winch repair

[jeffery9076]

What do i need to do to get my winch going. Was working 2 years ago then just quit but would work just hooked 2 a battery with jumpers. The winch i think is a warn not sure no marking but looked like the 1 lantz had on his at the rodeo. Its has a switch set on the 6x6 and a cordless remote. Should i dissasemble it and clean it? What with should i use. When i put the boby of the 6x6 for up and down. I put electronics riveted to the inside of the upper body. Thinking there might be the issue but want to clean and inspect the winch first. I know crap about them so any tips or help would be great

[Mike]

Do you have a model number for the winch? If so, you may be able to get a wiring diagram from their website.

Where are you connecting a battery to in order to get the winch to work? Are you jumping straight to the terminals on the winch itself?

For a general idea of something you can do, start by checking all of the terminal connections on the winch and the relay for the winch. If they are corroded, remove them, clean them and reconnect. If you have any kind of overload protection inline from the battery to the winch relay, check it to make sure it isn't blown/tripped. If nothing looks out of the ordinary, then you may have to tear into the winch relay and clean the terminals there.

There really isn't a whole lot to the winch circuit. If you can follow it all the way from the battery through to the winch, check and clean it as you go. You should be able to figure it out. A small multimeter set to read volts would help you out to see where the break in the circuit is.

[akcrawler]

When you hooked up your jumpers, did you connect them directly to the winch? If so, you have a connection problem somewhere between there and your battery with the normal setup. Check your cables from the battery to the control box. You should have 12 volts there. If you have power to your box, then check continuity from your control box to your winch. That is as far as I got with mine. From there, it could be a control wiring continuity or solenoid problem. It could also be a problem with your control switch or remote battery, but I assume you already checked those.

I was able to find a Warn troubleshooting guide online. I just searched "warn winch troubleshooting guide". That might help you narrow it down.

[jeffery9076]

Thanks mike and akcrawler
Winch has been setting around for 2 years and i was always doing splash entries into the water. I will look for a model #, yes i was hooking the battery with jumpers directly to to the winch. I was using a different battery that i have laying around it was well charged and tested good with my multimeter. I used the winch several times for other non running 6x6 i purchased to pull them on my trailer using a battery hooked up. No i have not checked it 2 years the control switch or remote battery. I will check with my multimeter and see wether i have electric flow thru the other electronics. My 6x6 engine charges the battery well headlights work very well all 4 of them. I will test everything you guys mentioned and post my results.

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP.
I will be posting another upgrade discussion attex with max axles please chime in. Just got the axles yesterday

[akcrawler]

If your tester cables are long enough, set your meter to measure resisance (ohms) and put a probe on each end of each wire/cable to check the continuity. Zero ohms (or very close to it) means the wire is good. If you put the probes on the terminals the wire is connected to, you will get a feel for bad connections.

[riotwarrior]

Not sure if your winch uses relay packs but if so, taking that and cleaning ONE terminal at a time will make testing and in all likelyhood take care of the problem for you. If it does not cure the issue then perhaps one or more of the relays are faulty.

Based on what you've said though I suspect a faulty controller setup or if it has relays bad contacts or a faulty relay.

JM2CW.

I'm actually going to be going through my winches relay controller pack soon and will photo document it thoroughly and post it in my Muscateer thread, as it is getting a full on re-wire of the entire machine winch included.

[Lantz]

If you have a battery charger with a starter setting, hook it up directly to the winch terminals. There was a plastic piece in mine that was broke that engaged/disengaged the spool, but it still kinda worked.

[jeffery9076]

I apoligize did not have time to test anything yesterday. Hopefully i will have time in the next few days surely on the weekend. I appreciate all the info and will post my results thanks again guys.

[jeffery9076]

Got the winch cleaned up worked with jumpers. Just need to check the rest of the electrical stuff this weekend. I hope i do not end up taking metal band and upper body off. post my results this weekend.

[jeffery9076]

No continuity or electric coming thru the positive side the ground is fine gonna put new wire in then check. I forgot i spliced 2 wires together for positive wire because it was free and blue at winch end red at battery I did this because was free and liked the blue end and matched the paint scheme. Everything is wrapped in loom and taped up really good. .