UPDATE: Here’s a Thor PTO winch for sale. See the brochure for it at the bottom of the post. (Thor also made hubs).
https://bakersfield.craigslist.org/pts/d/bakersfield-1960s-thor-pto-lb-winch/6912177380.html
“A late 1960’s Thor T-100 Pto 8000lb winch. Popular on old Willys and jeeps,
Very hard to find, in Excellent condition as far as running properly.
Hasn’t been used since the late 70’s always been stored in a dry place no rust, has some paint missing from being moved around over the years.
Asking 650$ Obo
I have no use for this but I’m sure someone restoring a project Jeep or Bronco would love to have an original winch from the era.’
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Original Post from December 2016:
The Thor line of winches. Thor also had a line of hubs.
Ad states “Division of European Parts Exchange”, I wonder if the winch was produced in US or overseas. I just assumed that Thor was a US company.
I assumed it was an American company as well. It looks like there is more to the story, as these notes indicate:
It looks as if Thor made these hubs, too: http://www.ewillys.com/2015/01/16/thor-auto-matic-hubs/ , but I haven’t confirmed that yet.
Here is a PDF on the Thor T-200 electric winch: http://piercesales.com/content/Manuals/Thor%20T200.pdf
According to this: https://www.californiaexplore.com/company/00564177/thor-winches-inc, Thor Winches was incorporated in 1969. It filed its last corporate documents in 1972.
It appears Desert Dynamics acquired Thor and produced some additional winches under that brand (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-chit-chat/623361-heard-desert-dynamics-winch.html). In 1990, Pierce Arrow purchased Desert Dynamics, Thor, and Viking Winches: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-46107.html
A thread on Pirate 4×4 claims the Thor is a knockoff of Ramsey to the point that some parts will interchange with the Ramsey.
Curiously, there were two brothers from Iceland, Thor and Jon (http://vikingoffroad.com/pages/About.html). Thor founded Viking Offroad (http://vikingoffroad.com), while Jon founded winch line (http://winchline.com). I have no reason to believe they are related to the Thor and Viking winches above, but it sure is a strange coincidence.
I have a t-200. I have seen a couple other t-200’s at shows. But, I have never seen a t-100 or a t-300. Thanks for the info.
I just found two today but dont no how
They are they have been painted over
They electric and are pretty big like to know how much they may be worth
James,
The value is really a negotiated one as there are few, if any, comparison sales that have established floor or ceilings for prices. If they work well, maybe a few hundred dollars? I really couldn’t say.
– Dave
About 1972 I had Thor electric. Seems it was rated at 11,000 lbs. Was about half the speed.of Warn winches of the day but had lots more pulling power. I later put it on a Jeep Cherokee and after a few years it went on an International Scout. I probably had it for 12 or more years and never had any trouble with it. Like any winch the problem is that if your friends know you have one you can expect calls in the middle of the night to come save them!
Thanks for the story Joe!