I have the Smitty 8K, but have yet to use it. My friend has one, and we have used his, and it seems to work great. For pulls where 8K will not be enough, I say ****** block, and viola, 16K. Just my $.02 worth.

 

thats a good point too. i have a few extra ****** blocks laying around the tow yard

 

fyi amazon.com has the xrc 10 for 399 free shipping and no tax

 

i would say fro that price go for it especially if the warranty is good that said ive got warnm8000 and have had it for about 5 years now never had any problems either way good luck[/quote]


300 bucks and a warranty?

How good is that if your up to your door handles in the muddy muck and the cable lets go. My Warn has never been worn. Sometimes you just feel better when you know it is a name you can trust.

 

i've got the XRC8 on mine and i pulled a fullsize chevy truck out of a ditch sideways for about 50 feet. no problem at all except for the truck trying to pull my jeep into the ditch when i was winching him. i think it was JP magazine just did a review on the winches out there and they put that winch on the top of thier list of best value winches. esspecially for the $$ involved. warn is just a name. an winch is a winch.

 

Warn XD9000i on an '87 Pioneer.

'Nuff said.

 

I've gotta disagree with that. There is a Mile Marker on my shop floor that I wouldn't want to trust again even if it was fixed.

 

X2 Are most of the similar models built the same? Probably. Do they all have the Same quality control standards? Doubtful. While Warn is "just a name", they are a name for a reason, and have to live up to that name in order to maintain their Image and track record of producing a Reliable, Solid Product. This is just my opinion on the "a winch is a winch" topic.

As far as SmittyBuilt goes, I have nothing but good things to say about their Customer Service, and only had one run in with their XRC8. I had a solenoid go bad in an XRC8 that I had on a First Gen 4runner. I had only owned the Winch for about 3 months, and had not even made any pulls with it. I went to go test it out (along with the rest of my equipment) as I always do before a run, and it was dead (fortunately I wasn't in a bind out on the trail). I contacted Smittybuilt via E-mail, and recieved a rapid response, with a list of questions to try and diagnose my problem. Once I verified to Smittybuilt that everything was hooked up correctly, they replied with "It sounds like a defective Solenoid, we will have a new one to you ASAP, Sorry for the inconvenience". I had a new Solenoid within a week or so, and that was that. With that said, I would not hesitate to own another Smittybuilt Winch, or any of their other products.

 

Its a darn good thing you checked it before you went out. Most don't.

In my opinion, the solenoid shouldn't have gone out if it was quality to begin with.

I know anything mechanical or electrical can have a problem, but the manufactuer should make these things better, even if it makes the cost of the winch rise some.

When you're *** deep in alligators and have to winch your way out, what is a quality winch worth?

PRICELESS!

 

There are some parts that are the same I think. The planetaries seem to be identical on many models. However that is not the part that generally fails. It is the motor, and sometimes the solenoids. When you buy a quality winch, these are the parts you pay extra for for reliability.

 

so i just ordered my winch today. i went with the xrc 10. picked it up from amazon. no tax which is sweet. also i signed up for a free trial of there prime whatever that is. im getting one day shipping for less than 5 bucks. total shipped 403.98

 

Sweet deal man, hard to beat that price. The extra 2,000lbs is definitely comforting. Let us know how it works out for you.

 

yeah it really is. im gunna throw it on tom and play with it. hopefully i wont need to use it but its nice to have just in case

 

So its tax time and the government is sorta buying me a winch (with my own money) this year.

The thing is that as I live and drive in a very wet part of the country and I have a habit of driving through four feet plus of water to get to me destination. Ive read alot of you bashing mile marker, however have any of you tried the waterproof V-10 yet? I need a winch that will still work after being under water for several minutes at a time and may have to be used while submerged.

Funny side story. My buddy took his new powerplant winch through some standing water two weeks after buying it and killed the air compressor.
Thought that sounded like a bad idea.

 

i've had the xrc-8 for 3 years and use it very often to pull loads that are probably too much for it and its still chugging along like new. very good buy IMO