Warn Winch 8000 issues...

[chileflora]

I am trying to revive a winch (Warn 8000) which was not used for ages on my 4x4...

First, a mechanic cleaned and greased it, and it is working right now.  Without load it runs perfectly and I can feed out the  line manually without any effort.

But the problem is that it seems to lack power. The winch stalls or hardly pulls if I lock all 4 wheels (2 tonne truck)  on a firm dirt road, and my guess is that it stalls at around 700-1000 kg. (should be close to 3000) (with about 50 % of cable out).

I measured battery under stalled load, and it is close 10.5 Volts.

Then I checked the four solenoids, and they seem to work fine (and I also measured voltage drop for each of them, disconnecting all the wiring, and running a big 130 l compressor in line with each solenoid (I guess the pump takes around 20 Amps) and measuring voltage drop, it was 0.05 V for each solenoid.  I have not measured yet the ground loss yet, but it seems to be wired OK.

I have not taken apart the motor. 

My question is, what could be the reason for this lack of power?  Could it be something in the motor?   Is it worth it to take it apart?  Or maybe I am missing something obvious?

I have spent two days fighting this issue, and can not see any solutions, and where I am there are no winch specialists, and to my big surprise I discovered that allmost all new winches are out of stock due to covid...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mo Murphy]

What are the brushes in the motor like ?

Mo

[Nonimouse]

One of the very few decent winches Warn made/make

Firstly check all the electrical connections - especially HV - clean themrefir using electrolytic grease

If the solenoids go back and forth, they work  - but does one or more get hot under load?

Then whip the motor off and strip it down  - clean all the conductive faces - use electrolytic grease on the brushes - re-assemble (you'll need some freezer bag ties or thin zip ties)

Whip the gearbox off and empty out the gear cluster - you'll probably find that your mechanic has over greased it or used the wrong grease. It only needs a thin smear of lithium grease or one shot - use an old 1/2" pain t brush and a very thin smear over the mating faces. I alwasy reassemble with the help of an oil can filled with 15w40 engine oil...

There is an in drum brake that rarely causes issues, but may be siezed - it only comes out one way. the brake pades may need freeing up...

Have fun

[chileflora]

I have not checked the brushes, but the winch had very little use; also it runs smooth, without interruptions or hiccups, so I assume the brushes must be OK.

All 4 solenoids have the same resistence (at 20 A the voltage drop is 0.05 V per solenoid, so under full load (300 A) I assume that the voltage drop would be around 1.5 V.

I am a little bit worried about taking apart the motor, but if you think that this is the issue I will have to do it.

Edited October 26, 2021 by chileflora

[Nonimouse]

On 10/26/2021 at 12:10 PM, chileflora said:

I have not checked the brushes, but the winch had very little use; also it runs smooth, without interruptions or hiccups, so I assume the brushes must be OK.

All 4 solenoids have the same resistence (at 20 A the voltage drop is 0.05 V per solenoid, so under full load (300 A) I assume that the voltage drop would be around 1.5 V.

I am a little bit worried about taking apart the motor, but if you think that this is the issue I will have to do it.

Don't assume. It's a Warn, cheap parts, made cheaply and assembled cheaply. The motor is actually very simple - although depending an age it could be one of about 4 types. The only unpleasant bit is holding the  brushes back to allow the contact face to slip back in - I use very thin, small zip ties.  Have a look at these videos