Smittybilt Winches

flat broke · Jan 29, 2015

Anyone had any experience with the new Smittybilt XRC 9,500 winches. Thinking about buying one for my trailer.

xjkrawler · Jan 29, 2015

ive had one for about 4 or 5 years now and it works perfect.

smbroady82 · Jan 29, 2015

I think smittybilt winches are hit and miss..
I have had one on my Toyota for years and always had problems with the remotes, then beefed it up with a heavier duty unit and it worked great, now it likes to pop in/out of gear which I am not fond of.
Know plenty of guys who swear by them and plenty who will never own another.

my 2c

edit:
mine is an xrc8

slravenel · Jan 29, 2015

for a trailer...cant go wrong.

tonybolton · Jan 29, 2015

My X20 winch has been awesome!

al1tonyota · Jan 29, 2015

I've got one that is second or third hand and it works like a champ! I've never had it stop pulling and have hooked it to some pretty crazy stuff! My 6,000 lb tractor buried in a swamp,pulled up trees ,a 4 door Tahoe up a 12' prob 35* or so angle not running when it crested the hill coming up on to the road the back tires weren't even on the ground! Maybe I got one of the good ones but I wish I had another just like it for my trailer!

RustyC · Jan 29, 2015

I've had two and great look for both. The new 9500lb has really good line speed for the $$.

Beefcake · Apr 7, 2016

Anyone else wanting to chime in i'm also looking for a winch, looking at the X20. Kind of in the same boat. I'm the type of guy to never cheap out on certain things and believe money well spent on certain parts is always a good idea but the difference between the X20 and a warn Zeon is like $600. Thats a huge savings if the quality is there.

sledneck · Apr 7, 2016

I have had a smittybuilt for the last few years and I'm definitely happy. For the money doesn't seem like you can beat them. I have had terrible luck with a certain 4 lettered brand name winches so anything that actually works when I need it I'm happy to use.

1tonyj · Apr 7, 2016

I went to an X20 after I put two sets of solenoids in my Warn....right out of the box the wireless remote feature didn't work. I've had it about a year now and works great as long as it's plugged in.

Jcampbell54 · Apr 7, 2016

I have the xrc 9.5. And for what you pay its damn worth it. Never give me one ounce of trouble. I had one of the first of the xrc winches. Had one problem with the controller but I pinched it in my fair lead so it was my fault. Not a bit of trouble from them to replace it under warranty.

Sent from the mans IPhone.

June dog · Apr 7, 2016

I've had one of the the new style 9500 for alittle over a year. It's a great winch for the money. I'd buy another when ots quits

BPINAZ · Apr 7, 2016

I have an XRC 9.5, works great. I've never had any issues with it.........except I don't get to use it very.....because I wheel a TOYOTA

Beerj · Apr 7, 2016

Maybe use it to winch out of the garage molaugh

easleycrawler · Apr 7, 2016

I'm running a xrc8 with a rope, haven't had any issues with it. I just installed the xrc 3.0 on the rear for a suck down winch.

ToyotaTom · Apr 7, 2016

I had issues with two xrc8 solenoids. One stoped working after getting wet. The other one stopped working after two long pulls back to back. Never had any issues with winch itself.

Beefcake · Apr 7, 2016

the guys listing issues was smitty built quick to warranty the problems?

poolman · Apr 7, 2016

9.5 for me, I haven't had any problems.

1tonrenegade · Apr 8, 2016

Xrc10 an running good so far only used it a few times! :driving:

Frankenyoter · Apr 8, 2016

I've been running xr10 w cable for 5 or 6 years. After cussing the cheap remote several times I wired up in cable controls and it's been great. IIRC the remote design has been improved.

It's not the fastest thing in the world but it's never failed me. Pulled a 1 ton van on 40s out of a bumper deep hole uphill once.

My biggest complaint is its a bitch to free spool the first 10' of line. I plan on putting on rope and changing out the grease on the drum.