Stock Winch

[BeeZee62]

I was out playing in the mud on the weekend and my winch was working fine .. pulled out a couple of quads and a Rhino. Needless to say everyone was quite impressed as this was the first time they've seen a Trooper. Once all was said and done, my winch cable wouldn't retract and I can't let any more cable out ... the swtich doesn't work. The winch did get wet .. actually it was submerged a couple of times .. thank goodness for having a snorkle.

My question, is the stock winch a piece of crap and not pooched or after a few good days of drying out will it work again? Or could it be as simple as a fuse?

[brostar]

According to the winch manual which you should of received with your UTV on page 15, "Trouble Shooting/ Symptom/ Motor does not turn on/ Possible cause/ Water has entered the motor/ Suggested Action/ Allow to drain and dry. Run in short bursts without load until completely dry".

This sounds like yours so hopefully all will be fine if you let it dry. I know it's tempting to spray CRC or WD40 but only proceed after checking out your not introducing slippage any where.

Cheers Mike

[ksimpsy]

I found my winch to be a slow pice of garbage with a crappy cable that seems to tie itself on the drum once you use it 10 times. i bought a 4000lb warn and mounted a a second battery and isolator which only runs the winch and stereo so that i cant kill the main battery. this is what i would recommend if you are playing in the mud and i see you're from Alberta too so i assume you do.

Kevin

[Guest Lenny]

I havn't planned on changing my winch but I might. My concern is that I have to rely on its single line (without added pully) pulling power if I have to reach farther then 25 feet. I ride in more ot a desert cilmate and the nearest anchor is generally not conviently close. With this in mind, a slow winch would be a pain. I intended to make the drum bigger to hold about 125' of cable but I hate to put the work into it and have it pull at 2 feet per hour. Either way, I want the synthetic rope which doesn't take a set with a minimun of 125' and 3500Lbs pull single line.

Lenny

[ksimpsy]

Watch those poly ropes i have seen them become a tangled mess if they get slack, also they have climbed off the drum and between the housing and drum. I don't care what they say rope still tightens and stretches and if you have a loose spool base the top roll will end up at the bottom.

my 2 cents

Kevin

[Guest Lenny]

Thanks ksimpsy, good points. I don't have any expirence with it. A friend of mine has a rock crawler and swears by it. I do beleive the rope is safer as it's a lot lighter should it snap. This shouldn't be an issue if proper safty precautions are taken like throwing a jacket over it to catch a snap back. Also I'm sure that proper guiding when no load winding onto the drum will also help. But you points make since are and taken seriously. Thanks ksimpsy, now my faith in rope is damaged. Maybe others can chime in with their thoughts.

Thats what a good forum is all about, to bring the best Ideas and concerns to the surface for all.

Lenny

[BeeZee62]

According to the winch manual which you should of received with your UTV on page 15, "Trouble Shooting/ Symptom/ Motor does not turn on/ Possible cause/ Water has entered the motor/ Suggested Action/ Allow to drain and dry. Run in short bursts without load until completely dry".

This sounds like yours so hopefully all will be fine if you let it dry. I know it's tempting to spray CRC or WD40 but only proceed after checking out your not introducing slippage any where.

Cheers Mike

Thanks Mike ... I didn't receive a winch manual. I'll let it dry out completely ... but seeing as I like the mud I may have to invest in a waterproof winch.

[ChrisG]

My winch has had the same problem not being able to go in or out. I have had to put it on free spin, hook it to something solid and hit reverse to undo it. My winch is actually broken right now. I haven't had time but I think warranty might cover my problem - somehow the cast broke on the main housing. The cable slipped between the roller and the drive motor and frayed my cable really bad (this was all before I manually unwound it) If I do get a new unit, the plan is to mount it to the rear and replace it with a better one up front. When I have two winches I will be looking for and in-line switch with a key to lock out the opposite winch. That way I'll be covered both ways and it is generally easier on everything if you go out the way you came from. As far as distance goes I carry a 25' chain, 50' extra aircraft cable, poly slings to tie of to the trees with and spare clevises under my drivers seat. With this setup I have yet to find a distance too far here in Alberta. The only thing I need is the winch remote we discussed in a previous thread.

