HF Badlands 12 k DIY winch hack waterproof upgrade mod (1 Viewer)

[ThreeEyedBandit]

Good write up!

Just an FYI. Those 'magnets' are actually brushes. And a hint to installing them is get two started onto the commutator, then you can use your finger to push the third on into its holder and onto the comm. Then repeat for the fourth. Easy peasy, but probably won't make any sense when you read it...

Matt

 

[profro]

I opened my HF 9k winch which had quit working and low and behold the motor was full of rust and the brushes were frozen into place. I used a bunch of electrical cleaner and a scotchbrite pad to clean up as much as possible and got the brushes moving freely again. I sealed using RTV after removing the old paper gaskets. I am letting cure and will try to bench test later to see if I got it working again. Thanks for posting this.

 

[rockstate45]

@half k cruiser, fantastic write-up here. I opened up my winch to re-clock it last night and remembered that you had posted this thread. I'll probably do the waterproofing mods here to get it up to snuff. Do you recommend it to the extent you waterproofed it if there are no plans to submerge the winch? Ideally, it'll just be rained on or splashed. If it's submerged, I will have bigger fish to fry...

 

[half k cruiser]

@half k cruiser, fantastic write-up here. I opened up my winch to re-clock it last night and remembered that you had posted this thread. I'll probably do the waterproofing mods here to get it up to snuff. Do you recommend it to the extent you waterproofed it if there are no plans to submerge the winch? Ideally, it'll just be rained on or splashed. If it's submerged, I will have bigger fish to fry...

Jack, thats completely your call. I look at it like I may be out in the middle of nowhere and this could be my last resort. I really don't use my winch much, but Its only a few hours work to do all the stuff i mentioned. @profro mentioned that his was full of rust, i wonder if he ever submerged it ? Plus if we ever do a group outing to the high water mark in Arkansas you will wish you had !

 

[rockstate45]

Jack, thats completely your call. I look at it like I may be out in the middle of nowhere and this could be my last resort. I really don't use my winch much, but Its only a few hours work to do all the stuff i mentioned. @profro mentioned that his was full of rust, i wonder if he ever submerged it ? Plus if we ever do a group outing to the high water mark in Arkansas you will wish you had !

Good point! I'll dig into it over the next couple days and waterproof it. With the way you modified the fairlead, do you see any issues with side pulls? Pros/cons to doing that or buying the Warn at nearly $115?

Amazon.com: WARN 5742 Roller Fairlead: Automotive

 

[half k cruiser]

@rockstate45 I don't have the stock fairlead anymore. I ditched it when I bought the Shortbus bumper. I now run a cast hawse that is designed for steel cable. The Warn would be a much better fairlead if you are for sure sticking with steel cable. As far as side pulls its actually designed to go up in the ARB and be through bolted from the top. It will actually be quite a bit stronger that way.

 

[rockstate45]

@rockstate45 I don't have the stock fairlead anymore. I ditched it when I bought the Shortbus bumper. I now run a cast hawse that is designed for steel cable. The Warn would be a much better fairlead if you are for sure sticking with steel cable. As far as side pulls its actually designed to go up in the ARB and be through bolted from the top. It will actually be quite a bit stronger that way.

Thanks for the input, man. Looks like I'll be buying one of the Warn fairleads soon. We need to get an impromptu club trip together soon.

 

[half k cruiser]

I would like to do the high water mark next spring, say march or april. Also need to make the trip out to Kokopelli sometime, that would be a great club trip.

 

[profro]

J@profro mentioned that his was full of rust, i wonder if he ever submerged it ?

Often

 

[half k cruiser]

Update: I need to relocate my solenoid pack. After doing some research it appears the Albright style solenoids are fairly water/weatherproof from the factory. I'm thinking about doing away with the box altogether as its is somewhat cumbersome and limiting on my space options. I'm going to be spending some time looking under the hood and playing with mounting ideas. My first that came to mind was deleting the ABS that I don't want anyway and using the space where all that crap sits to mount the box. However, its cold here in Kansas and getting colder so I don't really feel like working on a brake system.

Back on the firewall would be awesome as it would get everything up out of the way, wiring could be done very cleanly. However, the amount of wire it would take to make this work would bankrupt me.

