Are Warn winches really made in the USA?

Billwynburger

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I was recently doing some research on winches. From my research warn winches are manufactured in China? The hubs are made in Oregon Really? I thought for sure Warn was 100% American made what happened?
 
My m8000 is made in US, but the solenoid pack came from china. It was really weird. When I bought my m8000 it came with a bag of nuts and bolts and not instructions and nothing really matched. Half of it was metric and half was standard. The standard stuff worked on the winch motor, but not the anything that had to do with the solenoid box. The bag of nuts and bolts was just a random bag of nuts and bolts - meaning there was wasn't any complete set of anything, and it came with nuts and bolts that didn't even fit anything on the winch. It baffled me.

Also I bought a Warn winch cover, and it came from china. Not near as nice as the old ones that came from warn years ago.
 
Man, it's hard to tell these days with so many companies using the whole "Made in the USA from globally sourced parts" thing.

It wouldn't surprise me if the electronics for Warn winches were made in China. I'm not even sure the US manufactures electronics at all... Well, not that I know of at least.
 
Man, it's hard to tell these days with so many companies using the whole "Made in the USA from globally sourced parts" thing.

It wouldn't surprise me if the electronics for Warn winches were made in China. I'm not even sure the US manufactures electronics at all... Well, not that I know of at least.
They do, but not a lot of Mass Market Stuff. We manufacture electronics, our board are built in the states, but all the chipsets and components come from overseas
 
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They do, but not a lot of Mass Market Stuff. We manufacture electronics, our board are built in the states, but all the chipsets and components come from overseas

Makes sense. I was thinking that too, that most of the chipsets and components come from overseas. It’s pretty much impossible to get anything that is 100% made in the USA.
 
Makes sense. I was thinking that too, that most of the chipsets and components come from overseas. It’s pretty much impossible to get anything that is 100% made in the USA.
Our products are very specialized as well. Not necessarily design and build, but very narrow market reach. That is where you find most of the made in USA stuff. The product is driven by features not price (to an extent). Any consumer thing, unless its a luxury item, is driven by price, so it will generally be made overseas.
 
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A little off topic: Ever hear of a ROKON? It's a 2x2 adult minibike. Since I like to solo it's a toy I have targeted for retirement. They are very expensive, it says they are 100% made in the USA but I seriously doubt that especially after reading all of this. It seems like I can't hardly buy a cheese burger made in the U.S. anymore.
 
Leupold binoculars ..... Korea, China, and Japan.
Contacted them and asked.

I remember when Lionel Trains packed up and left Michigan to set up shop in Mexico. It was an all american icon toy I grew up with and my father grew up with and my grandfather grew up with. It still chaps my ass they left the USA sons a b****es.
 
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Buy an older Warn winch, they are pretty easy to rebuild if it needs it (most of the time they just need to be cleaned up and lubed). You can get parts for the older ones pretty easily, since the design really has not changed much..... My X8000 was neglected out in the weather and not used (that is the worst thing for a winch, not use it and it will seize up.....) it took all of about 4 hours to dis-assemble it, clean it, lube it and put back together again.... works like a champ....
 
I am looking for a winch and found this post from Warn on another forum, from June 2017. VR series is 100% Chinese and the M and Zeon seem to be a mixed bad.

I am leaning towards the M8000 and Northridge currently has it for $589.00 with free shipping. Anyone aware of an discount code to Northridge?

From Warn:

Let's clarify a few things:

The WARN VR is made in China. It comes out of a factory that is only making our winches built to our specs, our design, our engineering. They are designed, engineered, and tested in our facility in Oregon.

All of the other truck winches are leaving our factory in Clackamas, OR. Some parts of them are globally sourced. Some of them come out of our factory. We have a small army of people putting these things together right here in Oregon.

