BennyB Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I am looking for information on the waterproofing of the brake assembly and gearbox of a Superwinch EP9. The winch is fitted to the rear of a 90 which is used for competitions. During the first competition the winch stopped working shortly after being dunked in water. We managed to free off the winch (it appeared to have seized the brake solid) and after this it continued to work . After the event the vehicle has stood waiting to be looked at. On stripping the brake/gearbox it was found to have a little water ingress, with a lot of side affects. The winch is being rebuilt and during this process we would like to seal the winch. Has anybody any information or has anybody already done this? Any help would be very helpful (i am sorry if this has already been posted somewhere else, i have tried searing for it but have had no luck) Thanks Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Wightman Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 The EP9 can not be waterproofed as there are no seals on the drum. Where the drive shaft leaves the motor and where it enters the gearbox where it pases through to the brake are all areas where water can get in. Learn to strip and examin/clean on a regular basis and the winch will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BennyB Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 Thanks, looks like i will need to learn quickly then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterR Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Hi Ben, thanks for posting the question. If we could work out a better way of stopping the ingress of the sand/mud that would help. The bearing at the end had seized and there was a muddy paste inside the brake. Couple of teaspoons of brown water in the gearbox but managed to blow most of that out and repack. I've not taken the motor off yet to look at that end. Better get on with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltwt1981 Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 OT slightly, what about an 8274 how waterproof is it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Wightman Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 OT slightly, what about an 8274 how waterproof is it. Better, the drum into the gearbox is not 100% and is not really improvable but if maintained is OK. The brake assembly into the gearbox is good as it uses a proper seal. The support end of the drum will run in water and can be changed to a sealed bearing. The problem with 99% of winches is lack of maintainance, drown it on a playday....... two months later expect it to work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 I had better results with keeping water at bay on the 8274 after I fitted a breather to the gearbox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daan Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 I ve had the brake cap from the ep9 winch off and had mud and water into this. it is due to the breather features on the cap allowing this to get in. I will seal this off when reassembling this. I will have to look at some breather pipe to this but the alu cap has quite a thin wall, not ideal. The comment of paul about no seals sounds a bit scarry though. Daan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BennyB Posted October 31, 2007 Author Share Posted October 31, 2007 It is a bit scary how quickly it went from working to not, it was the first time of using the winch and within five minutes of its first use (and real dunking of the day) to becoming seized up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Don't know how it's getting on, but I believe David Bowyer is developing a warerproofed version of the EP9 - might be worth a look / enquiry. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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