SMITTYBILT XRC8 Winch arrived today... details, pictures, etc...

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

Moved from YJ Tech......


I'll update this thread as I install the winch...

For now... here are pictures of everything... Overall I want to say that from what I see, for the most part, I am EXTREMELY satisfied with the quality... I didn't expect such a good looking product for $303 shipped...

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

I don't want the control box mounted outside the jeep so I went to open it up so I could remove the cables and attach longer lones.... but they rivetted the plastic cover on the box. Hope I didn't just void my wrranty Actually, since my neighbor drilled out the rivets while I worked my camera magic I'll just blame him if it comes down to that one day....

To my suprise their were no solenoids like those found in a warn, tmax, etc.... it's just one sealed box that houses the electronics..... It would be effortless to retrofit warn (or other "normal") solenoids in place if I ever had to though so no worries... we'll see how this magic little box holds up....






I have to make a winch plate still so I doubt I'll have it installed tonight. Damn welder is about out of gas and I'm pretty tired. I'll probably just wire it up for now....

More to come in the following days!

-Erik <--- can't wait to test it out! on someone elses stuck rig

[Joe Dillard]

Cool. I hope it serves you and others well.

But.......where's Cody's Pub? I collect those too.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

cody's pub is in wilmington, nc.... shoot me a PM if you head to the area

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

can't really read the warranty... camera died when i tried taking more clear pictures... i don't have a scanner on hand but i'll have my neighbor scan them for everyone to read tomorrow....

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

so one of the factory crimps was bad.... the 12v battery lead fell right out of the fitting/heat shrink tubing at the "solenoid"

good thing i didn't plan to use any of the factory wiring setup and cable lenths or i might not have found this problem until it became a problem

also, while reading the manaul's specs for the winch... it says it has a series wound motor... not a permanent magnet motor like they advertise.... i'll have to look deeper into this.

-Erik

[Devildog985]

Let us know. I was thinking about one of these.

[rustywrangler]

Sounds a bit like it's not all its cracked up to be, quality wise at the moment at least. Definatly interested in how it works out for ya man. A good working winch for $303.00 is definatly gonna be on the list.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

[quote=rustywrangler]Sounds a bit like it's not all its cracked up to be, quality wise at the moment at least.[quote]

curently the only thing "bad" thing people talk about is it's "small" 4.1 hp permanent magnet motor... it's geared 265:1 if i recall correctly which makes up for the lack of a 5+ hp motor and according tot he manual it's a series wound motor as opposed to the permanent magnet they advertise.... so in essense, it's potentially better than they advertise it to be.

i'm saying this because i don't understand where your comment "its not all it's cracked up to be" comes from.... there really aren't any solid facts on this thing... nobody seems to know more than what the advertisement on 4wd.com says..... until now


faulty crimp:

[rustywrangler]

All I ment was, you said it looked great but you are already finding stuff like that wire crimp. Thats all. I'm waiting to see how it performs honestly. Wasn't judging it at all. How my thoughts go and how it types out don't seem to mesh sometimes.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

gotcha, yea the crimp caught me off guard.... the rest were solid good crimps that put up to the "pull-like-hell test" but either way i didn't plan on running them anyway. i always solder my terminals on cables and then use heat shrink with a glue-ish stuff in them that seals them from any possible chance of moisture getting into them.




motor update...

box says permanent magnet 4.1 HP
manual says series wound 4.1 HP

i'm calling smittybuilt tomorrow.

if they can't tell me, if there any way i can figure it out with an ohm meter?




i've already mutilated the control box.

the plug for the controller is going to look good in the dash beside my CB... maybe I won't get a wireless controller after-all.....

in-cab winch controls would be cool and all but that's just one more thing that could fail so i think i'm just gonna stick with this route unless it fails me down the road....

total cost: FREEBIE!

[1 ton yj]

No you have to take apart the motor and look at the windings around the armature.

The speed isn't that bad for a $300 winch, I was expecting it to be slower. I also like how it has the steel knob instead of that cheesey plastic nonsence like it's Harbor Freight brother.

I am very much looking forward to seeing some testing. The reason I don't have a winch yet is everything else in this price range is junky and I can't justify spending $800+ on a Warn that will be hooked to my front axle 99% of the time. I was about to pull the trigger on one of these Smittybilts this week but it looks like I might be buying a $1000 injection pump for my pickup instead

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

i'll pull the motor apart and see what i find... if not tonight then tomorrow....

i was pleasantly suprised by the speed and current draw too... i expected the current draw to be at or over 400amps at full load.... this thing actually pulls LESS than the 8000 lb mile marker that so many people told me used the same motor.... supposedly anyway....

[rustywrangler]

Originally Posted by 1 ton yj

but it looks like I might be buying a $1000 injection pump for my pickup instead

First word that came to mine EWW

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

yea, but the 2nd thing to come in mind is "if i only had a diesel to tow my yj "

quick thing to add about this winch... on the tmax's and warn's, i THINK, there are 4 silver rods connecting the sides together to hold the drum in place. the smittybilt only has the top two chrome rods.... i'm guessing they are relying on the mounting bolts to hold the bottom half together. i don't see a problem with this, but i thought it was interesting....

shown here... bottom side... no bars...




so i took the motor apart... hell it was only two bolts.... thought it would be harder than that

it's a permanent magnet motor i'm guessing... i don't know much about motors but i see big magnets...

here are the pictures...