SSO Slimline Bumper - Winch Recommendations

I placed an order for a Southern Style OffRoad Slimline Bumper a couple of days ago for my 2021 OR and am excited that I finally pulled the trigger. I've been looking at every bumper available, weighing the pros and cons of each and am happy to have made what I hope will be a good choice.

Now, I need to pick out which winch to put in it and would like some feedback from my fellow forum members to help me make a selection. I have been leaning towards the Warn Evo VR 10S as it has a good reputation. When I spoke to SSO, they recommended the Smittybilt x20 as their choice as they felt it was just as good as the Warn but at a better price point.

I consider what I get for my money but always consider the value of what I get over the price I pay. So, I would like to get some feedback from those of you who can help me make the call.

One other consideration is how well each of these winches will fit. SSO says both will fit fine - what is your experience with fit....

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Cheers,

Bob

 

I think Warn is better quality than smitty. But you’ll hear from all sorts of people running all brands including harbor freight without issues. This dude has used harbor freight for years
https://youtu.be/O2RunaNF4BM

 

I had to return the Harbor Freight winch because it wouldn’t fit in my SSO Stealth bumper. I don’t know how much extra room the blitz has, but I’ve been really happy with my smittybilt this far.

 

I have the SSO Slimline bumper with the bull bar and the Smittybuilt X20 on a 2021 ORP.The wireless remote is nice.Stand 100 feet away and it still works.
Winch fits fine you just have to mount the control box on the side instead of on top.There's a line that appears to run to the power steering reservoir that ends up real close to the
control box.I just tweaked it a little for more clearance.I mounted the winch to the bumper than mounted the bumper to the station wagon,then wired it up.
Then I put the cover back on but that was tough with the adaptive cruise brackets sticking out and hitting the bull bar.Had to remove the front brace off the 4R to get it to slide in.

 

Station wagon lol, I haven’t heard that term in awhile.

 

That's what it says on my title,lol.

 

Roc,

Thanks for the comments since you have the exact bumper that I ordered.

Cheers,
Bob

 

Some things that might help.
I took a dolly and cribbed up the bumper to the right height then installed the winch on the bumper so it could just be rolled in and bolted up.
It says to throw away the air dams but toyota must have put them there for a reason So I kept mine.You only have to make about a 3/4 inch notch
out of the bottom on the passenger side.The drivers side is a little tough as part of the dam has to be sliced to fit the bumper.
If you have the bull bar and adaptive cruise you will need to take off that front top cross brace,only 4 bolts but need to reinstall before you snap the cover back in place or you will never reach the bolts.
The bottom of the bumper comes to about an inch of the factory metal skid.You can cut that plastic filler piece that fills the original gap between the bumper and skid to fill in that little gap if you want.

 

I have SSO slimline as well and I also went with the smittybilt x20. Its a really nice winch for the money and fits like a glove.