Badland Apex Advice

[macleanflood]

Goddess Mother, is Warn starting to go the way of other once reputable companies? @Blackjack

I think the blood sacrifice of a TJ purged my demons and I have not had any issues since.

That or I replaced the problem prone M8000...which we've used once since...with the 9.5 which I've used the living crap out of...but...I have embraced pulling all my winch line out and using the first few layers and using plenty of recovery rings.



On another note that 9.5 XP is tight. So is the M8000. I've fully disassembled both and cleaned and greased them per Warn's grease or Montana Jacks. Takes A LOT of force to pull out the rope. My M12000 on my truck... she's loose...I can flip the free spool lever and run.

-Mac

 

[Zorba]

On another note that 9.5 XP is tight. So is the M8000. I've fully disassembled both and cleaned and greased them per Warn's grease or Montana Jacks. Takes A LOT of force to pull out the rope. My M12000 on my truck... she's loose...I can flip the free spool lever and run.

-Mac

This is controversial - but I didn't grease the OUTSIDE of the sliding ring gear, I oiled it. In my humble opinion, it doesn't need grease as it doesn't turn much and it doesn't turn under load. Not my idea, got it from a guy who rebuilds them professionally. Maybe he's wrong, but it made sense to me at the time and makes it a LOT easier to pull.

 

[Blackjack]

Goddess Mother, is Warn starting to go the way of other once reputable companies? @Blackjack

Unfortunately they are not the Warn that I worked for. Especially now that they are owned by LKQ(Keystone) and have become more about riding on reputation versus maintaining it. There are still good folks there but they are basically hamstrung by policy.

 

[Zorba]

Unfortunately they are not the Warn that I worked for. Especially now that they are owned by LKQ(Keystone) and have become more about riding on reputation versus maintaining it. There are still good folks there but they are basically hamstrung by policy.

That sucks - their apparent lack of CS shows it.

 

[Wingback73]

I just had this internal debate. I have a Warn on my '04 that seems to work fine, but not like I use it a lot. Nonetheless, reputationally it is great, so I trust it. It came with my vehicle, so happy to have it. So when I was looking for a winch for my '06, I looked a new version of what I have if close to $1K. That's 2-3X what the Apex Badland was available for over the holidays.

After much research, watching teardown videos, and the like, the conclusion I reached was that there is no substantive quality difference between the 2 brands, and went with the HF. Many companies are using the Apex on a daily basis in a true work environment, and they seem to be holding up as well as the Warn. Couple that with the feedback on Warn customer service vs I walk in and get a brand new one from HF if something happens, and the HF is where I ended up.

I will say, they include a LOT of extra equipment in the box that many of us would never use. The control box relocation kit, which I can't see using unless you were going with an under-bumper or hidden mount, has to be at least $50-75 worth of box, mounting plate, and cables that I'm just sticking on a shelf...

Build quality feels good, and the initial re-spooling of the line was smooth as silk. Only problem I had was finding somewhere to mount the on/off switch in my engine bay, so I just skipped it...

 

[Mike_H]

I’m in about year 5 with my smittybilt X20 gen 2. Still going strong and yanking anything out that I hook it up to. Wireless control works as expected. No issues. I stop keep my eyes on the marketplace for a used warn, but that’s just because I like to rebuild stuff.

No direct experience with the badlands apex stuff, but they are very popular.