Smittybilt Gen2 winches

[LFD2037]

I appreciate your input, but:
1) my truck won't start when the distributor gets a very small amount of water in/on it
And
3) I've reads TONS of people saying their winch got wet and wouldn't work.

 

[rubicondon53]

You have a bad distributor cap and O-ring... A rotor works much differently than a sealed solenoid..

 

[LFD2037]

You have a bad distributor cap and O-ring... A rotor works much differently than a sealed solenoid..

Both are new. Now we've got off track! Sorry for the hijack. I ordered a Gen 2 Smittybilt today. I'll install it next week into my ARB on my 80 and let y'all know what I think about it.

 

[maxamillion2345]

2) Does the solenoid come pretty H2O proof on the XRC or should I RTV it?


It is just my PO but I think waterproofing the solenoid would be a waste of time. #1, it's 12 volt,, it'll work just fine when wet or submerged, our starters and alternators are not "waterproofed" and they work just fine when soaked. #2 If you seal that thing up, and it still leaks a tiny bit or moisture condensates on the inside, it won't dry out and it'll get rusted very quickly and you won't even know it. #3 The add campaigns that the lower end winch companies are putting out, then adding an additional huge cost for the "waterproofing" ( caulking, O-rings, gasket ) are just that, an add campaign to sell winches. I don't ever recall a time in winch history that waterproofing was ever an issue. Really, when was the last time anyone has ever read about a winch failing because it was wet? Have a good day, and good luck with your new winch !!

The old XRCs had these exact problems. Crappy gaskets. Solenoids would get wet and corrose, sticking shut.

 

[rubicondon53]

That's making my point. I have a boat I'll sell you. It's made so poorly that it'll take on water and sink, unless you buy my upgraded version at a much greater cost... Or---- I have a boat I'll sell you that was built properly in the first place, for a little more money than the poorly built upgraded model... True,, my old XRC never failed me, as it never was submerged... I'll rephrase my statement... Has a Ramsey, Superwinch or Warn ever failed because of H2O?

 

[John McVicker]

'Ever' is a long time...but Mud member Tapage on several occasions has used his Warn underwater...river crossings.

John

 

[maxamillion2345]

I'll rephrase my statement... Has a Ramsey, Superwinch or Warn ever failed because of H2O?

Yes.

 

[LFD2037]

I took my Smittybilt XRC 9.5 apart to change the grease today. Took me a lot longer than I expected. I'm glad I did it, though. All the bolts were loose & that grease they used was super thick. Replaced w/some EP moly. Should be good for awhile. As far as the control box goes, there's no way to seal it. It is faaaaar from waterproof & nothing I can really do about it seeing as the 'lid' of the control box fits so poorly on the 'base'. I also made some spacers, so it'll fit in my ARB, that are 2"x7"x3/8" with 2 on each side so a total of 3/4" thickness. 3/8" thick was enough for the gear side but the motor side is thicker so I had to go to 3/4" thick by using 2.

 

[maxamillion2345]

Control box or solenoid?

 

[LFD2037]

Control box. I think I could use some silicone on the solenoid but ran out of time messing with it last night.

 

[maxamillion2345]

You'll never keep water out of any control box and theres no need. It's the solenoid that you need to worry about if you need to worry about anything at all.

 

[lumbee1]

I've been looking for a winch and the Smittybilt X20 has some seriously impressive specs, is waterproof, and comes with synthetic line. The Runva 11XP is becoming hard to find and is slow, the Superwinch Tiger Shark is very nice but also under powered and slow. Quadratec Q-series winches are another option but there isn't a lot of detailed specifications available.

IMO, the Smittybilt X20 looks too modern and gimmicky but I am having a hard time finding complaints about it and for the price it's hard to beat.

 

[LFD2037]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/smittybilt-gen-2-owners-quick-question.840472/

 

[LFD2037]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/smittybilt-gen-2-owners-quick-question.840472/

Got the new handle the other day. It was worse & wouldn't even rotate w/the retaining screw installed. Put the original back in, forced a bit & now it functions properly. I guess it wore a little from me working it back & forth so many times. My buddy bought the same winch @ the same time but his handle functioned flawlessly. Oh well, all is good now! I'll tinker with the new one, maybe, & figure out how to shave it down to work so I have a spare handle.

 

[rubicondon53]

Look,, here is my biggest beef with the XRC line on winches, or any other inexpensive winch on the market today..... It's a hit or miss.. The Quality Control of these winches is horrible and for some reason Smitty Bilt has determined it to be less expensive for their bottom line, to fix problems after the sale, instead of having tight QC before it goes out the door.. This is a tried and true method for short term gains, but short term only. I wouldn't be surprised if SB got bought out in the near future... My time is priceless, but a realistic number would be somewhere around $50 an hour, so if one spends an hour or two of their time fiddling with a faulty product, how much money did you really save? As stated before, I lucked out with my old XRC, and I picked it up cheap, but that handle you had problems with? Mine flopped around all over the place, never sure if it was engaged until I began to pull..