Builds Travis’s PNW LX570 (3 Viewers)

[tbisaacs]

I had the truck backed in the garage to finish up swapping out the rear differential fluid. When I finished I pressed the start button and nothing.

After what was possibly a panic attack I popped the hood and checked the battery - 12.2v. I put the NOCO on it and after a very long crank it started.

I got the truck situated in the garage just in case and swapped in my old X2 power back in. Thankfully the truck started again.

Dudes omg

I’m going to be careful next couple of days just in case but hope it’s the end of the drama. I’m going to warranty out this new interstate battery next week. My theory is that maybe I killed a cell winching it in the trailer.

I dropped my interstate FLA battery off at a local interstate store and they confirmed that it’s discharged which gives me some peace of mind. They are going to try to de-sulfate it before warrantying it out.

In other news I’m on the hunt for a winch

I clearly exceeded the duty cycle on my APEX and it’s now dead. I started by trying to replace the solenoid as all of the cheap Chinese winches share the same one.

However the issue is the drive motor itself. I knew this was the case as I tested it first by bypassing the solenoid. But it was worth $35 to try it.

I am going to try to fish out the drive motor from the under side of my bullbar.

Leaning toward a warn VR 12-s. Amazing warranty on those and much better duty cycle than any of the other entry level winches.

 

[TeCKis300]

I dropped my interstate FLA battery off at a local interstate store and they confirmed that it’s discharged which gives me some peace of mind. They are going to try to de-sulfate it before warrantying it out.

In other news I’m on the hunt for a winch

I clearly exceeded the duty cycle on my APEX and it’s now dead. I started by trying to replace the solenoid as all of the cheap Chinese winches share the same one.

View attachment 3208967

However the issue is the drive motor itself. I knew this was the case as I tested it first by bypassing the solenoid. But it was worth $35 to try it.

I am going to try to fish out the drive motor from the under side of my bullbar.

Leaning toward a warn VR 12-s. Amazing warranty on those and much better duty cycle than any of the other entry level winches.

Dang! Gave it's last pull doing a good deed.

With the way Matt's Offroad uses these, I thought they were unkillable?

 

[Tex68w]

I dropped my interstate FLA battery off at a local interstate store and they confirmed that it’s discharged which gives me some peace of mind. They are going to try to de-sulfate it before warrantying it out.

In other news I’m on the hunt for a winch

I clearly exceeded the duty cycle on my APEX and it’s now dead. I started by trying to replace the solenoid as all of the cheap Chinese winches share the same one.

View attachment 3208967

However the issue is the drive motor itself. I knew this was the case as I tested it first by bypassing the solenoid. But it was worth $35 to try it.

I am going to try to fish out the drive motor from the under side of my bullbar.

Leaning toward a warn VR 12-s. Amazing warranty on those and much better duty cycle than any of the other entry level winches.

ComeUp.

 

[tbisaacs]

Dang! Gave it's last pull doing a good deed.

With the way Matt's Offroad uses these, I thought they were unkillable?

I’m pretty disappointed to be honest. But grateful it got me on the trailer before giving up.

 

[tbisaacs]

ComeUp.

I like these too. Warn has slightly better warranty though. I’m honestly not sure yet

 

[grinchy]

Here’s a site (Australian) with a lot of reports on warranty honoring (or not as the case often is). It informed my recent winch decision.

Winch Warranty's - Who to Support and When to Walk, Warn,Runva,Ironman,Carbon,Tmax etc

Warn Industries Inc,Ateco Equipment,Smittybilt,TJM,Kingone,Ironman,Terrain Tamer, Mean Mother,T-Max, Aldi, Road Runner,Carbon etc " Lowmounts Only: Investigating the Get It Wet and the Warranty Is Void fine print covered by 90% of winch manufacturers,There is hope with 6 Companies below in...

4x4earth.com

Take a look at the carbon. I ended up with an Ironman, which has been lightly used and caused me no issues.

 

[tbisaacs]

Here’s a site (Australian) with a lot of reports on warranty honoring (or not as the case often is). It informed my recent winch decision.

Winch Warranty's - Who to Support and When to Walk, Warn,Runva,Ironman,Carbon,Tmax etc

Warn Industries Inc,Ateco Equipment,Smittybilt,TJM,Kingone,Ironman,Terrain Tamer, Mean Mother,T-Max, Aldi, Road Runner,Carbon etc " Lowmounts Only: Investigating the Get It Wet and the Warranty Is Void fine print covered by 90% of winch manufacturers,There is hope with 6 Companies below in...

4x4earth.com

Take a look at the carbon. I ended up with an Ironman, which has been lightly used and caused me no issues.

That control box is ugly but gets a pass, the specs are inspiring.

 

[grinchy]

That control box is ugly but gets a pass, the specs are inspiring.

