I bought this last year when the clip on my old one broke. I am at least 6% more tactical looking with it.The Smittybilt may be a fine winch, but it's cheesy Jeep design is revolting.
Case in point, the Warn "Epic" hook. What makes it Epic? The epically tawdry webbing and bottle opener?
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Did you notice any loss of mileage running the 235/85s?Not sure if this is a D1 or D2 but for a D1 I do like the 235/85 as well on a 2” lift. I’ve heard the 265/75 can fit too and are just a bit wider but I have never tried it. Instead of cutting we made a small bracket and pushed the rear fender out a bit with the 235s on our D1. It may require a little trimming on the underneath part of the fender as I recall but it works well and looks stock (other than sticking out a little further.
for a winch if you plan on seriously wheeling I would get one made in USA. Warn or Ramsey but warn first. I have an old superwinch ep9 that has been on my series hybrid and used to death and keeps ticking. The new superwinchs are made in China and owned by Westin. May as well buy the cheap smittybilt. My son has a smittybilt on his D1. Works great and we got it new for 185$ (Gen 2 on sale) but on my trail rig and tow vehicle I have the superwinch ep and a warn m 8000. To me the m8000 is great. Forget theVR line of warn as they are Chinese too. Even the m8000 has a Chinese motor these days but is USA made or so they say. It’s a great winch for 600$. Another winch I like is the come up DV9. It’s the same exact winch as the superwinch ep9. Made in Taiwan. I’m not sure if they built them for superwinch or bought the rights to them but I love the old ep9. I had an xd9000 years ago and it was a great winch as well. I also had a Ramsey rep8000 but the line speed sucks. It was an oldie but just keep cruising along.
I’ll tell you a quick story about Chinese winches. So my friend rolled his XD discovery on its lid in a trench.We couldn’t flip him over until we drug it up a bit. My ancient superwinch and a smittybilt xrc gen3 were both used used to pull him up with blocks. The rack on the XD made it nearly impossible to pull him up the hill and out of the trench. The superwinch stalled even with the snatch block but the Smittybilt went bang first and broke under an extreme load. It was a year old and mine is about 15 yrs old. Of course the warranty is great on smittybilt though which is why I bought one. For a Chinese winch I think it’s the one to get based on warranty. If u really need a winch for recovery get a real one. Check FB marketplace for a used one maybe. I saw a relatively new m8000 for 450 not long ago. The contractor solenoid and build quality are a step up for sure. 8000 is plenty if u carry a block.
The winch design is revolting? It looks like every other winch out there. And it's good at pulling my disco out of mud and dragging logs out of the woods, which is probably a better criteria to judge on than looks anyway.
I put them on before I drove it so I am not sure but I suspect that it hurt a little. It’s a gas hog like every rover I’ve owned. From past experience I will say it robs so acceleration. My old RRC had 4.11s and felt about stock with 33s.Did you notice any loss of mileage running the 235/85s?
The Smittybilt X20 lets you mount the controller left, right or centered. That seems pretty functional. Also the free spool on the smitty is nice and smooth even a year and a half later. The free spool on my old Superwinch was a joke. I agree the other jeep specific stuff can be a bit over the top...Again, it sounds like a decent budget choice. However, I prefer to spend my dollars on products who's R&D budgets prioritized function far over form. There's definitely a market for this stuff though.
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you mind posting a few pics of your rig? would love to see how it looks. I also have a alpine white disco w the TF MD springs and am looking to get the 235/85/16s. Thanks!That's more than the Camel cut - I have the same tires and 2" Terra Firma lift (I bought the medium springs - and they are perfect). All I had to cut was a small little section on the back of the rear wheel wells - can't even see it from the side.
Yeah that Smittybuilt with synthetic seems like what I'll go with. I agree with @ERover82 re the design. Hopefully I can hide the thing inside the D2 99-02 ARB bullbar that I just put on the D1.