Anyone else have a problem with your smittybilt 8K not staying in the engaged position when you put a load on the winch line? Mine snaps out of gear as soon as I put tension on the cable . Smittybilt sent me a new end plate and lever but it did not solve the problem. I'm calling them again Monday to see what they can do about this , just wanted to see if this is a common issue.

 

Nope, mine works fine. Does it do it every time?

 

Ditto! Mine works great! Pulled a Ford 1 ton dually the other day. Give them a call, or e-mail. Smittybuilt has great customer service!

 

Never had a problem. They're superb.

 

thanks for the responses, Smittybilt does have great customer service ,talked to them Monday and a new gear end is on the way. Yeah mine did it every time, even with the new cover and lever. It would hold in the engaged position until the line tensioned and then the lever would snap up to freespool , if I held it down with quite a bit of pressure it would hold and pull. Hopefully it was just a machining issue with the clutch or lever.

 

goodluck, mine works awesome! Gets me into more trouble but hey its a jeep and its suppose to go where there are no roads.

 

If I'm looking at buying a winch, is smittybilt the way to go?

 

Lol, well it depends on your prospective:

Smitty - Cheap (REALLY Cheap), made in China, has failed several folks here on the forum

Superwinch - More Expensive, good reputation, made in China (I have not heard about one of these failing)

Ramsey - More expensive than SW, made in the US (I have not heard about one of these failing)

Warn - The best of the best. VERY EXPENSIVE (and after this post a bunch of Warn owners will post things about "If a cheap winch fails on the trail, was it worth it, etc.") - Made in the US, has failed on several folks here (In fairness, I think there are a lot more Warn owners here than any other Winch)

My personal experience with Smittybilt is pretty good. My XRC10 pulls hard. I pulled a YJ 90 feet up a step hill (his clutch was shot). The winch never missed a beat and even though the day was hot as heck, the winch had no heat issues. At one point, the remote controller failed, the winch was out of warranty, Smitty shipped me a new one for $29.

If you are doing heavy trail running where you are the only winch guy, I would get a Warn. If you run like I do (some offroading, usually several winches in the group) Get a Smitty or a Superwinch EPi9.0s (it has synthetic cable from the factory) That would be my $.02.

 

@Torrin - Thanks for your feedback on the different winches. Since i live in Texas and do the majority of my wheeling on beaches and some gooey mud (nothing deep but enough to get stuck) I think I've made my decision on what I plan to get. I was leaning to a Smitty 8 and I think for the kind of wheeling I do that will be just what i need to yank someone or myself out of mud or sand. I dont go up vertical rock walls very often in the bayou city...no need for some 20K lb Warn that costs as much as brain surgery lolol. Thanks again!