Warn Tabor 9K and warranty = junk

[MistaMike]

Two months ago I bought a new Warn Tabor 9K winch to replace my worn out 10+ year old MX40??, a 4K winch. The winch is mounted on an equipment trailer to pull up dead cars and trucks.

The 5th time I used the Tabor 9K, the brake locked up making the winch useless. I had a friend finish pushing up the Honda onto the trailer with his truck. Next day called the 4x4 shop I bought the winch from, no help, gave me some phone numbers. Warn's warrantee states the winch to be shipped to an authorized repair shop (4 states away). So I pay for shipping, wait 3 weeks for repair, and pay to get it back FOR A WINCH I USED 5 TIMES.

After talking to the rep, they let me disassemble and send in broken parts for warrantee. "Well that speeds things up, and lowers shipping..." I told myself. The brake broke, some bushings were worn, and the inside of the drum (where the brake is) was badly grooved. Sent parts in, week later got a call "Nobody has a drum, and the mfg. needs a minimum order to produce them... maybe a 4-6 week wait." Now I'm pi$$ed.

The rep "leaked" that the Tabor 9K has a known problem with the brake and all they do is "hone out the drum and all is good". Well, now I have a 3 month old winch, in 25 pieces, waiting to go back together. They did hone the drum, but is still badly grooved. I believe I'll have another brake problem because of this. The brake looks much different, why couldn't they replace (recall) this from the factory?

I give this winch and its "warranty" 2 thumbs down.