96fsxj

Ok I purchased a Warn VR8000 end of last summer and it is the first winch I have ever owned/used and has worked well the hand full of uses. BUT after wheeling with my father in-law and his new Smittybuilt H20 winch I dont like mine near as much.

My VR8000 takes a good bit of force to unspool when you have it unlocked to walk out the cable in my driveway. Then take that to the hills and snow and it is a PITA to get out where you want it.. where as his has litterally no resistance when its unlocked..

Anyone else have one of these winches or have any advice on how to help the situation?? How much force should be on the line with the clutch disengaged??

(I emailed WARN to see what they say with no response yet)

brewerxj

I've had two, a promark and now an x2o. Both had little to no resistance. I can't speak for warn as I've never used one. My brothers smittybilt is just as easy as mine.

96fsxj

yea, WARN responded to my email with "they can be difficult to freespool until they are "broken in" ". But the Smittybuilt on my in-laws rig was brand new first use and freespooled with no resistance

CrawlnCoupe

lol, so you have to struggle with the winch for 5 years to get it to "break in" glad i ordered a engo.

xjmarc

My warn comes out easy but it's a few years old. Also depends on how tight everything is. If you tighten the cross bars too much they, any winch for the most part, won't free spool at all.

96fsxj

Alright, i'll check those in the AM, don't think i did anything to them when I installed it, but worth a look.

They said I can send it in to have it looked at if it doesn't get better, but not sure if its worth it to pay for shipping and what not. Try to pull it out a few times to see if it gets better I guess.

Thanks for the help, any other ideas or experiences?