Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

How Harbor Freight saved my TJ

Rickstar321

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Lifetime Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2022
Messages
220
Location
NEA (Jonesboro)
This happened back in July of 2023, I was a pretty new Jeeper... and did a VERY stupid thing... (Some of us have to learn the hard way!)

I bought winch in April of 2022 so at the time of this incident it had been on my Jeep for 14 months.

I get asked alot if I really trust the Badland Apex 12000 because they wouldn't, so this is my experience with it.

 
Back in roughly 2008, my grandfather had a motorhome and had bought the 05 TJ in my profile pic <— to tow behind it so he could explore the backcountry and jeep trials up there. He had a local shop put Auburn Gear ECTED limited slip lockers in the jeep. He mounted a hi-lift jack to the rear bumper, and purchased a 4,500lb electric winch from harbor freight. it was one of the earliest harbor freight winches they sold, and seems to be a rebadged ramsey winch. he made a winch plate out of what appears to be a piece of a frame rail or something. its damn heavy.

anyways so he's up in Colorado on Imogene pass, and puts a front tire off the trail a bit. when he turned the wheel and tried to reverse, the whole thing went over the side and rolled a couple times before stopping up against a tree. He winched the jeep back up onto the trail and drove down into Telluride. When he got down close to town, he parked somewhere and used the hi-lift to bend the front fenders back up so the tires wouldn't rub so he could go back to wherever they were camping. He towed it back to Texas, and while the soft top was still all there, it was pretty beat, so he found a hard top for sale locally and swapped it over.

you can see how the fenders are kinda sad looking in the pic below, along with the dents in the hood and a-pillars. This was from when I inherited it after he passed in 2023.

IMG-2827.jpg

So, yeah I'd say HF winches are reliable enough
 
I think what blew me away the most about what happened is that it was about 3' under water, and the winch remote was full of water, I had to shake it out... and it still blue toothed to the remote and functioned... and is STILL working. I wish I would have had my micro disk in my dash cam... I had taken it out to download some wheeling we had done the week before... that would have been a great video.
 
I think what blew me away the most about what happened is that it was about 3' under water, and the winch remote was full of water, I had to shake it out... and it still blue toothed to the remote and functioned... and is STILL working. I wish I would have had my micro disk in my dash cam... I had taken it out to download some wheeling we had done the week before... that would have been a great video.

Fresh water, minus an electrolyte like salt, has a relatively high resistance compared to the contactors in the solenoids. People like to bag on the badlands and smittybilt winches, but they are decent at waterproofing the electronics in order to last.
 
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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts