Warn M12000 Rebuild (3 Viewers)

[DirtaddictLC80]

Winch parts taking a little longer than expected to get back from the powder coat shop. In the meantime, I'm starting to get the other pieces to this install together.

Installed an ARB Winch Bumper today. One of the easiest mods I've ever done.


ARB Winch Bumper-Front View


ARB Winch Bumper-Side View


New Sears Group 65 Platinum and upgraded battery cables up next.

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

I was able to pick up my winch parts from the powder coat shop this week. Almost ready to start putting it all back together.

Powder coating black (vs. gray, the original color) saved me a bunch of dollars. I also think it looks great and will blend right in the the ARB bumper.



Powder Coated Parts


Powder Coated Parts

 

[UWdave]

PM me when you're ready to put back your brake assembly. I did a similar thread on here with my used M12000. When I called Warn I ended up talking to a guy who told me how to clock the brake spring properly. Probably not 100% but close enough to not pay for a replacement assembly.

Do tell...

I'm in the process of overhauling my Warn 9.5XP.

It has worked great for the last few years. No problems at all even though it has been submerged numerous time. I had to take my bumper off and figured it would be a good time to give it some TLC.

Everything was going fine, until I I pulled the brake out.

The DIY doesn't talk at all about winding the spring.

 

[IrishLX450]

Great thread, was just getting ready to do mine.

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

Upgraded Battery and Cables

Since it was about time to replace my battery, and I needed a bigger battery to power the winch anyway, I decided to do a power upgrade while I was in there.

Battery Box and original cables removed.

OEM Battery Box


OEM Battery Cables


New Battery and upgraded FZJ80 cables from FourRunner

Diehard Platinum Group 65


Upgraded Battery Cables

Info on the Fourrunner's cables can be found here:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/merchandise-storefront/479096-fzj80-heavy-duty-battery-cable-sets.html




Group 65 Battery Installed

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

PM me when you're ready to put back your brake assembly. I did a similar thread on here with my used M12000. When I called Warn I ended up talking to a guy who told me how to clock the brake spring properly. Probably not 100% but close enough to not pay for a replacement assembly.

I'm ready to try to put the brake in. Going to PM you now. Thanks!

 

[85fjmule]

Great thread. I have been thinking about which winch to get for my FJ60. After reading this today I did a CL search and came up with a used Warn M12000 for $350 close to me. Going to check it out tomorrow, hopefully I come up with something as nice as yours in the end.

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

Great thread. I have been thinking about which winch to get for my FJ60. After reading this today I did a CL search and came up with a used Warn M12000 for $350 close to me. Going to check it out tomorrow, hopefully I come up with something as nice as yours in the end.

It may be a great deal. Winches can take a good amount of abuse, and the design is pretty simple, so rebuilding is straight forward. However, it can get costly, depending on what you need to replace. gaskets, fresh grease, new powder coat, are easy. Things start to get costly if you need to buy new planetary gears, gear housing, a new drum, etc. You should give any used winch a once over and do a few tests to make sure that the major pieces are in good working order.

Before I purchased mine, I made sure that the motor worked both in and out, and I could free spool the drum. I checked as best I could that the drum wasn't bent. I also listened to the internals. It was noisy, but no grinding or really nasty sounds from what I could hear. My assessment was that it just had some moderate to severe external corrosion, and the grease was old.

Of course you never know until you take it apart. I had my fingers crossed that the internals were not damaged or rusted out. In that regard I was right. I had just a little bit of pitting on the internal metal components. It cleaned up really well.

On my rebuild project, my biggest cost may be with the brake. If I can't get the old one back in and working properly, I'll have to fork up a few hundred bucks for a new one.

 

[Corbet]

The PO of mine let me disassemble it in his driveway with the promise that if I could not put it back it was mine. So I did the standard power in and out. Everything checked so I pulled the planetary gears and motor for inspection.

 

[85fjmule]

What brand of synthetic rope did you end up using? Would you take the brake apart again, I just picked mine up today and did a teardown everything looks good except a bad solenoid.

 

[UWdave]

I wrote up some note from my 9.5xp overhaul.

Warn 9.5xp Overhaul

On the brake topic: I would remove the brake assembly, but I wouldn't disassemble it.

The inside of my drum had some dust in it. (brake dust or dirt?)

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

On the brake topic: I would remove the brake assembly, but I wouldn't disassemble it.

The inside of my drum had some dust in it. (brake dust or dirt?)

I would have preferred that, but 20+ years of neglect required a full tear down. My brake assembly was pretty well stuck in the drum. On top of this, the drive shaft was practically fused on the brake assembly with rust. With the drum being sanded down smooth and powder coated, the brake assembly had to come out.

I was concerned that using a drift to hammer out the brake assembly would damage it. Instead, I removed the snap ring on the end of the assembly while it was in the drum, so it could unwind and I could get the assembly out. In hindsight, maybe I could have used a press, but I don't have one handy in my garage and didn't think of that option until it was too late.

To get the drive shaft and the assembly separated, I had to bang the end of the brake assembly with a rubber mallet several times while holding the drive shaft.

Now that everything is cleaned up, I hadn't thought about seeing if Warn would rewind my brake assembly for me, as you mentioned in your thread. Can't hurt to ask. Otherwise, I'll either try to rewind it myself or, worst case, buy a new brake assembly.


