Warn 9.5XP motor water damage

hzavarce · 08-24-08, 06:48 PM

Well, today I found out my winch was not working. Long story short I found this thread:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/216374-warn-9-5-xp-problem.html

I did not do the drain hole work, and now my motor is toasted… The instructions are very vague about this !!..... The winch has only been on the truck for 10K miles, and have only used it once !

I was hoping I can clean it up and fix it, but wanted to ask for advice / help first.

What are my options here ? any thoughts are appreciated. See picture:

sprocket3 · 08-24-08, 11:04 PM

That is pretty ugly. I have a nex xp on my Short Bus bumper. I hope this doesn't happen feet down!

Did you have the winch submerged in water? Seems like a lot of rust for only a couple years.

You could just take it apart and clean it all up real well then put it back together again. It's just a motor after all!

Another option is a local motor rebuilder. I think every large city has a local place that rebuilds starters/alternators/motors and such. It would be worth a call to get a quote for local repair saving all the shipping fees.

Assassin_Offroad · 08-24-08, 11:25 PM

over here we 2 pack the inside with elec winding paint, as well as string and varnish wind the com, to prevent the wires flying out with centrifical force, causing them to contact the outers, as well as seal the motor and add a breather tube to it, so it runs to a low vaccum spot on the air cleaner to change the air in there so it doesnt condensate either.

Also add o rings to the drum ends, on the std ones, but also make new drums bigger, as well as larger centre dia, so they wind in faster, and when replacing the motor we use a superwinch 7.8 hp motor instead of the warn unit.

concretejungle · 08-25-08, 06:12 AM

another reason not to blindly chose warn as your only winch choice. Hate to hear that happened to you.

sleeoffroad · 08-25-08, 07:12 AM

That is not Warn's fault. The issue is that the winch is setup for feet down mounting and you need to open the drain hole for feet forward mounting.

hzavarce · 08-25-08, 08:47 AM

The winch was never submerge under water. The water that got in was due to normal conditions, such as rain, car wash, etc...

I agree with Slee, and I don't blame the whole thing to the product. I do however think that the instruction could have a VERY BIG WARNING text about this, and in my opinion Warn is to be partially blamed about this.

If you look at the instructions, they only explain this in a few lines, and show a picture that does not really say anything. For example, even if I caught this, I would have never thought that you have to actually take the motor off the winch to open up the drain hole, and the instructions do not say this anywhere.

Anyway, I worked on it last night some more, and I was able to take everything apart. It was not too hard. I also think that the main cause of failure was that the motor contacts (i.e. brushes) where stuck (see picture). I was able to free up all 4 and I am now cleaning things up as much as I can.

I will put it together and see if it works. If successful then I will order some parts, like new set of brushes, gaskets, etc…

sleeoffroad · 08-25-08, 11:30 AM

The manual I read had pretty clear instructions and pictures on this. That said, that was the first manual I read for a winch to see if this was documented after we discovered the same situation.

hzavarce · 08-25-08, 12:46 PM

Here are the pages for my manual. Off course, when you read this after the fact, it makes perfect sense. Note that it does not say anything at all how to perform this task (i.e. motor removal).

TroutRunner · 08-25-08, 02:30 PM

If I have the shortbus with the 9.5X do I need to make the change or am I good to go?

TR

TroutRunner · 08-27-08, 09:15 AM

I wish I had my manual but it is in storage, any answer to the post above?

TR

hzavarce · 08-27-08, 09:30 AM

I think you are good. The winch is ready for feet down mounting, which is the Slee shortbus setup.

You only need to make a change when you are doing a feet forward install.

TroutRunner · 08-28-08, 07:39 PM

Thanks, I dunked my whole truck a few weeks ago

and my winch still works, but I wanted to be sure I did all I could to avoid problems.

TR

concretejungle · 08-28-08, 08:19 PM

this makes me wonder about my t-max now? Nothing in the owners manual at all about a drain.

sleeoffroad · 08-29-08, 08:38 AM

The feet down mounting in the ShortBus does not require changes when mounting the Warn winches. However if you did dunk the winch, make sure you run it so that it gets hot and the moisture evaporate.

hzavarce · 09-02-08, 08:32 AM

Update: I cleaned up the rust as much as I could and loosen up the brushes. I put the motor back together and it worked !.

However, I think the damage is already done, and the reliability and longevity of the motor is seriously compromised.

Now the best part. I did send an email to Warn customer service, and they called me ! and offer to look at the winch and try to repair it free of charge. I only had to pay shipping to their shop.

Warn should be getting the Winch today... lets see what they say about it.

concretejungle · 09-02-08, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hzavarce

Update: I cleaned up the rust as much as I could and loosen up the brushes. I put the motor back together and it worked !.

However, I think the damage is already done, and the reliability and longevity of the motor is seriously compromised.

Now the best part. I did send an email to Warn customer service, and they called me ! and offer to look at the winch and try to repair it free of charge. I only had to pay shipping to their shop.

Warn should be getting the Winch today... lets see what they say about it.

Now that's good service.

hzavarce · 09-03-08, 02:50 PM

I just got an email from Warn. They replaced the motor with a new one, and they are shipping the winch back to me today !!!!

The received the winch, look at it, repaired it, and shipped it back to me in less than 24 hours. Wow, that is very impressive, kudos for Warn ! boy, can't tell you enough how happy I am.

richj11 · 09-06-08, 04:00 PM

This thread scared the heck out of me. Even though this is IH8MUD, I actually love mud and water. My winch has been submerged many times....

Anyway, I have a Warn XD9000. First thing I did was check the manual and it does NOT have the note about the drain hole depending on how you mount it. It DOES however say "After submerging the winch, send it in for factory servicing."