All of our mounting systems are made in the USA. We have welders and fabricators welding, cutting, and bending metal at our Clackamas facility. (This includes Trans4mer for Tundra/Tacoma, our Ascent Bumpers for Tacoma, and our earlier Toyota Truck bumpers)

Warn employs 500 American workers in our plants in Clackamas and Milwaukie, Oregon. From assemblers to welders; engineers to marketing personnel; teams in distribution and maintenance. We are a global company, and have an office in Amsterdam, and sales all over the world.
 
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The Northridge code always changes but google it you can almost alway find one that works that way or at least I was able to.

I have a M8000 and the winch itself I am pretty sure is made in the US because the bolts are all standard although the quality control pretty much sucks. When I got mine it came with a baggie of nuts and bolts and they were all random metric and SAE not two sets of the same thing. I had to go to the Hardware store to get some nuts and bolts, but the solenoid pack is foreign. It is all metric, so be careful where you put your nuts and bolts because the electric part is from china, but the spool is from here.

It is definitely not like the old Warn 8000's. Also if you order a cover it is from China too and not near as good as the old timey ones, but still expensive as hell.

So to answer your question - both
 
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. . . From Warn:

Let's clarify a few things:

The WARN VR is made in China. It comes out of a factory that is only making our winches built to our specs, our design, our engineering. They are designed, engineered, and tested in our facility in Oregon.

All of the other truck winches are leaving our factory in Clackamas, OR. Some parts of them are globally sourced. Some of them come out of our factory. . . .

There we have it. Warn VR winches are manufactured and assembled overseas; all other Warn truck winches are assembled in the U.S. from globally sourced parts.

According to Warn itself there are no more 100% "made in U.S.A." Warn winches.

The political implications of "globally sourced parts" vs. "100% Made in U.S.A." products are largely irrelevant to me. The U.S. has been part of a global economy for 74 years and that genie isn't going back into the bottle.

What matters to me as far as Warn winches are concerned is that Warn designs all of its winches, supervises manufacture wherever that happens to be, and stands behind its products by providing good warranties and great customer service.
 
There was a comparison of Warn and SuperWinch . . . . with both being cut open and looked at.
The SuperWinch was built better than the Warn.

Please share that. I found this on the overland forum:

Next up is the Warn M8000-S winch which is a great choice for lighter trucks and SUVs. Similar to the Superwinch LP8500, the Warn M8000-S has a little higher motor power with 4.8 hp but a smaller pull rating at 8,000 pounds.

It also features a 3-stage planetary gear train that has the capability of getting jobs done faster thanks to its advanced pulling power.

The Warn M8000-S features a 100-foot feed of 5/16 wire ropewith a standard roller fairlead, a free-spooling clutch with sliding ring gear, and wired remote with a 12-foot lead.

It also comes equipped with a remote mount control box that lets you have a wide range of mounting options, 72-inch color-coated leads that attach to the vehicle’s 12-volt battery, and a pistol-grip remote control handle that features a rubberized ergonomic design that is mud and weather resistant.

In comparison, the Superwinch LP8500 is like the Warn M8000-S in that it can be used on almost any 4x4 vehicle, but it can be used on RV’s, trailers, and vehicles that are a similar size.

Because of its ease of use, this is a great utility winch. It has a little higher pull rating at 8,500 pounds than the Warn M8000-S, but it has a shorter wire rope feed at 94 feet as well as a smaller motor at only 4.5 hp.

Like the Warn M8000-S, the Superwinch LP8500 also has a 3-stage planetary gear train and a free-spooling clutch. It also has a 15’ rubber handheld remote so that you can operate the winch from a safe distance.

The Superwinch LP8500 differs from the Warn M8000-S with its heavy-duty latched hook with a thimble, a weather-sealed solenoid, and automatic, mechanical load holding brake.

Both are great winches to have with you on your next overlanding adventure, but the Warn M8000-S has a few more features to edge out the Superwinch LP8500 if you're not going to miss that 500 pounds pulling power that the latter can do.

https://overlandsite.com/recovery-gear/superwinch-vs-warn/