Alright peeps, school me.

After my first solo trip with the Iceberg, I'm starting to weigh the benefits of throwing a winch in my 4xinnovations front bumper. I always thought that i wouldn't be doing any serious crawling with my rig, hence, no immediate need for a winch, but after a sketchy scrap with the mighty Missisippi trying to flood my campsite and keep me from getting out of the river basin, I think it may be good insurance.

With that thought in mind and the fact that I likely won't be using this too much (maybe? ), I'm looking at inexpensive winch options with synthetic rope to keep weight down and to eliminate having to use a roller fairlead (since I am in Wisco and we need a front plate).

Does anyone run, or know anything about the eBay X-Bull 13k setup?

X-BULL Electric Winch Waterproof 12V 13000LBS Synthetic Rope

Or the Tungsten4x4 12k winch?

Tungsten4x4 ATV/UTV/Truck/boat/Trailer/Jeep winch 12000lbs with Synthetic Rope

What about the CCIYU 13k as the cheapest option?

CCIYU Off-road Electric Winch 13000lbs 12V Truck SUV Jeep 2pcs Remote Control

I am an advocate for getting what you pay for, but for implementing one of these $350 winches as an emergency get-up, I don't see much difference than the standard Smittybilt XRC 9.5k for $475.

I also found the Westin T-max 9.5k that splits the middle on price at $420...

Westin 47-2103 T-Max 9,500 lbs. Off-Road 9.5S Waterproof Winch w/ Synthetic Rope

I like the X-Bull variant(s) due to the fact that they come with wireless and fixed controllers, still have a decent warranty, and look comparable to the "name-brand" cheaper winches. And decent reviews...

Well, let 'er rip, I want to hear what everyone has to say!

If you're going to the trouble to hang it off the front of your truck then it should work when you need it. Even after all the naysayers I went with a Smittybilt XRC. So far I've snatched myself out twice and several others another couple of times.

When it comes to whatever winch you get a lot of the reliability issues come down to lack of proper maintenance and/or inspection. I try and re-spool my line once a month when I cycle my transfer case (stupid pushbutton 4th gen). Freespooling the line all the way out (minus the bottom wrap) and powering it back in under load is a pretty good indication that everything is working correctly.

Keeping the critical electrical bits dry and free of corrosion is important if that's needed. Mine's supposed to be "waterproof" but there's no such thing I believe. It's just a matter of how badly it reacts to water. Also check the fasteners periodically. Even though they've got lockwashers it's always possible for some to loosen up.

Sure....are the cheaper winches built to the same standard?? Probably not. But I'm not running an extraction service or logging operation. I won't be running mine to 80% duty cycle every day or even once a month. So far I've had it apart to install a wireless controller but left the wired option in place as well. I now understand how everything is connected (pretty simple) and that makes any troubleshooting a lot easier.

The money you save on the winch, spend it on some additional recovery gear (soft shackles, extension rope, tree savers, snatch block, etc.). I see plenty of guys that went first rate on a top of the line Warn or similar setup....but don't have any of the basic tools to do safe recovery. Seeing someone wrap a line around a tree and hook back on itself just makes my heart hurt, and flee for cover.

That's sound advice. The biggest thing I'd trying to figure out is simply the difference in quality between these budget winches. Like you said, the smitty xrc is regarded as a cheap winch, but serves the purpose perfectly. I'm just trying to save the $125 for the smitty "name", if that's mostly the difference. and maybe, like you said, use a bit of that to outfit myself with more recovery gear just in case.

Thanks for your two cents!

of the ones you listed, the Weston would be my choice. solely based on the pulling power, and listed gear ratio(161.28:1).
I would avoid anything over 10k, as they tend to be VERY slow, and just isn't necessary.
I don't have the time, nor patience to check the speeds on all of them. but you do want the fastest one you can get, and in the budget winch line isn't very fast. but, the higher pull weight, and lesser name winches can be VERY slow.




for the little use you will see, a cable would be fine. yeah, it does add a bit of weight, but I doubt you will notice it. also, they make license plate holders that snap onto the roller fairlead. so you could save a bunch of money, and get a better winch if you go with cable.

