[Roy Boy's TJ]

I purchased a Smittybuilt and put it on my 03 Jeep last week. I pulled the cable out and winched the cable back in. Works good so far. I to have noticed all of the allen head bolts rusting. Its just rained here in Indiana. I have not got to try it on the trail yet.

[Devildog985]

These things are on backorder till the end of the month now from 4WD

[KevinKrupp]

hopefully i can go pick mine up tomorow. i've been waiting a week now

[mtngoht]

...................

[Toltecatl]

Originally Posted by Devildog985

These things are on backorder till the end of the month now from 4WD

that sucks. in the time it will take 4wd to get them, I can save more money up to get a warn

[Mr.B]

Hey 4 Wheel Parts is selling them for $270 right now.


http://www.4wheelparts.com/promo/2007-08/2007-08-10_all_store_areas.htm

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

estimated total is $289 with shipping from them... I could have saved $14... DOH!going to lowes tomorrow to get stainless allen screws... rusty ones are fugly


on a side note... check out 4 wheel part's picture of the winch:


4wd.com also shows this same picture now.

i could have sworn the picture they showed previously was different... as in, it actually looked identical to what i received.... also notice the goldish hook on the stock photo... mine came with a silver one.... and the cable, though they don't show it in that picture came with a nice loop crimped on it... it would be nice if they continued to do that....









the motor appears to have the wires coming out on the side of the casing as opposed to the end.... and the stubby thingy do-dad sticking out the end looks more drastic.

wonder what they changed inside.... and why they changed it....


update: used it again tonight. worked like a champ! slow and steady i winched out a stuck xj.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

ok guys just checkin out my newest issue of Peteron's 4 Wheel & Offroad and low-and-behold their is a new Mile Marker 9.5 winch that has the EXACT same controller that the Smittybilt does... The motor also looks identical, as does the engement knob...

check this out:



now i realize that their are huge differences between the $300 smittybilt and these new mile markers but i thought it was interesting to see the things they have in common.

looks like you could take the motor off their mx 8k pound winch (4.1hp permanent magnet) and the trnamission/thingy's engagement knob off the sx 9.5 winch and then a center section off one of those and have the smittybilt...

i wonder if mile marker makes the smittybilt or if they both get them from a 3rd party

[Mr.Crowley]

Originally Posted by 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"


-Erik

funny you should say that..A buddy ofmine bought the same winch as you and had the same problem with the bad crimp....

[Bigbadwolf54]

My brother just got one of these winches, from a guy he nows at his work. The guy bought the winch, only to sell his Jeep the next day. So my bro got it for $200 never opened in box. He had the same probles with the positive cable faling apart, and the rusty screws, but for that price he cant go wrong.

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

i bought replacement SS screws for under $10 @ Lowe's....

now if only i was a bit less lazy i could install them


it's funny about that one cable... can we say assembly line and poor quality control? hehe

-Erik <--- still happy with the winch for such a cheap price!

[alwaysready]

well put me down for buying one a t 4wheelparts.com
since they had it for 269.00 plus 20.00 for shipping.. 289.00 total
i wont be ablre to test it for a while since my jeep is low on the priorities list..
still have to buy a lift kit
figured id buy the winch since it was on sale though.
like the Warn bumper i bought for 400.00 cant pass up a good deal..

[Big-n-Broke-YJ]

it's nice to have a stock-pile of parts to install thought

just a little update: i hear their is a 9500 lb smittybilt in the works..... also heard that the sub $300 price tag is only a promo price.... but rumors are usually just hype to increase sales and publicity anyway....

[Muddeprived]

Originally Posted by roundedge4lfe

So my guess this magnet is bad??? j/k this is to a milemarker 8500 i believe I just called them today about a replacement motor price they are supposed to email me the price.

I had the same problem with my milemarker 9k. Twice. I went through two motors and the aftermath was like your pictures. magets all screwed. My motors were around $120 shipped, but can't remember exactly.

What sucked was that they took over a month to get me the motor, first sending two wrong motors. I got the keep the two wrong motors at no charge...and i made em work

[KevinKrupp]

just got mine installed. took 2.5 weeks for it to arive. the only prob is the winch goes out but not in. is this a prob i can fix. or do i need to return the solanoid. i really dont want to take the whole winch off. it ended up being a much bigger pain than you can immagine. i had a couple of probs that took a while to fix. (not with the winch)