[mouser58]

This might be a little late for yours, but when I submerged mine out riding, I always took mine and free wheeled it out when I got home and winched it up my driveway hooked to the back of my pickup a couple time to make sure it got warmed up and dried out before I put it away. This also made sure I run the cables up real tight and aligned on the drum ready for the next trip. I had the steel cable on mine and would spray it with WD once a month if I used it alot.

[Kinarfi]

My feelings on a rope are they they are great when used properly. On a winch, you give up a lot in stretched rope and don't think it would really work that well. If your pulling someone out of the mud, they're great, take 50 ft. rope, tie it to both rigs with lots of slack and take off as fast as you can go. When you hit the end, the rope starts stretching and building energy until it stops you and gives you a hell of lot of pull that you don't get with a cable or chain, they just go clunk and jolt you real bad. I've pulled a full sized truck loaded to the gills with drums full of fuel out of a snow bank when he was down over the bank with a 100 foot 1" nylon rope on a snowy road this way with an empty short bed GMC 4X4. I tied onto his tow hooks and dropped a loop over my trailer ball, told him to get in and put in gear and get thing turning and then punched it down road as fast as I could go. I felt the rope start stretching and slowing me down and was starting to spin my wheels on the snow when he came up over the edge like he was tied to Caterpillar. He was impressed. A friend tells a similar story about a Dodge with cab over buried to the axles in sand that two other rigs with chains couldn't move. He did it with nylon rope and speed.

How ever, you DON'T use any metal, if a shackle broke at max stretch. it goes right through differential covers, and human flesh much softer. and don't go over a sharp edge, it will cut the rope.

My 2 bits worth.

Kinarfi

[brostar]

Good advice Kinarfi. There is a design flaw with the Trooper winch as most of you know all ready. The Fairlead that guides the wire in is off centre and if left to wind in unattended it will overlap too much on the left of the Drum and this can cause it to jam. The fix is an after market plate to centre the Fairlead correctly.

Cheers Mike.

[Guest Lenny]

You mean I can't always trust what the rock crawlers advise? Hey, these guys know thgeir stuff. Heck, I saw one guy brag about his 12,000# winch he installed on his jeep. Boy, did he have it bolted to his bumper strong. Another jeep was really wedged between the rocks. He said "I can pull anything out of anything". Hooked up and chained off to a tree then proceeded to pull his own front bumper and some other stuff off his jeep. The winch was still bolted to the bumper though.

As another thought. Does anyone know if anyone makes a steel cable that is made from several bundles of several strans of of extreamly fine wire. This would give the flexibility of rope and wouldn't take a set. I used to import aircraft cable which was 7 bundles of 19 strans each. It would need to be a lot finer then that.

Lenny

[plumber]

I have been thinking about changing my stock winch What does everybody think about Mile Marker winch

[mouser58]

Check Ebay. I think the Vipers are getting good reviews. There is another brand, but can't remember. I bought a cheap one, pulled it apart and RTVd the seams and worked great.

[Russ]

in my opinion, for needing a long reach, we always carry tow straps with us all the time. Tie off with the strap, then hook your winch so you don't have to pull your winch all of the way out. The factory winches from joyner are not that good for the riding we do. The mile markers are alittle cheaper but have never had seen one last a year. The Warn is the only waterproof winch that I know of, they are quiet and smooth, well worth the 400-500 dollars.

[mouser58]

Called a buddy of mine and then went on Ebay. He got one of the Gorilla Winches last fall. Has used it a lot and has no failures or problems and he is hard on his stuff. He has a 2007 Honda with 7500 miles.