sand on the Padre Islande National Sea shore @ big shell,ya better be good to get out of these. pull test? ive seen some heavy 4 wheelin welding rigs at 10 k loaded 1 ton heavy hitters.
cool the winches with a blast of Co2 from the portable air supply
put a volt meter at the winch and at the battery to see what happens at full throttle,infra red imaging device will tell ya the internal operating temp to failure and where,,hmmm
then theres worm vs spur gear train, Four wheel parts wholesaler had an article a whil back in the mag the sent me.
ohh and a final ps...warn has a low dollar version of the winches..a 6 and 12 k version
happy wheelin!