I read something awhile back on winches that made a lot of sense to me. The poster wrote that after loosing 2 Warn winches to theft, he went and purchased a Badland winch from Harbor Freight for a fraction of the cost, with the theory that if someone, shall we say,..........acquired it without his permission

,...............it could be replaced for under $300. I believe I spoke to 007, who told me that they use them where he works, and they work great. Sounded like good advice to me along with the endorsement of someone who's opinion I value.

I now have a 12,000# winch (I know, over kill on a CJ) and love it. I figured that the cheap ones probably don't pull as hard as they are rated, so maybe in reality it's an 8,000#, but it works fine.