So, I figured I had better check it out. I did find some minor rust on the end bearing. I didn't tear it down any more, but what I could see inside with a flashlight looked almost as good as new.

So, I cleaned it all up and put it back in. It ran fine and the peace of mind was worth it.

e9999 · 09-06-08, 10:45 PM

odd, went and checked the manual for my newish M12000. Nothing about rotating the drains and in fact, it shows the winch with feet forward as the only position used in the drawings... Maybe the drains are already set up for feet forward?

anybody knows specifically about the M12 drains?

FJBen · 09-09-08, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by e9999

odd, went and checked the manual for my newish M12000. Nothing about rotating the drains and in fact, it shows the winch with feet forward as the only position used in the drawings... Maybe the drains are already set up for feet forward?

anybody knows specifically about the M12 drains?

x2 bump? is the 12K good to go, or does it need some drain flippin?

concretejungle · 09-09-08, 06:50 PM

yall should just sell those and get a t-max. hehehe

K-808 · 11-23-08, 03:16 PM

The M12000 is designed for feet forward only, so I wouldn't expect you to have a problem if that is how you mounted it. If you are worried, pull the motor and have a look for signs of water damage and to check the drains.

gr

e9999 · 11-23-08, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-808

The M12000 is designed for feet forward only, so I wouldn't expect you to have a problem if that is how you mounted it. If you are worried, pull the motor and have a look for signs of water damage and to check the drains.

gr

yup, discussed in a separate thread.

KLF · 10-31-09, 02:33 PM

Bumpin' this BTT.

My HS9500 has been non-functional for almost 2 years now, I tried to use it to pull someone out of a ditch in an ice storm, and when I tried to use the motor to spool out the cable, I heard a nasty SNAP and that was it, no more worky.

So today I finally took it off the bumper and tore it apart. I gotta say that even though it's 6 years old, I'm pretty disappointed with the lack of weatherproofing on this thing. BOTH ends have significant water damage, and all of the bolts and cap screws were a challenge to get out. I'm really not sure I'm gonna be able to salvage it. This model is no longer available, so I'd have to replace it with a 9.5XP, best price I'm seeing is around $1250, a 50% increase over what I paid for this HS9500.

I read this thread, and looked carefully at the instructions (I still have them), there is NOTHING in them about opening up a drain in the motor for any type of mounting. I can see the drain in the casting, it looks to me like it was originally clogged with grease. Mine is a foot-down setup. I'm pretty sure this motor is junk, it's very corroded inside. A new one is almost $400 from Warn.

The part that snapped is a small planetary gear unit on the motor side, it's called the "Stage 1 carrier assembly". But Warn doesn't sell just that piece, you have to buy the entire drum support, another $225. WTF???

I guess I'll call Warn on Monday, but I'm pretty sure they're gonna tell me I'm SOL.

hzavarce · 11-02-09, 07:38 AM

KLF, I would also send an email with more facts, like a copy of your manual.

If it is not clear, or says nothing at all they feel more responsible

Mine was out of warranty and they still took care of it.

Good luck ! let us know hoe it goes

KLF · 11-02-09, 07:40 PM

I called Warn Customer Service, they didn't seem too sympathitic, although he did say that their winches are covered for lifetime for defects in manufacturing. IMO, this is a manufacturing defect. As far as I know, it's not a maintenance item to have to tear a winch completely apart every year and make sure it's not full of water. This winch has NEVER been under water (I don't roll that way), and I don't think I've used it more than 6-8 times at the most. I tried and tried, but the motor is unrepairable. The bearing at the outer end of the armature is totally rusted to the armature, but it is all crunchy and nasty. I can't get the plastic brushholder out of the end housing either, so now there's no way to get it back together.

He said they can't diagnose a warranty coverage of over the phone (understandable), so I have to ship it to an authorized repair shop and have them make the call. I guess I'll have to take the chance. Now all I have to do is find a strong enough box...

BTW, he said that whole "open the drain hole" thing only applies to the 9.5XP in a foot-forward mounting.

concretejungle · 11-03-09, 08:53 AM

this is another great example of why i do not understand everyone's die-hard loyalty to Warn. Every time a winch thread gets going everyone says spend the extra money and buy a warn since it is bullet proof and will never fail. I bought a t-max 12,500 and saved over $500, have used it numerous times and still have no water issues.

I just don't understand....

lowenbrau · 11-03-09, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by concretejungle

this is another great example of why i do not understand everyone's die-hard loyalty to Warn. Every time a winch thread gets going everyone says spend the extra money and buy a warn since it is bullet proof and will never fail. I bought a t-max 12,500 and saved over $500, have used it numerous times and still have no water issues.

I just don't understand....

I totally agree. I bought a 9000 when they first came out in the early 90s and had my first surprise not long afterward. Mine was mounted feet down and still looked much worse than the one originally posted. I cleaned it up semi annually thereafter and eventually had the motor rebuilt and finally gave up on the winch altogether within five years. If you regularly use your rig in in mud you should probably choose something other than a planetary Warn. An 8274 is still very good value. Mud leaking into the drum of that winch doesn't end up in the motor.

I'm surprised at how good the factory 80 series winch seems to be once you replace the main shaft with the upgraded version. I haven't had an opportunity to really abuse mine yet though.

Mark W · 11-05-09, 10:49 PM

PTO,PTO,PTO

Or maybe a hydro

Mark...

Gumby · 11-06-09, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLF

.

The part that snapped is a small planetary gear unit on the motor side, it's called the "Stage 1 carrier assembly". But Warn doesn't sell just that piece, you have to buy the entire drum support, another $225. WTF???

I guess I'll call Warn on Monday, but I'm pretty sure they're gonna tell me I'm SOL.

Same thing happened with my 9.5ti. I welded the carrier back together. I thought I saw it available, but maybe not.