Tip of Brake Assembly in Drum


Drive Shaft


M12000 Brake Assembly and Drive Shaft


M12000 Brake Assembly and Drive Shaft

 

[UWdave]

To get my brake out I simply put a hammer handle in the drum and tapped lightly with another hammer.

I thought about re-winding but was discouraged by:
1) No clear guidance on how much to wind. Warn makes no official position. I couldn't even find a good DIY write up anywhere. With something as important as this, I figured I wouldn't mess around.
2) Just for kicks, I played around with self winding. Different levels of winding appeared to greatly affect the friction

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

Brake Rewinding Procedure

I was able to get the rewinding procedure from a very reliable source. Here's what he told me to do.

1. Hold lower cone with left hand and slide spring onto the protruding shaft. The pointy part of the spring should point up.
2. place the upper cone (narrow side down) onto the spring, putting the point of the spring in the hole on the upper cone.
3. slide the smaller circular piece with the dog ears (wings) on the splines of the shaft. Align so it fits together.
4. Clock that piece two teeth to the right (about 8-10 degrees). The dog ears of the smaller circular piece will now be offset relative to the dog ears of the upper cone.
5. put washers and snap ring back on
6. Turn upper cone 180 degrees clockwise. Hold while putting the 3 brake pad pieces around the cone.
7. While holding everything together, put the assembly back into the drum. When the drive shaft turns, it will expand the brake assembly and lock it into the drum, allowing the drum to turn with the drive shaft.

Pieces of the Brake Assembly

20130210_131745

Picture Showing Proper Offset of Dog Ears

20130208_221812

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

What brand of synthetic rope did you end up using?

Haven't bought my synthetic rope yet. Viking Offroad has been out of stock. I think I will be calling Southeast Overland for my set up, as that vendor is active on the boards here, and has good feedback from other Mud Members. I'll ask what he recommends on brand. Most people seem to buy Masterpull or Amsteel.

Would you take the brake apart again, I just picked mine up today and did a teardown everything looks good except a bad solenoid.

Brake rewinding is really not that hard, once you have the proper procedure and played with the assembly a bit to understand how it works. Still, I hope I won't have to dig this deep into my winch again for a long, long time.

 

[iptman]

Nice work DirtaddictLC80. When you get everything buttoned back up and spool your cable try to see if it holds the load of your truck.

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

M12000 Mounting to ARB Bumper - Questions

When I bought my winch, I did not get any mounting hardware or installation instructions with it. However, I figure that mounting an M12000 to an 80 Series ARB Deluxe Bull Bar has been done a million times. I hope someone can save me a little time by answering these questions:

1. Do you need to clock the motor or the gear housing of the winch (for access to the clutch lever) for a proper install?

2. For those who left the control pack external to the vehicle, did you leave it attached to the motor housing or did you move it to a bracket on the bumper?

3. I assume the bumper is strong enough and has pre-drilled holes that match to the M12000, so that I can mount the winch directly to the ARB bumper without an additional mount kit?

4. What type/size bolts did you use to mount the winch to the bumper? I assume that the upper bolts will be shorter than the lower bolts, which will be going through a Hawse Fairlead on my install.

5. For people who used a Hawse, did you use an offset fairlead or the standard kind? Or does it matter?


Thanks!

EDIT: added mounting hardware diagram from this thread:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/winching-recovery/475756-m12000-hardware-mounting-bolts-size.html



M12000 Mounting Hardware

 

[iptman]

1. Do you need to clock the motor or the gear housing of the winch (for access to the clutch lever) for a proper install?

2. For those who left the control pack external to the vehicle, did you leave it attached to the motor housing or did you move it to a bracket on the bumper?

3. I assume the bumper is strong enough and has pre-drilled holes that match to the M12000, so that I can mount the winch directly to the ARB bumper without an additional mount kit?

4. What type/size bolts did you use to mount the winch to the bumper? I assume that the upper bolts will be shorter than the lower bolts, which will be going through a Hawse Fairlead on my install.

5. For people who used a Hawse, did you use an offset fairlead or the standard kind? Or does it matter?


Thanks!

I had to clock both the motor and gear-set side but I don't know how they were clocked prior to tear down. The clutch side was clocked so that the lever angles just a little towards the truck from TDC. The motor should be clocked at a similar angle.

I was able to leave the solenoid pack strapped to the motor without the supplied bracket. It's a tight fit but nothing rubs or touches. Having someone there to help you raise it in to place from beneath the bumper worked well for me. I used 2 straps/hooks from ratchet straps and wrapped them around the top bar (2-3x) of the ARB and hooked them to the winch. Then as I was lying on my back the other person pulled the straps to take the weight of the winch. This allowed me to angle it in without bench pressing 100+ lbs.

The pre-drilled holes on the bumper do match up to the winch but the roller fairlead holes do not. You have to drill a couple new holes to get it to fit. Not sure about a hawse fairlead.

I believe the bolt size is the same as a lot of the bolts on our trucks. If I recall correctly they are M10 1.25 pitch (M12 1.25 being the other size on our frames). I had to get longer bolts than came with the kit since some of the threads on my winch were stripped. DO NOT over tighten these bolts. Grade 8.8 bolts will strip out aluminum very easily.

Can't help on 5.

 

[iptman]

Here's some pics of the angles and clearances on mine.

 

[iptman]

From above...