Winch problems just started...

[Kris W]

Ive never had a winch before, so i dont know what is wrong. The winch was working fine, then today i went to turn it on & it just goes "CLICK" , like when I hit the switch it makes a single click noise, which sounds like it's coming from the box that the power wires connect to.. Power and ground run from the battery to this box and then from this box 2 wires run to the winch.

[Canadian_Zuk]

Clean where your main power wires go to the battery. You have a bad connection most likely, if not the contactor is bad.

[curtisbyrne]

just check your winch solenoid(thats that box) unscrew the connections clean them up and put her together!

[red-bird-dog]

how old is the winch? what model? are you able to free spool the cable out?

[Dan67]

Is it an older conquest? Mine does that every now and then, check the wires on the back of the winch switch. They have a habit of working lose sometimes.

[curtisbyrne]

he has a 93 magnum,look like the original winch

[Kris W]

Yes i can free spool the cable out, not sure the make of the winch, any stickers on it fell off years ago and I painted it black, i tried cleaning up the connections on the winch because they looked dirty, that didn't do it so I guess I'll try the back of the switch and all the connections on the contactor next.. I don't know what else to do after that.

[ARGOJIM]

I'm going to assume your contactor is the black box style about the size of a stick of butter, which is nla.
Do you have either direction?
Check all connections starting with the fuse to feed the switch and then the switch for power feed and the individual outs, next check the contactor one will be live, one ground and the other two feeds to winch affected by switch for direction. If it is not something simple you may find it is time to update the contactor to a newer style.

[curtisbyrne]

check your circuit breaker

[Kris W]

Without having a tester, I'm pretty certain I'm getting power to the contactor because it's making a clicking noise in the contactor so I think it's safe to say power is going to the contactor & I need to find out if power is coming out of the contactor because if it is then it's probably The winch itself right ? Maybe the brushes or something?

Edit: ArgoJim- yes its the " stick of butter" shape, no it doesnt work in either direction, it just makes a click sound.

[Kris W]

UPDATE !
O.k, so its working ! But when i tell you guys how i "fixed it" you will likely say im either an idiot or full of crap... i tried hooking up jumper cables directly to the batery from the posts on the winch, to see if it would turn with direct power. It did not, it ark'd and the cables got hot, like if you were to hook poss to neg.. so i thought the winch must be "stuck" ... so i used a leather glove to cushion the blows and tapped the winch motor with a hammer all over it.. then i hit it with power and it turned about a quarter turn and stopped again, i repeated the tapping over and over again until when I hit it with power it turn freely in either direction , so I let out a whole bunch and then wound it all up.
Here's to hoping it continues to work in the future.
As always, Thanks for the help guys.

[curtisbyrne]

sometimes thats all anything needs whether it is an object or a human lol

[ARGOJIM]

Good to hear, I forgot about the k.i.s.s. method all together.

[Diverdave]

This happened to my winch. I had my boffin look at it and it was a poor cheap solenoid. He opened the box and said right away they the solenoid was a cheap one and not up to the job. He changed it and we have never had a problem since. We have recently fitted a winch at the rear as well, for loading deer and changed the cheap nasty solenoid with a decent one before we fitted it. Ebay winches are great value, but they save money on low cost parts and the weakest of these is the solenoid, and it does aload of work