Smittybilt X2O Winches

Does anyone have any experiance with the X20 series winches from Smittybilt? Some of the main selling points for me are price, warrenty, synthetic line, and the sealed soloniod/motor.

I know the way to go is warn/superwinch but for an equivilent set up its twice the cost. I have rear mixed reviews on the smittybilts people either love them or hate them. It seems like a lot of the problem was water intrustion into the soloniod motor before and the X2O supposedly fixes that.

I am looking at getting the X20 10 Comp series for about $600 OTD. Thats with synthetic line and fairlead.

Opinions?

 

Smittybilt in general should be called Shittybilt.

Warn or Superwinch or don't bother.

 

X2...

Do some research OP. Call some offroad shops and ask then what they prefer. One of the guys who used to be local to me was talking to a guy at Quadratec (large Jeep parts supplier) and he was told that they were the MOST returned product.

Whats the point of having a winch when it doesn't work when you need it.

From another forum, but this guy is a member here:

ADHD set in so on to the next project.
Operation Free Spool















So. After hours of cleaning this POS it is back on the truck
Outcome: its better. But still a POS


Fuck no. You can free spool by pulling your ass off.
The gears on mine are about shot. If I can order new gears and grease properly it would work great.
I now know why it's a 300 winch. Should have just spent the cash for a WARN

I plan on calling Smitty and complaining in hopes of Free " gear carrier input / intermediate / and output". These planetary gears have fiber washers on both sides of the gear. And they are bad causing excessive friction. Without the 3 fubar gears installed, it would free spool amazingly easy.
One of the 3 gears on each will not spin by hand. The other 2 spin like they are on ball bearings. So everybody with a cheap ass xrc8. This is your problem. Super thick grease and cheaply made gears.



So I pulled the winch off again and removed the problem.
Yes I know I might see gear failure down the road. And I don't give a shit at this point.
Until then I have free spool

 

Interesting... Thanks for the inputs... Anyone else. I have done some reading on here and a few other places and like I said before its 50/50 on the reviews so far.

 

that's not the kind of odds I like when spending my cash

 

Generally agree. I was hoping for better reviews, I would much rather drop $650 than $1300 but I guess if its what I gotsta do its what I gotsta do.

 

the last pic I posted of the red paper washers says it all

 

Yea, what were those in? What were they mounted inbetween? I have seen/used paper washers before in some applications but I wouldnt expect to see them in that.

 

sending PM

 

Great info! I was also considering this winch over superwinch, but being a person that hits the trails solo a lot its not something I'm going to gamble on. Superwinch it is!

 

Go Warn
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=warn+m8000&ajr=2
Then you can add this

$104 WARN 72128 Synthetic Rope Replacement Kit - 3/16" X 50'

http://www.amazon.com/WARN-72128-Sy...9NRG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328747064&sr=8-3

 

superwinch or xrc8

I like my XRC8 but I took it apart when I got it and put some quality grease in it and sealed the solenoid and parts of the winch with RTV.

For the money I think it's a good value. I'll upgrade to a superwinch when this fails but I feel pretty confident in it and I don't put all my eggs in one basket so...

 

Take a look at MILE MARKER. Thats what I have and its been GREAT. 8000 LBS and the only issue I had was the on/off switch went out but it was easy to bypass until the new switch arrived and the people there are awesome to deal with.

 

I haven't had any issues with my smittybilt... but that doesn't mean the next time I use it that it's not going to take a shit...

 

I had a XRC-8 in my bumper well I still do . And mine damn near smashed 2 trucks together. I was pulling a truck and when we go to the end of the pull I let go of the switch and the winch decided it wanted to still pull. I tried hitting the solenoid and nothing I did everything I could and when the trucks were about 15" apart I decided to whip out my blade and cut the line. It took disconnecting the power wire to get it to stop. I changed the solenoid and right when I hooked up the power it just started going. So now it just sits in my bumper with a cut line waiting to install A Warn.

Check out the Warn factory outlet This will be my next winch http://www.warnfactoryoutlet.com/Winches/Spydura-Synthetic-Rope-Winches/M8000-s-Winch.axd?clid=67092

 

Due to consistently lower prices, solid performance, and numerous awards, Smittybilt winches are obviously very popular. Don't fault Smittybilt for that success. Both Warn and Superwinch certainly have their share of product failures as well. Visit the repair shop of a dealer and you'll quickly see those failures sitting around.

 

This is all true, BUT it comes down to getting what you pay for. Smittybilt has a reputation of a good product at a lower price than warn and superwinch. But when getting into the X20 thats supposed to be completely water sealed its going to cost a little more to make. So they use cheaper parts and materials to get their price back down, like the paper gaskets for example. How can you use paper gaskets and call it water proof? Maybe water resistant but certainly not water proof. And obviously the gears aren't as strong as they should be, probably a cheaper material on those as well....I say if you're just a weekend off roader and don't see much water, go for the XR8, it has plently of positive reviews that I've read. But for the more serious off roader or someone that is in a more wet environment with stream crossings and such go with Warn or Superwinch on their water proof systems.

 

Ill agree with low prices

Solid performance? Really? Have you read the horror stories?

Most items that are "less expensive" are popular with the "all show no go" crowd. Just because they sell a ton of winches doesn't mean the buyers ever use them. Example: 95% 4x4 buyers never take them offroad.

We have all seen what happens when you try to use them for what they are intended for.....failure.

 

Nope. Seen them work great multiple times actually.

 

My XRC8 has had many long hard pulls with nothing but success.

Theres a 30 page thread on Pirate with mostly favorable reports.