Anyone tried the Champion winches from Costco? The price is sure right, but getting a front hitch is not so easy. Anyone know where to get the front hitch? 2 inch I believe. Does that front hitch affect entry angles?

Cheers!

 

A few members at the club have this winch and I haven't heard any complaints.CTC has a superwinch sometimes on sale around the same price. The hitch try a goggle search I found a few on there, you'd have to call for pricing.

 

i had one .. salt ate it .. junk

princess auto got a 8500lb winch that looks alot like one of those fancy pants t-max australian winches .. if you check the electrical cables, even says 't-max' on there .. must be surplus, i dunno, but i paid about 4 bills for one and it's not bad for the price

 

I have a bud who put one on his YJ about a 18 months ago. I've seen it work great more than a few times and he has absolutely no complaints. A good winch cover would be a high recommendation for the winter though. Salt kills almost anything metal!

I can't remember which forum I saw it (NAXJA, Jeepaholics, etc), but a guy made his own front receiver that came out through the front license plate area. He just modified a rear hitch setup. Looked great and could be covered with a fold down (spring loaded) licence plate frame. The same kind used on cars with fuel fillers behind rear plate. That setup had no effect on approach angle or ground clearance. I'll do a little searching and post the link when I find it.

 

That was too easy! Here's the link:
Hide-away front reciever - NAXJA Forums -::- North American XJ Association
I guess I was wrong on his using a rear setup, but I can't see why you couldn't use the crossbar and box from one and fab your own mounts.

 

true mate .. but the end caps on a champion are some kind of white metal alloy .. the paint comes of in sheets and then salt goes through it like **** through a goose

my t-max winch has machined steel end caps .. after having the t-max on my jeep through (almost) 2 winters now i can swear on a stack of bibles the t-max is worth the extra coin

true you can just keep warantying the champ at costco or canadian tire, but i'd rather have something bolted on my truck that i can rely on

just my opinion