I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a Gen 3 Smittybilt yesterday. I was really leaning towards a Warn, but at the end of the day, couldn't justify the price. Finally got my new Motobilt bumpers painted over the weekend, which have been sitting in the garage for a few months. Also ordered the rear section of the Bedrug kit. I installed the front section a few months back and love it, so looking forward to having the whole Jeep done.
Anyone come across any winch deals as of late?
- Thread starter Billy06
- Start date
I enjoy the content but don't let him sell you Patagonia tires and Harbor Freight winches. He was given that winch and it's pretty clear he has not used a winch for most off road recovery jobs until recently. In his case the use of that winch seems like advertising for Harbor Freight and money in his pocket. No judgement on the winch but his use is no reason in my eyes to consider one.
Rory with trailmater has a few winch brands but I believe his recent additions were warn. He uses them more than Matt.
Matt uses his kinetic rope a lot.
If anybody knows winches, I would think anything on that truck would work just fine for most people. I enjoyed the KOH repair video he posted and my first thought after watching was maybe BFG should be my next tire.
His return from KOH where he was on Matt's channel and welded up the JK was pretty good too. Seems like a good guy. He definitely gets it done.
Although I'm interested to see how Matt's new offroad wrecker build turns out. 54" tires sound fun.
I noticed in the beginning of the video is he is wearing a Factor 55 shirt
I guess he does not hang out in the forum
I bet Matt’s on harber freights payroll. I watch his stuff also.
I spent the money on my first. Warn ev0 8s. Used it 2 times for myself and pulled a buddy out of a hole. I love it. The warranty says all ya gotta do is show prof of purchase. That’s hard to beat.
Smittybilt gets a bad rap, but I've had a couple and they worked fine. I do consider them a throw away, but if you're doing light use, they are as good a choice as other comparable winches. FWIW, my TJ has a Warn, but my LJ has a 2nd Generation SB.
I have friends who use smittybilts with no issues. I won one at a offroad event raffle once and gave it a friend for helping me out with something. He still uses it with no issues.
I do have a warn m8000 on my lj but because I found that winch and warn winch mount at local pick and pull. They had it up front for $300. So sometimes you can find deals on winches at the junkyard but I honestly haven't seen many. That's my winch deal and I really didn't save a whole lot after refreshing the winch but it was fun to rebuild.
I do have a warn m8000 on my lj but because I found that winch and warn winch mount at local pick and pull. They had it up front for $300. So sometimes you can find deals on winches at the junkyard but I honestly haven't seen many. That's my winch deal and I really didn't save a whole lot after refreshing the winch but it was fun to rebuild.
If I were doing harder trails on a regular basis, it would have been easier to justify the cost of the Warn. I'm confident the Smittybilt will be fine for my needs.
Harbor Freight are good budget winches. I run one and I know a lot of guys running them that are happy with them for how well they have held up over the years and the abuse they have taken.
The big down sides are the line speed is wicked slow, people do run into issues since I'm sure they are cheaply built like other harbor freight items, and they're definitely the ugliest looking winches out there (a little better after the new paintjob or if you ball out for the APEX).
I've pushed the hell out of mine the past 8 or 9 years and it's still working, but just like was said about the smittybuilt, its a throw away. There's a chance they hold up but also a chance its garbage.
The big down sides are the line speed is wicked slow, people do run into issues since I'm sure they are cheaply built like other harbor freight items, and they're definitely the ugliest looking winches out there (a little better after the new paintjob or if you ball out for the APEX).
I've pushed the hell out of mine the past 8 or 9 years and it's still working, but just like was said about the smittybuilt, its a throw away. There's a chance they hold up but also a chance its garbage.
I'm still mad that I can't install my old Superwinch and use that. At this point the only reason a Smittybilt winch is on the front is because it fits in the Mopar Rockcrawler bumper.
Bummer, I have a friend with an old superwinch on his tj that works great. Don't seem them or milemarkers much anymore.I'm still mad that I can't install my old Superwinch and use that. At this point the only reason a Smittybilt winch is on the front is because it fits in the Mopar Rockcrawler bumper.
I use to have a t-max back when they were an Australian company. I believe they have since been purchased by Westin but that t-max 9000ew is still going strong on the rig that I sold. I bought it years ago because the specs were similar to m8000 but price was better. Never once had an issue with that winch with it mounted on 3 different rigs over the course of 10 years.
Post some pictures of the final install.
I picked up a used non working Smittybuilt on Facebook market place for $20. Spent another $40 on a 500A Contactor Winch Relay Solenoid off eBay and it even came with wireless remotes. This will work for my use case. It came with the steel cable but I do plan to get a cheap synthetic line and accessories for it.
I picked up a used non working Smittybuilt on Facebook market place for $20. Spent another $40 on a 500A Contactor Winch Relay Solenoid off eBay and it even came with wireless remotes. This will work for my use case. It came with the steel cable but I do plan to get a cheap synthetic line and accessories for it.
Last edited:
Hoping to get the bumpers and winch on tomorrow. Have multiple kids basketball games to attend first, so there's a good chance it get's started tomorrow, but not finished.
Got the bumpers and winch on. Probably going to have to go to a flat link of some sorts, so the license plate frame can fold all the way down. Also have a new set up KC Lights and debating if they will go on the bumper or put them on the pillars.
Didn't you get the memo? Cool kids put the white letters out.