I just got a Tuffy license plate holder for my roller winch fairleas on Amazon for $20 and it works great. Holds the license plate in front of it and flips up for use.

Get cable. It's way cheaper and more durable for stuff like pulling stumps or skidding trees. You can run a Hawse fairlead with cable; they make cast iron ones..
but for infrequent use you could probably get away with an aluminum one.

FWIW: I have 3 winches on various junk. I have a HF 8000lb winch that's 10 years old and still works just fine. Cheap. Heavy. But reliable.

I have a Superwinch Tiger Shark 9500 on my '15 4Runner. Been used a lot. Works like a champ. Never given me any issues. I'd buy again in a heartbeat. I think they may be in your price range too. At times on Amazon they're around $450 with synthetic rope. Steel rope can be had for around $350. I prefer synthetic for a lot of reasons. But you can always replace wire rope later if you want. The biggest benefit of the tiger shark over other cheap ones is the better quality solenoids. All of the ones you listed look like they have a generic box with cheap solenoids. And that's the part that typically fails first. Upgraded solenoids like the name brand winches use are worth the extra dollars. Or you can buy replacement solenoid sets. If you go with a really cheap one - it may be worth buying a solenoid set as a spare.

I also have an 8274 Warn - but that's not really in your price range or goals for this.

Good luck.

all my budget winches have contactors, not solenoids. you cant tell unless you take the cover off though. they use the large cover just like the older solenoid style.

That's awesome. Should solve the biggest problem with them. My old HF winch box looks more like this inside. Although mine never had an issue I know a lot of them fail over time:


My old 8274 solenoids still work. But they're like 30+ years old. I'm kinda surprised they still function. I really need to upgrade it. Modern electronics are so much better.

I have seen them fail also. its not a good thing. if they fail in the position of just NOT working, that sucks, but ultimately not a big deal. but when they fail in the ON/IN position, that makes for a VERY bad day

Thanks for all of the thought-inducing replies. I never thought about winch speed and how that would affect usability in circumstances where I'll be using this. I'll look into the Tiger Shark, and may end up just going with the tried and true (ish) smittybilt, or similar, instead of going with a knockoff HF get up.

for $476 you can have the X20 version shipped, I believe these are a step higher than the XRC model. It might be wise to save your money for the next eBay code for the better bargain
Smittybilt 98510 X2O Gen2 10,000 Pound Wireless Waterproof Synthetic Rope Winch 631410119572 | eBay

>"With that thought in mind and the fact that I likely won't be using this too much (maybe? ),"

Be aware... if you go off road... (especially in snowy conditions) you will mostly be using it to pull 'other' people out.

I had one (a Warn) on my Jeep and Ford pickup... (need to put one on the Toy).
My own ratio was about 10:1 (others/self).

You know, I did see those. Does anyone have anything else to say about the differences between the XRC and X20 other than the obvious "500 lb" pull difference? I'd have to check and make sure the X20 would fit in my bumper, but it does look significantly better...

I did hear that this was the case. I'm all for lending a hand, so thanks for bringing this up. This might not always be for me, but for others. I guess I could look at this for benefiting those around me! It's not like I drive in the snow for half the year or anything...

Think of your winch like a fire extinguisher, you want it to work when you need it. That’s not to say that the more you spend the better it is. When you’re shopping around maybe don’t let price be the biggest factor. Price could play a part inside the category though. The basic rule of thumb is 2x the weight of the rig.

If you pick up a snatch block you could 2x that 2x when you double it back to yourself. A nice accessory package would be the ARB recover kit. That kit includes a (purple) winch extension, a (yellow) tree saver to hook up a shackle too, an (orange) recovery line and a snatch block.

Wether you’re rescuing yourself or your buddy it’s best to be well prepared.