Bill Stock wrote:

I just bought a 4 ton comealong from the local 'Tool Store' to remove my
stump after severing all the roots I could find.

I think it was regular $59 on sale for $29, the best they had. The release
never did work right out of the box. There's a little aluminum bolt on a
spring that's supposed to push the ratchet out of the way, but it just kept
getting bent. The winching seemed to go fine, except I noticed that the
rivet that the third hook attaches to had popped loose. Fortunately the
tension kept in place, so that the cable didn't snap loose and take my head
off.

So I was looking around the net for a better version, but they all pretty
much look like the one I bought. Some are $8 on eBay, cheap is not what I
want in a comealong. The stump is out BTW, so it's not something I'll need
until the next time.

All of that style comealong are made in China these days. There are
similar functioning units that are high quality, high price and
typically not made in China available. You can find some from 4x4
suppliers and from industrial suppliers.

Another option that often works with made in China stuff is to rebuild
the unit replacing the substandard fasteners with quality ones since
it's usually the fasteners that are the problem and the rest of the unit
is typically ok.