Reviews: Smittybilt XRC GEN3 9.5K Winch with Steel Cable - 97695

I ordered from online store and after many attempts to reach the national call center with absolutely no luck I reached out to my local store and James was an absolute pleasure to work with, quickly resolving my issue and getting me the winch I ordered. Special thanks to James at the 82nd Ave store in Portland Oregon.👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Full featured winch at a great price. Not that I am an expert, and I have only used it for testing/training so I am lucky I haven't really needed it yet. I got this for the front end of a JT Gladiator Rubicon. Mounted it to a Rugged Ridge Spartacus bumper/winch plate so I could keep the OEM frame mounted tow hooks. It is a tight fit but worked out. The controller load indicator is a nice feature because I do not trust my ability to WAG the load. The magnet and LED illumination are also nice, as it the magnet for easy placement when working. I got the 9.5 K winch as that is most of the need at 1.5 times GVW of the JT and I have plenty of gear for a double or triple line pull if needed. I swapped out the cable and roller fairlead for a properly rated synthetic line and hawse, saving about 30 pounds or so. The cost of ta good line and fairlead were below the cost of a similar "comp" model of this winch. So far so good. I put a winch cover on to protect from road dirt and UV so I can't show off the fancy lighted controller box, but I did wire it into the fog light harness to show off if needed. So far, I think this is a great value winch from a reputable company. It fits the middle ground of a high cost Warn and other cheaper brands.

Fantastic winch at a great price! I was fine with the wired remote on this model, and was able to easily upgrade to synthetic rope with a new Hawse fairlead. Install was straightforward, but I did run into an issue because I dropped an Oring into a small opening on the motor side. Support from both 4WP and Smittybilt were great regarding my questions, (and I did need a new part) so I am happy to report solid reponse on parts/support.

Works awesome love it, pull anything heavy like it should be , im think to get another one

Easy to install and came well packaged. Make sure you put the control box to the winch then the winch to the plate so you don’t run out of room if you don’t follow the steps.

So far, so good. Appears to be well built. All necessary parts and hardware were provided. Put a SB winch into a SB bumper, not sure that's the reason or not, but it all went together nicely. Wiring harness was just enough to reach the battery in my JK. Haven't load tested it yet, but running it in and out produced no concerns. The SB light is a nice touch. My only criticism would be providing grease zercs on the roller fairlead. Maybe I'm just too picky.

Nice looking winch much fast then the one i replaced. Will be used a lot soon

I bought this before I decided on bumpers. I ended up getting the XRC gen1 bumpers and this winch fit perfectly. Easy install for the most part. The rear two bolts are a bit tricky. So far everything works as advertised and I'm happy with my purchase.

The lights and the load indicator are game changers!

Bought this winch for my 2003 Jeep Wrangler TJ looks awesome also bought the Smitty built high mount winch plate easy install. Headlights are LED projector Procomp also from four wheel parts.

Easy install. I used a high mount Smittybuilt winch plate. Also easy install. The plastic armor covers or not that strong mine was cracked when I received it where the screw hole is. Both the winch and winch plate came from China which I was not very happy about. Somewhere I thought I read the winch was made in the US but place of origin China. What made me buy this was the warranty five years electronic lifetime mechanical. Dust and water proof. It looks awesome Everything worked great out of the box have not tried a recovery yet with the winch.

Super easy to use ... lights up everything so you can see and the gearing is nice n smooth. I would definitely recommend upgrading to the gen 3. I can not speak on installation as 4wp installed mine.

Works like a champ. Very easy to use the control. I had it professionally installed, so I can’t speak to the installation piece.

The only thing don't like is rolling ferrel is mad cheap and rust quick

Winch is nice, installation was easy and straight forward. The plastic "Armor" that comes with it is a gimmick though. Both Armor pieces were cracked at the screws from overtightening I presume. 4WP never responded to my e mail regarding replacement of the parts, thankfully the customer Service at Smittybilt is much better, they responded and sent me replacement pieces immediately. I have not had the chance to use the winch yet, but during the break in the winch operates smoothly and seems to have a decent spool rate.