winch damage?

[Dale Reed]

A taxi drove into the deep ditch in front of my house early(before I normally get up) this morning so I went out to see if I could help. I have winched more than a few cars but this morning I must of put an unusual amount of strain on the winch because it stopped pulling. So I engaged the hubs, put it in 4x4 and pulled him out. Was not that hard with the Mighty Cummins waking up all the neighbors!



But now I wondering if I damaged my winch? Sure sorry I did not touch the winch when it pooped out.



So, how should I test the Warn Winch? Tie the cable to a tree and see if I can drag the truck with the wheels locked? Got lots of trees on the sides of my driveway. Thanks for the help. Dale



PS Don't know what the nationality of the taxi driver was but I sure earned myself a Very Big Warm Hug! Guess a simple handshake was not his culture.

 

[dseabaugh]

probably didn't hurt your winch. the auto brake was engaged on it I assume. so you were really pulling from the mount and bumper. think how much strain you can put on it when you put a few snatch blocks out there and double or triple the pull. I'll bet it is oK. Thanks for being a good Samariton.

 

[steved]

I toasted a 12k Warn by pulling on it after it stalled... but it was also unwinding cable.



If it still pulls, then I doubt there is anything wrong with it...



steved

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

As long as the spool was not UNwinding whle trying to WIND (I. E Overcoming wind up and turning drum in oposite direction) you should be good to go. Warn has an auto cone style brake and if you spun against the brake you sure would know it by that nasty grinding noise while under tension. Kinda like a sprag clutch slipping. I would be more concerned about the line than the winch. I am assuming you have AT LEAST a 9000?

 

[Dale Reed]

My rig looks very similar to:

Reunel Extreme Heavy Duty Bumpers

with the winch shown here:

Warn Industries - Premium Series: XD9000i



I went out this morning after the sun(that is a joke since it is winter time in Seattle) came up. Deep gouges in the ditch meaning that there is no wonder I could not winch the cab out! Should of stopped trying when the winch was not pulling in cable. But the cable never pulled out when under strain so if I understand you folks I probably did not damage anything.



For sure I will be more careful next time. Only excuses were it was before my normal wake-up time, it was very dark, and the cab was high centered in very wet soil(remember I live in Seattle) between the ditch and the paved road so it was difficult to see under the cab. Also I let the cab driver hook the cable up to his cab so he was the one to see what was going on under the cab. I always let the stuck driver hook up because almost always there is some damage from winching and I don't want the owner to ask me to pay for the damage.



Thanks for the help fellows. I am going to assume that I am good to go.



PS Obviously I have not figured out how this BB works because I never received any of your answers in my Inbox. But I just tried setting things for automatic notifications so maybe it will work OK now.

 

[wcjp]

Warn is located in Oregon. Call them on Monday morning. I've met quite a few Warn people at various Offroad events. Never a problem.

 

[TAbbott]

You should be able to winch much more than you can pull with your truck. My bet is that one (or more) of the solenoids/relays failed. My 12,000 lb Warn winch failed on me (wouldn't even wind up it's own cable with no load against it) and replacing the solenoids (4) was the cure. Works fine now.

 

[Dale Reed]

The reason I mentioned that I wish I had touched the winch when it stopped pulling in cable was I assume the winch got very hot. If the current carrying parts inside the winch got hot that would increase their electrical resistance hence reducing the current and hence the pulling power. Just a guess.



I had pulled the badly stuck taxi cab with the winch about 30 feet with the underside of the cab dragging in the mud and at the end of the ditch the cab's right front tire was digging its own 12" deep hole near the payment before I popped the taxi cab out with the 4x4 and the Mighty Cummins.



I did not know about the solenoids but wondered if there might be brushes that could of burned. I have used the winch maybe 30 times during the 12 years I have had it sometimes helping fell some pretty big trees in my forest but it was in the daytime when I was thinking straight so let the winch rest when I thought it was being overworked. Never had any trouble pulling cars out of the ditch before though.



PS Still not getting your messages in my computer's Inbox. Guess I am doing something wrong.

 

[hammersley]

Another reason for getting a

Hydraulic Winch... ... ... ... .....

 

[Dale Reed]

Winch apparently is OK. I started pulling the cable out to attach it to a tree and discovered the cable was in the worst awful tangle I have ever seen! Had to unbolt the winch from the bumper to untangle.



Apparently in the early morning dark I was not watching the cable wind in and it tangled itself so bad that it jammed and stopped winding. So that explains why the truck could pull the taxicab out of the ditch but the winch could not.



Probably should replace the damaged cable so will start shopping for one in the Seattle area or online.



Most important lesson learned was to watch your cable to make sure it does not tangle.



Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Helps to have someone to help consider all the alternatives. Dale

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Hydraulic Winch... ... ... ... .....

Mile Marker to be exact :-laf (My fav)

 

[hammersley]

Mile Marker to be exact :-laf (My fav)

Yep - that's the one... ... ... ...

 

[DieselDoghouse]

Have always been afraid of that so: I mounted some LED boat lights above the spool (inside pro-zapp bumper) which I can switch on to illuminate in the dark AND fashioned a sliding license plate mount so the winch spool is exposed when operating, covered when not. Glad to hear no major damage.

 

[Dale Reed]

I bought a new wire cable. WARN locally and online wanted close to $200 but I had one made for $50 by

http://www.pacificindustrial.com/index2.html

complete with a loop to attach the hook to and I brought my own copper end to bolt to the winch.



Ready for another taxicab to be stuck in the ditch but hopefully not so early in the morning. For sure I will watching the wire wind in to make sure it does not tangle.