Most likely is going to be over around the washer bottle area or maybe in front of the battery. Up by the charcoal canister would also be pretty good. I have a remote for it now so I also need a small amount of space to mount that up as well. Ideas are welcome.

 

[half k cruiser]

Ok here is a pic of the condensation I found inside the box after cutting it open the other night. As you can see the little amount of moisture that did form was able to start corroding the contacts. The winch still worked great before I pulled the pack but you could see how another year of this might cause an issue.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Went through and read this as I'm going to take a similar path on my Engo winch I just picked up.

For the control box, you applied vacuum, but no way for air to enter the control box. This means it's going to defeat one, if not all, of your sealed connections, allowing water to enter and corrode as it did.

You need to provide a way for clean, dry air to enter the control box. Another nipple like you've got on the opposite side of the box, ran to a clean, dry air source, would correct the issue. This method is exactly how the 2F distributors are vented.

Either way, good work!

 

[half k cruiser]

@GLTHFJ60 thank you for the advice. So your thinking that a small amount of air was able to get vacuumed past the exterior of the box somewhere ? I had honestly not thought about that but it makes quite a bit of since. Instead of a nipple what about using a petcock valve like what you would see on the bottom of an air compressor tank ? This way you could crack it just a bit to allow some airflow under normal conditions. But, when you went to do say, a water crossing, you could close the petcock and not allow water to get sucked into the box.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

The fact that there is moisture inside the box means that outside air+water were able to get in past your seals. Water like that won't appear out of nowhere.

If you use a petcock that's typically open then you're defeating the purpose of sealing the rest of the box IMHO.

Either seal the box 100% (no vaccum vent like you've got now) or set it up so that clean air is drawn through the solenoid box 100% of the time.

 

[half k cruiser]

The fact that there is moisture inside the box means that outside air+water were able to get in past your seals. Water like that won't appear out of nowhere.

If you use a petcock that's typically open then you're defeating the purpose of sealing the rest of the box IMHO.

Either seal the box 100% (no vaccum vent like you've got now) or set it up so that clean air is drawn through the solenoid box 100% of the time.

So what would keep you from drawing in water if you submerge the box ?

 

[maxamillion2345]

Just leave the box open to air and water flow, seal your solenoid up, coat all the posts in dielectric, clean em up once every couple years. Works for every other winch. Water in the solenoid is what you have to worry about. The posts corroding a little isn't a big deal.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

So what would keep you from drawing in water if you submerge the box ?

Not sure where the disconnect is here. I'm saying that to properly implement your idea for sealing the solenoid box with a vent, you need to have an air feed from somewhere that won't ever be exposed to water, but also isn't under vacuum.

Honestly I think that @maxamillion2345 's idea is best here, either that or a complete exterior seal with no vent.

 

[half k cruiser]

Ok, pretty sure I follow what you're saying now. Either way, I won't be concerned about it anymore as i've ditched the box altogether. Just have to wait on my PS battery box to show up so I can get to mounting the solenoid and making some cables.

 

[sggoat]

Agree with GLTHGFJ60--either seal it or provide clean air.
Here's something you may want to consider--I set this up to try to eliminate that nasty little piece of metal inside the brake reservoir that ALWAYS rusts. I took the metal baffle out and piped up a tube from the reservoir cap to a small cannister full of indicator silica gel-when the ambient temp changes and moves air in and out of the system, it has to go through the silica gel, absorbing any moisture that might be present - thus keeping it out of the system. you could do the same with the winch parts-no need to hook it up to the vac system. Just check the desiccant every time you change the oil(a good time interval) If the desiccant is pink, time to change/regenerate it.
You can regenerate the desiccant easily-pop it in an old hair curler heater (that you have removed the pegs from), overnight(it is just the right temp to regenerate the stuff--150-180 deg. F)--note: DO NOT heat the desiccant higher than 180, or it will be destroyed) It will be bright blue in the morning-ready to re-install.
(the pic shows another handy use for the heater--here I'm drying out my Ghost peppers)

 

[yemany]

i was thinking in buy one of those winches are they really good or just people saying they are bad of off roading