SmittybiltXRC GEN 3 9500 SYNTHETIC - SB98695

Great quality, shipped quick! I can’t wait to put it to use!

This Gen 3 Smittybuilt winch has many excellent features, from water ingress protection, light over the spool which is far more useful than I thought, even in daylight it helps to see the spooling of the rope hidden inside a bumper mount. The remote is easy to use, nice features with built in light, magnet mount, and indicators for temperature, load and direction. All very useful. The winch itself seems well made, tough, and easy to install on standard mounting pattern and more compact than the comparable Warm winch. The synthetic rope seems very capable and durable, and has held up to a very challenging and heavy directional pull, as well as abrasion with ground, pine needles and rocks. Also well protected rope casings on each end. I actually cut off the hook and replaced it with a Factor55 closed connection point and I will say that cutting off the hook took some time and destroyed two high quality metal cutting blades. It was way tougher than expected, which may be an indicator of how tough this winch is. I prefer the features, durability and price point over other brands.

So let me make this clear, this is my first winch I even used and installed. And man was it easy to figure out. I also have the Smittybilt M1 bumper on my Fj Cruiser so it fit like a glove. Well I had to grind off a small piece of the bumper to make room for the controlling housing. Other than that piece of cake.So I yet have had a chance to actually use it in real world scenarios. With all the snow we have been getting in the mountains and the whole stay at home lock down I haven't pulled anything with it.The quality for the most part is awesome. The wire / controlling housing or whatever you call it had a few scuffs right out the box. Speaking of box , it look like someone beat the crap out of my package. Probably due to its weight it was kinda banged up.But the winch itself was perfect.Now as for the winch pistol grip wired controller. Well I'm going to have to hit up Smittybilt for a replacement. Its already ripped straight out the box. I want a new one delivered.If smittybilt responds to my email and addresses my issue I will be updating my review. So far this looks like a win for me .Update April 25 2020So I had to reach out to smittybilt and they had no problem on taking care of the issue. I just had to open a ticket show the a photo of the problem and 3 days later I had a replacement controller.Awesome smittybilt customer service I'm changing my review to a 5/5 star.

I used a bulldog mounting plate because it did not require any modifications to the skid plate. Pulling the rope out did not take alot of force, as I seen on other reviews. The light and magnetic hand held remote is pretty nice. It's long enough to use while in the drivers seat. The mounting bolts for the fairlead seem a little short, so I used a C-clamp to preload the plate to get the nuts started. I did blow the 3 amp fuse while trying to test is out before installing. Not sure why this happened. I put another fuse in and it was good to go. Directions are easy to follow, although I did not see a torque value for the mounting bolts.

Just what I need

winch works great and looks even better. I love the nylon rope way better than the metal cable.I mostly bought this just to add the hardcore look to my concrete queen and doubt Ill get much use out of it, but looks are everything when it comes to my beast :)

Easy install

Installed along with a bulldog winch mount in factory Wrangler 392 bumpers. Everything works and fits perfectly. Great winch.