Smittybilt XRC8 8,000lb winch

[slosurfer]

I think considering how the pieces are in the grease it is pretty certain that it happened during assembly. Yes?

I hear ya, about the "as a consumer" Especially as consumers like you and me who do a lot of research before buying and usually know what we are getting into and the pros and cons of what we are getting.

I don't know which is worse, foreign object entering during assembly or it just working its way in during shipping. I'm also wondering what the percentage would be of finding similar stuff in other top of the line winches, if taken apart right out of the box.

I really want to see some hard testing done on these before they jack the prices up. Although I will probably find something else I "need" before then anyways, lol.

[FlyingWil]

I think considering how the pieces are in the grease it is pretty certain that it happened during assembly. Yes?

I agree they got there during installation in the factory.

My thought is that the pieces are plastic, although minute enough not to be a concern. Winches heat up when working under load. All you need is for it to melt and then harden once cool creating an effect like superglue. Gluing gears together is not good, especially in the clutch assembly. A bind in the location they were found might create an issue engaging or disengaging, and that is my concern.

My other thought is if it were to harden into a small ball, using cooling from the grease, it could create enough of a bind/jam in making the winch useless when you need to engage it to recover due to the blockage from the hardened ball.

[fordman49450]

Ok, I purchased one of these about a month ago. I tore it down to re-clock the engagement lever. Anyways there was no styrofoam in mine. As far as testing, I installed it on my 94 Ranger ext cab 4x4. you can see at www.dskellogg.com/ranger.html .. I also have one for my toyota, but I havnt fabricated a bumper yet. Anyways, we had a bad snow storm a week ago. I was headed to the U.P and I was going on a seasonal road and I had a guy wave me down. He had a 3/4 ton GMC with a pop up camper, he slid down a ravine. The sides were about 65 degree's on this ravine and he was burried. I told him I dont think I can help him, but he insisted. So, I tied my rear bumper via chain to a big oak tree, free-spooled my line down to him, added my extra cable through a snatch block and back up to the truck. I started winding the cable and the guy had broken a front axle shaft, so he only had 2wd. I pulled the truck and the camper all the way up the enbakement with no problem, no overheating or anything. a few days later, I helped get a Semi with trailer (unloaded) out of a ditch with it. It works great, I will order another for a spare. Also, I had a intermittent problem with my remote, and Smittybilt sent me another one, no questions asked, all I had to do was fax a copy of my receipt.

[Marc P]

Good to hear....mine is currently sitting on my garage floor waiting to be installed.

[97kurt]

Finally, some good feedback. I'm gonna put an order in so I can get started on my front bumper.

[Marc P]

Finally got mine installed. Everything looks and works good so far. I added a small bracket to the control box so I wouldnt need to cut the grill. I like it better at an angle, and I still have plenty of room to plug the remote in.

Here is a cell phone pic......

[FlyingWil]

You can take the Solenoid out of the box, it is only 1/4 the size of the control box, and mount it remotely.


On a side note, line speed pull is a bit on slow side when compared to the Warn M8000. I personally am fighting the Warn/T-Max issue right now.

[97kurt]

Well, looks like there is a new version of this winch and of course I got the older one.

Mine:



New one:




Also here is a pic of the solenoid outside of the box.