NW WA Meet / BS Thread

For the most part they don't rub at all and I thought i was good. Then on the lost Corner Trip when we were blasting down a dirt road at 40mph I heard the top of the tires barely kiss the fender lining when I would bottom out. That and the small area of worn paint on my lca's. So even during most 4x4ing I don't rub, only extreme cases

 

I think Photobucket's company mission is to obfuscate usability and make me regret them. Anyway, since I can no longer resize within their website, I'll just make links.

I'm sitting at 32.5" front, 33" rear for height. You can see how I did my measurement here
Here is the passenger side. You can see the rub above the rear of the LCA.
Here is the same view from the driver side

Actually, you can go worse, but trying to search for worse isn't helping anything. Instead, I will say that HF is the most widely known name for cheaper-end products.
However, their winches are actually regarded as a decent buy for the casual user.

When talking about comparisons, the HF winch did a great job back in 2007, though in a 2011 testing failed in-box. I'm not aware of any other tests that involve that product at this time, but I can't find anything where Smittybilt was put to the test.

Regardless, I'd consider your HONEST usage. If you are getting stuck in the back 40 of the farm, you have a utility winch for hauling heavy equipment onto a trailer, or you want to look pimp going through a drive-thru, most anything is going to be OK, and the badland is probably a really honest winch.
If you are going off the grid a bit but not too far, and where there are plenty of other people available to assist with winches as well, again, most any winch will suffice. I'd go a bit better quality simply because you don't want to be the guy failing. Places like Sand Lake and Florence would be something like this.
If you are venturing by yourself, can't plan on others having any equipment, plan on doing life-saving rescues, or get yourself in stupid situations all by yourself (oh hey, it's me! ), then put down some fat cash. I wouldn't get anything but WARN and Superwinch. Service it regularly.... and if you really fit this last category, there's probably a buttload of other gear you should be getting first.

There's plenty of guys around here that are buying 'passable' winches to say, 'Oh look, I have a winch and no training on how to use it, I can now be respected by my peers and be taken seriously'
To be honest, I hate using my winch, and I'm always more impressed by the guy who pulls out a shovel and puts everyone else to shame

 

Yeah what he said. I've heard lots of good things about smittybuild xrc and that's what I'm going with. If I was richer or really really was by myself in the middle of nowhere all the time (which I'm not) I'd go warn.

 

I've posted about my experience with the XRC series - bottom line is you can't trust them. A vital piece of recovery/safety equipment like a winch is not something you should skimp on unless you are willing to suffer the consequences of it failing on you at the worst possible time. Seeing the prices of some of the other mods that are going on in this thread, I'd say a decent winch (

$1,064 WARN 26502 M8000 Series Electric 12V Winch with Steel Cable Wire Rope: 5/16" Diameter x 100' Length, 4 Ton (8000 lb) Pulling Capacity

M8000 for example) would be well worth the extra cash.

 

You had a bad experience with xrc? We used the hell out of my buddys 8000... ugh don't you make me paranoid now!

 

Most entry level winches, no matter the brand or where they claim to be made, are made with their fair share of Chinese parts... Warn for example. They may be a US company, even assembled in the US, but they use Chinese manufactured components. My buddy's M8000 right out of the box had a Made In China sticker on the winch remote, a pretty vital component to in making the winch operable. Who knows what other internal components are manufactured outside the US. I was in Cabela's a few weeks ago and came across some Warn fog lights, box said Made In China.

In the case of a winch, do your research to make sure you're getting what you pay for. Don't just fork out the extra coin because of the brand name. Especially if you're only in the market for an entry level winch. In my own personal experience, everyone I know who has an XRC hasn't had an issue with them. Mine is 5 years old, used regularly, been mounted and exposed the elements with zero mantainance, and still works flawlessly. The newer 2nd Gen winches are even better quality. The X2O series is IP68 rated 100% waterproof, wired and wireless remote, with a 5 year electrical warranty and lifetime mechanical... for $400 you can't go wrong.

 

You're absolutely right - however, everything made in China is not automatically bad. I'm guessing half the people on this forum have iPhones, every one of which is made in China. Smittybilt products are manufactured in China and assembled in California, likewise Warn have parts made in China, and assembled in Oregon. However, Warn has a QA process that is far superior to Smittybilt or Badlands, etc. That is part of the reason for the increased cost.

Definitely do your homework and see what you're getting before you buy. I'm guessing the margins are about the same for an XRC vs the M8000 - the difference in price is largely taken up by materials and manufacturing process. The gears, clutch, and brake assembly in the mid to high end Warn winches are forged high carbon steel; when I disassembled my fried XRC, the gears appeared to be sand cast steel of some alloy - I'm unable to find any published material specifications on the XRC.

Not trying to badmouth anybody's opinions on winches, just giving my $0.02

 

While we're on the subject of winches I've heard people say Quadratec brand winches are made by Warn... I call BS

 

I have had an x2o for 2 years and have yet to use it to recover myself... I've used it to help others without issue. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough heh

 

Dakotasyota, any more suggestions for Sat?

 

Don't go FS 18 in Darrington, way to wet and saturated IMO. I won't go back that road unless its been dry for a few days, we came across 4 mudslides in one day that took out a road.. Not worth it

 

Actually an M8000 is at the limits for the current gen tacos. Perfect choice for 1st gen, but I would go to a 9k winch or better for 2005+.

 

I dont think i was in cloverdale.. Wherever that is

 

not really...

 

So whats going on sat? A lil meet up eh? I may be in.. 253-332-6217

 

I may be open depending on how far

 

Yeah i might be down this weekend, dont really have anything going on. I was gonna work, but nawwwww.

 

We aren't exactly sure.... Still trying to decide on a location heh.

 

Some mother fucker got a hold of my wife's debit card and charged 600 to my account... Someone is going to die. Thank God BofA has a great fraud department. Already reversed and card shut off.

 

Did she accidentally leave it somewhere or one of those software hackers got it? Good thing you caught it early (I think)

Oh yeah and did you get your new suspension yet??