MScruiser
obsessive-compulsive oppositional-defiant wise-ass
I scored a used Warn M12000 a few weeks ago, and this is what it looked like:
The winch came from one of the city's utility trucks (Energy in Jackson, MS) that was bought at auction. These trucks are usually fitted with winches out of principle, but they are rarely if ever used. This one was weathered, faded, and had a bit of surface rust, but the cable looked virtually new once you unraveled it a bit.
Now most people would have just kept it as-is, but seeing at this thing is going on a built 200 Series, I had to make her pretty.
When I got it home, I hooked it up to a battery, and did a function check on it. Everything worked wonderfully.
Next, I started taking it apart. I inspected the inside of the drum and brake, the planetary gears, and the overall internals of the winch. There was a little surface rust on the brake assembly, but nothing major. The gear grease looked great too. Seeing how little this winch was actually used, I knew the motor internals would look good too.
I got my angle grinder with lapping wheel and got all of the surface rust off of the drum. I then gave it a heavy coat of high temperature engine enamel.
The raw aluminum shafts that span across the drum were pretty chewed up, so I removed them and sanded out the rough spots. I then hit them with some silver engine enamel.
I then bought some new Grade 8 mounting bolts and replaced ALL the rusted hardware with some stainless steel hardware, some of which, was very difficult to find.
Then cleaned up the control box and repainted the "W" with red enamel, replacing the hardware with stainless while I was at it.
I then ordered a 92' 1/2" synthetic rope off of Ebay. Multiple guys in my local TLC chapter have this same rope, and were singing it's praises. It was hard not to get one, as it was only $139 shipped.
Here is a "Before" and "After"
The winch came from one of the city's utility trucks (Energy in Jackson, MS) that was bought at auction. These trucks are usually fitted with winches out of principle, but they are rarely if ever used. This one was weathered, faded, and had a bit of surface rust, but the cable looked virtually new once you unraveled it a bit.
Now most people would have just kept it as-is, but seeing at this thing is going on a built 200 Series, I had to make her pretty.
When I got it home, I hooked it up to a battery, and did a function check on it. Everything worked wonderfully.
Next, I started taking it apart. I inspected the inside of the drum and brake, the planetary gears, and the overall internals of the winch. There was a little surface rust on the brake assembly, but nothing major. The gear grease looked great too. Seeing how little this winch was actually used, I knew the motor internals would look good too.
I got my angle grinder with lapping wheel and got all of the surface rust off of the drum. I then gave it a heavy coat of high temperature engine enamel.
The raw aluminum shafts that span across the drum were pretty chewed up, so I removed them and sanded out the rough spots. I then hit them with some silver engine enamel.
I then bought some new Grade 8 mounting bolts and replaced ALL the rusted hardware with some stainless steel hardware, some of which, was very difficult to find.
Then cleaned up the control box and repainted the "W" with red enamel, replacing the hardware with stainless while I was at it.
I then ordered a 92' 1/2" synthetic rope off of Ebay. Multiple guys in my local TLC chapter have this same rope, and were singing it's praises. It was hard not to get one, as it was only $139 shipped.
Here is a "Before" and "After"
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