What do you think of this winch?

[blackdiamond]

I'm planning to make another trip to Moab this spring and would like to have a winch on the 4Runner.  The budget is very limited so the winches that everyone really wants are not an option.

I am looking at the Smittybuilt XRC-8 ($270) and XRC-10 ($360) winches from www.winchdepot.com.  I believe my dad has the XRC-8 and I had it bolted on my 4Runner last year in Moab and used it to pull CrankyCrawler up White Knuckle Hill.  Base on past history my need for a which would simply be very short duration and length pulls.  I know that heat tends to destroy the inexpensive winches, but the purchase isn't with the intent of heavy duty use and if I were to get in a situation where it burned out I would consider it helpful until it failed and then I'd be no worse off than I would have been without it.

Any thought?  Seems like a great price.  I think the Smittybuilt is the same as the Harbor Freight, but I'm not positive.

[79coyotefrg]

whats the weight rating??   you can always double the line

[gmack192]

I plan on buying the 10,000 lb. winch    (after I get everything else LOL)      the trick on electric winches is to cycle the time you use it     let it cool   use it   let cool     ans so on

[blackdiamond]

whats the weight rating??   you can always double the line

8,000 or 10,000 (+$100)

[84xcab]

If you go with the xrc-8 make sure its the newer 5.5hp version  and not the 4.1hp version.

[DTB]

The smittybilt is a milemarker winch.....They even have milemarker (stamped) components in them. They are cheap there is no doubt about that...in fact I have heard many issues about quality control regarding this very winch. Maybe good as a secondary winch but they aint no Warn

[bigarms23]

i would go with the 8000lb pull but did you check out the tabors from warn i got mine for 450

[Plekto]

I'm no fan of cheap winches myself, because a lot of the offshore stuff uses cheap magnets that crumble or crack.  Series wound motors, otoh, will not suffer from such problems, but do run a bit more money.  Basically they're a normal shop/grinder bench motor with a bunch of reduction gearing.

http://www.off-road.com/offroad/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=285616
A quick rundown.  Note - you'll need a heavier electrical system for sure.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7795482#post7795482
Typical junk you find and should avoid.  I've hear stories of stuff coming out of the box with the magnets broken or lose inside.

http://www.landroverclub.net/Club/HTML/Winch_choice.htm
Nice read as well.  Tons of types actually.  You might consider a mechanical drum type as well, or a hydraulic one.  These are better still, but can be a bit tricky to set up.

There is also the mechanical pulley or capstain winch as an option.  Not very fancy, but sometimes low-tech is better.  A lot of off-roaders have something like this as well as a backup in their kit.  I've seen the Army use mechanical winches to haul out stuck tanks, so given enough muscle(20-30 guys in that case...), it'll work.

[blackdiamond]

If you go with the xrc-8 make sure its the newer 5.5hp version  and not the 4.1hp version.

That might explain the low price that I saw, I'm fairly certain it had the 4.1 hp motor.

[84xcab]

Yup, I looked. That is the 4.1 magnetic. The new xrc-8 design is a 5.5 series wound.

[blackdiamond]

Yup, I looked. That is the 4.1 magnetic. The new xrc-8 design is a 5.5 series wound.

The XRC-10 is also the 5.5 series wound motor so I'm leaning that way at this point.  I had one of the XRC-8 winches on my truck last year in Moab and it performed great the one time I used it.  I've been to Moab 4 to 6 times and have only been on a winch a single time and we could have worked other angles fairly easily to get out of that situation.  This last trip I actually used the winch to pull someone else.

The bottom line is that the winch won't see much use, I'll probably have it off the 4Runner the majority of the time, so I can't justify the more expensive products.

Thanks for pointing out the motor difference.  The www.winchdepot.com price on the XRC-10 comes with free shipping making it a great deal compared to the XRC-8 prices at other sites with a small shipping fee.  The additional capacity will just give me a little more room before I start pushing it.

[boggerunner]

i built a 89 4runner for a friend and he has the 8000lb smittybuilt, its cheap junk, but it hasnt failed him yet, and saved his ass a few times, when the time comes for me to finally get a winch, it will be one of these too, at least the drum release handle is metal, not plastic like harbor freight's crap.

[Tool Pimp]

I'm running the XRC-8 and I must say for a cheap   winch it actually works pretty well. I would recommend cycling it if your really working it .    

[Birfailed]

Winches are one of those things you get what you pay for.  Why even stress yourself with a cheap winch wondering if it's gonna hold you on a waterfall or burn up.  Get warn.  Even then, a Warn holds it's value over any other winch available.

[blackdiamond]

Winches are one of those things you get what you pay for.  Why even stress yourself with a cheap winch wondering if it's gonna hold you on a waterfall or burn up.  Get warn.  Even then, a Warn holds it's value over any other winch available.

I'll never argue that a Warn isn't the best option, but in this case it's either a "cheap" winch or no winch at all.

[jamesyz250]

winch depo has the smittybilt xrc8 winch with 5.5 series wound motor for 269.99 sounds pretty cheap to me and its the 5.5 hp series wound that is supposed to be better. better then not having any winch 

[84xcab]

Holy crap!!! They're on to us. They heard us talking about the crappy 4.1 and stocked the 5.5

[kneedownnate]

Looking at the pics in the pirate thread, it looks just like the one my coworker had apart at work.  Wanna guess why he had it there    At least his magnet didn't get busted up, but it's still not at all convenient to have to tear it down frequently to screw with the magnets.

[Monster Yota]

Read this....          http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=744390       

[MiniSimp]

I vote MileMarker PE8000


Works great for me.

[blackdiamond]

UPDATE

With the amount of overtime that I'm required to work for the next few months, I am planning to get a higher quality winch and possible go for the gold.  It's a matter of value at this point.  Since I'm planning to spend more I am only considering WARN products becaues they have my ultimate trust when it comes to quality and reliability.  Everyones heard the old saying, "I should have got the Warn."  I was planning to risk being part of that group, but it appears that there will be a "cash cow" available for a while.

Here are some options:

M8000 12V (80 ft with Hawse) $600
9.5ti Thermometric $1,100
XD9000i $900

Obviously the M8000 is probably the best value since the winch won't see that much use and won't even be installed on the truck the majority of the time.  I don't expect that it would fail me.

Any thoughts?

[bigarms23]

i would chosse the warn 9.5 xp

[blackdiamond]

i would chosse the warn 9.5 xp

Why?  Is that the one with the 6 hp motor?  I would probably choose the 9.5ti if I spend that much money.

[bigarms23]

thats the one i have on my other 4runner and haven't had heat issues in the last 6yrs but mine has synthetic rope instead of steel cable

[sweetmeat]

I have a front bumper mounted warn 9.5ti and can say you definately cant go wrong with it. Never lets me down when i need it. Or when anybody else does. Amazingly fast pull speeds as well. Cost a few bucks but worth it in every way. 2 thumbs up