Carbon building a pretty good rep. the spec that I really liked was this one
-> Winch weight including synthetic rope, control box complete with cables, mounting bolts & fairlead: 23.45kg
That's 52 pounds all in. In the end though my wallet won and I got an Ironman 12k for 25% less. It weighs in the mid 60 lbs.

 

[bwell]

I'll chime in on your winch venture, though I don't comment too much anymore. I have a 20 year old warn heavy weight, though not currently installed since I sold my 100 series. The only thing I will say for Warn, you can get parts for them from virtually anywhere, and even hodge podge them if needed, i.e. swapping to a higher hp motor for example. I try not to think about how heavy it is, but have everything to swap it to synthetic when I put it in my LX570 someday.

 

[tbisaacs]

I'll chime in on your winch venture, though I don't comment too much anymore. I have a 20 year old warn heavy weight, though not currently installed since I sold my 100 series. The only thing I will say for Warn, you can get parts for them from virtually anywhere, and even hodge podge them if needed, i.e. swapping to a higher hp motor for example. I try not to think about how heavy it is, but have everything to swap it to synthetic when I put it in my LX570 someday.

Yes thinking the same thing. Even on warns “standard duty” EVO winches they have a full parts catalog.

 

[MTKID]

I chose a Comeup 12.5 Slim because their slim profile would keep my bumper as tucked as possible. Also I had numerous people recommend it along with Warn. Haven’t actually used it yet. Really liked the tiny Warn RC 9.0 but most think a 200 needs more strength and it’s also so much more expensive

Probably not serious concerns since your bumper is already built to accommodate nearly any full size winch.

 

[tbisaacs]

I chose a Comeup 12.5 Slim because their slim profile would keep my bumper as tucked as possible. Also I had numerous people recommend it along with Warn. Haven’t actually used it yet. Really liked the tiny Warn RC 9.0 but most think a 200 needs more strength and it’s also so much more expensive

Probably not serious concerns since your bumper is already built to accommodate nearly any full size winch.

Only thing I’m perhaps foolishly optimizing for dimensions wise or the possibility to drop the new winch in from top or up from bottom. Not a huge deal to remove the bumper but would like to avoid it if possible.

 

[tbisaacs]

Ordered a Warn VR 12-S

 

[tbisaacs]

I had the truck backed in the garage to finish up swapping out the rear differential fluid. When I finished I pressed the start button and nothing.

After what was possibly a panic attack I popped the hood and checked the battery - 12.2v. I put the NOCO on it and after a very long crank it started.

I got the truck situated in the garage just in case and swapped in my old X2 power back in. Thankfully the truck started again.

Dudes omg

I’m going to be careful next couple of days just in case but hope it’s the end of the drama. I’m going to warranty out this new interstate battery next week. My theory is that maybe I killed a cell winching it in the trailer.

So unfortunately, more mystery.

I got the interstate back from interstate last week - fully charged and de-sulfated. Before I could swap it in, I had another no-crank. At this point I'm questioning my sanity and frantically texting my paranoia to @radman

However these no-cranks aren't like before, there is no click then whirrrr, it's just nothing when I hit the button. I swapped out my old AGM for my interstate and it fires up without hesitation.

I checked the old AGM, it read 12.2v on multi-meter and in the "weak" category using a Schumacher 100amp tester:



So at this point I assume this is root cause for my no crank.

I have also checked for parastic draw with a multi-meter, that seems fine (this is milli-amps). I can certainly dig deeper but 5 mA doesnt seem like a problem:

I've also verified that I'm seeing charge from the alternate with a multi-meter, and my Victron DC charger has no issues waking up when it see > 13.5v at the starter battery.

What I can't figure out is if this is dumb luck or something else. EG I did have a dead starter, then I killed my FLA interstate winching **and** my 5 year old X2 AGM coincidentally was swirling the drain.

 

[grinchy]

does your old starter work when jumpered? does the solenoid click?

 

[tbisaacs]

does your old starter work when jumpered? does the solenoid click?

I never checked, and scrapped it unfortunately. I was going to keep as a spare but then decided I'd rather just push the truck off a cliff if the starter goes out again

 

[supercarrera]

When my battery is too weak to start the LX, I get no noise either. I do get a bunch of lights on the dash though. I can jump the battery and it'll start right up.

 

[tbisaacs]

When my battery is too weak to start the LX, I get no noise either. I do get a bunch of lights on the dash though. I can jump the battery and it'll start right up.

At this point I'm mostly confident that the battery is the current cause no start issue given that I was able to jump / swap battery. But what I'm not sure of is if there is something causing draw, or again just total coincidence.

I am going on a wheeling trip to Sedona at the end of Feb and am looking for a smoking gun so I can feel better about it!

 

[grinchy]

my static draw is 1/2A (6 watts or so).

 

[Tex68w]

Time for a new battery. Don't you have your winch isolated? If so you can eliminate that as the draw.