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By now most MTF-goers know the Harbor Freight 3000lb 12v winch in camo paint with wireless remote. Normally sells for $100 but often goes on sale for $50.
I've picked up two of them and now I've finally put one to use on the garage ceiling as a stationary hoist. I figure I'll use the other one on the lawn tractor to lift front implements like my plowblade or snowblower attachment but I haven't worked out the mounting for that yet...
The one I just mounted in the garage I'll use mainly for lifting my 200 lb 50 inch mower deck when detached from the mower. By myself I can just barely wrestle it up onto sawhorses for it's regular cleaning but it takes a lot out of me and it's awkward. With the winch it's so much easier. I can even use this setup to lift the front end of the mower itself, put it on jackstands, and do a quick deck scrape without having to remove the deck.
I know, putting a 12v winch on the ceiling is weird due to the odd power supply requirements... a 120v unit would be more appropriate. But this way I can take it down and repurpose it in a vehicle application if I need to, for instance on a trailer. As you'll see in the pics I purposely made it easy to mount/dismount from the ceiling.
The product documentation does say not to use it for lifting and only use it in a horizontal orientation. However I don't see the harm so long as I stay within it's load limits and don't put myself underneath anything it's lifting. At most I expect to lift maybe 10% of it's rated load.
The only downside I've found so far is the same thing others have mentioned with this particular remote-control winch.. there is a good 1-second delay between the time you press or release the remote button until the winch responds. That's not so much an issue when starting, but you have to be careful when stopping the winch to remember to let off the remote button a second or two *before* the load is where you want it because the winch will keep going for a second or so after you let go of the button.
...Took most of these pics with the cellphone so quality not so great. But it gets the general idea across.
The box:
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Mounting plate and fairlead. Normally this would bolt down to some horizontal surface for horizontal winching work. In my case I'll be hooking the top two holes over 2 lag hooks screwed into an overhead engineered truss.
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My good-old 1990 vintage 15v/20A power supply with foldback protection. Finally putting it to some heavy duty use supplying this winch. The current meter reads 7 A here.. I was running the winch lifting about a 10 lb object.
(Extending or lifting the winch without load draws about 5 A. Lifting a light load it draws about 7 A, and lifting a heavy load it can draw upwards of 20 A.)
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Here's the location on the ceiling where it will go..
![]()
As mounted on the lag hooks, side view...
I screwed two 3/8" lag hooks through the drywall directly into one of the engineered trusses to a depth of 3 inches of thread. I did buy a 3 foot piece of 1/8" angle iron that I was prepared to lagbolt into the truss in 4 places and then hang the winch from that, but it turns out these two hooks were very sturdy and easily hold the weight I've put on it so far.
![]()
Mounted, front view:
![]()
First task.. get this behemoth up off the floor onto sawhorses so I can clean the underside from a comfortable standing position:
![]()
Lifting:
![]()
Setting down on the sawhorses:
![]()
Done! And my back didn't feel a thing.
![]()
More recently I found another use... just trash picked this snow cab for free (can you believe it?) and I'm using the winch to suspend the cab lightly in place over the the lawn tractor while I fiddle with getting the cab's mounting brackets lined up and/or modified to fit.
![]()
I've picked up two of them and now I've finally put one to use on the garage ceiling as a stationary hoist. I figure I'll use the other one on the lawn tractor to lift front implements like my plowblade or snowblower attachment but I haven't worked out the mounting for that yet...
The one I just mounted in the garage I'll use mainly for lifting my 200 lb 50 inch mower deck when detached from the mower. By myself I can just barely wrestle it up onto sawhorses for it's regular cleaning but it takes a lot out of me and it's awkward. With the winch it's so much easier. I can even use this setup to lift the front end of the mower itself, put it on jackstands, and do a quick deck scrape without having to remove the deck.
I know, putting a 12v winch on the ceiling is weird due to the odd power supply requirements... a 120v unit would be more appropriate. But this way I can take it down and repurpose it in a vehicle application if I need to, for instance on a trailer. As you'll see in the pics I purposely made it easy to mount/dismount from the ceiling.
The product documentation does say not to use it for lifting and only use it in a horizontal orientation. However I don't see the harm so long as I stay within it's load limits and don't put myself underneath anything it's lifting. At most I expect to lift maybe 10% of it's rated load.
The only downside I've found so far is the same thing others have mentioned with this particular remote-control winch.. there is a good 1-second delay between the time you press or release the remote button until the winch responds. That's not so much an issue when starting, but you have to be careful when stopping the winch to remember to let off the remote button a second or two *before* the load is where you want it because the winch will keep going for a second or so after you let go of the button.
...Took most of these pics with the cellphone so quality not so great. But it gets the general idea across.
The box:
Mounting plate and fairlead. Normally this would bolt down to some horizontal surface for horizontal winching work. In my case I'll be hooking the top two holes over 2 lag hooks screwed into an overhead engineered truss.
My good-old 1990 vintage 15v/20A power supply with foldback protection. Finally putting it to some heavy duty use supplying this winch. The current meter reads 7 A here.. I was running the winch lifting about a 10 lb object.
(Extending or lifting the winch without load draws about 5 A. Lifting a light load it draws about 7 A, and lifting a heavy load it can draw upwards of 20 A.)
Here's the location on the ceiling where it will go..
As mounted on the lag hooks, side view...
I screwed two 3/8" lag hooks through the drywall directly into one of the engineered trusses to a depth of 3 inches of thread. I did buy a 3 foot piece of 1/8" angle iron that I was prepared to lagbolt into the truss in 4 places and then hang the winch from that, but it turns out these two hooks were very sturdy and easily hold the weight I've put on it so far.
Mounted, front view:
First task.. get this behemoth up off the floor onto sawhorses so I can clean the underside from a comfortable standing position:
Lifting:
Setting down on the sawhorses:
Done! And my back didn't feel a thing.
More recently I found another use... just trash picked this snow cab for free (can you believe it?) and I'm using the winch to suspend the cab lightly in place over the the lawn tractor while I fiddle with getting the cab's mounting brackets lined up and/or modified to fit.
