This 8000 pound winch is very simple to use. It has plenty of power with its little 5.5hp motor which is more than most other winches I have seen. I have used this winch twice to pull my Jeep Cherokee with an 8" lift and 35"s up steep hills. The winch did not struggle at all. The only complaint I have about the winch is the steel wire which kinked on my first use of it. It was operator error that caused the winch to kink as I let the wire come a little loose on the drum. I will be replacing the cable with a synthetic winch rope of 10,000 pound capacity. I would recommend buying the winch with synthetic rope to begin with.
Overall: A great product for offroad recovery. Smittybilt 97281 XRC Black Winch
Good for the price, but don't fool yourself into thinking this is the best price around.. it's "listed" as around ~$449 and "on sale" for $291... but every single offroad shop, like 4wd.com and trsfabandoffroad.com and 4wheelparts.com and 4wheelingplus.com and summitracing.com list it from $280 to $299 REGULARLY. And indeed, some, if not most, with free shipping.
I've just ordered the raised winch plate, which is another $100.
The winch arrived promptly. It was missing one piece, though it is trivial, but I will be having it replaced (not buying brand new and miss parts!). It's a terminal jacket on the winch side to protect it from the weather.
The connection to the remote feels incredibly cheap. Is it supposed to click in and secure, or just sit there like a lame duck waiting to get pulled out at the slightest nudge? The remote doesn't feel as cheap as some reviews I've read have been saying, but we'll see how it feels when it's actually needed. Clutch lever feels a bit loose, but it could feel better once I've re-spooled and got action out of it.
For the comparative price, it is a great deal. It's Smittybilt, and their customer service is very high. It's no Warn, but Smitty is a reputable company. Despite these little quirks, I trust them to back the product.
I have two Smittybilt XRC winches and would buy a third if I had the need. All the Jeepers in our group have gone with the Smittybilt XRC Black winches and we have none experienced any problems. We believe in Smittybilt.
Everything went very smooth. Shipping was fast. Installation was laid out perfectly. Even I could do it. The winch works great. During my research I tried to find the happy medium between price and poundedge. I do not have a rock crawler but if I do find myself off road I wanted to be able to get myself back or someone else in need.
Winch mounts very easy with excellent instructions. Remote handle is somewhat flimsy.
When I first mounted it the winch would only work in the "line out" position and would
not retract cable. After checking all connections, the problem was found to be in the plastic
handle in the toggle switch wiring. Took it apart and found one of the three wires was off.
could not keep wires connected. contacted smittyblilt and they walked me through it on the
phone. It has worked perfectly the only time I have used it.
Bought the XRC8 and cover and had it shipped to my house for $320 from amazon. Arrived in a couple days. Install went well until it came time to test the winch. The controller is like a toy included in a happy meal. It would not make good connection however after some wiggling and adjusting I could make the winch work but I had to keep my hand on the plug applying pressure. I contacted Smittybilt and they shipped a new plug and controller.
After doing some reasearch I'm going to hardwire controls into the cab of the jeep rather than having the plug in. Other than the cheap controller this winch is comparable to any other 8K lb winch made by any other company.
I haven't really had a chance to use it a whole lot yet. I did get to use it recently in the snow playing around it seems to be a really good winch especially for the price of $285 off amazon.com the only problem i had with it is were the remote plugs in to the switch box the rubber plug ripped a little but that is no big deal that was my fault really not the product. - Jeep - Winch - Superwinch - Winches'
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