Project Superwinch Husky 8+ (1 Viewer)

Well, here I go again blabbing about another project for the 80.... This time, as the subject reads, is the winch. I will start by saying this - Without ever having run this winch, the Superwinch Husky series is probably the MOST durable electric winch built, end of story, kick your Warn to the weeds (unless it is an 8274).

Don't let the plastic cover fool you, the internals are that nice. Everything is very beefy. Case hardened nickel alloy steel spur gears in the first box with the same material worm gear driving a 5.5" diameter phosphor bronze wheel (very strong/low friction) in the main box. The only gear that does not run on a ball or needle bearing is the second gear in the first box. The rest run on German INA ball and needle bearings. The first box is packed with grease. The main box runs in .6 of a quart 90/140 gear lube, which can be changed easily.

All cases are cast from aluminum, are heat treated, and waterproof. We are talking real seals, the rubber type with spring. All bolts are metric cap screws of 12.9 grade.

So if I think this winch is soooooooo good, why am I modding it? A little more speed, a little more pull, and to add a little more ease of maintaining it. The short answer, increase the speed of the motor 30 - 40%, increase the power (Bowmotor), throw in some grease fittings for the first box and poly drum bearings.

The Husky 8 was chosen over the 10 because it has a little more speed - the gear ratio is 229:1 vs. 294:1. Also, the drum will hold 150 of 5/16 or 125' of 3/8 cable vs. 90' of 3/8 on the 10. The drum has a diameter of 2.76 on the 8 vs 3" on the 10. Most 9k pound winches use a 2.5" drum, so I am not worried about strength. The drum and gear ratio are the only differences between the two, if I need more power I can swap in the 294 gears, or use a snatch block. Esimates will place this winch at roughly a 12k lb pull and no load line speed should be in 40 ft/min range.

How about some pictures?


Check out the motor armatures. Left to right Husky, X9, Bowmotor


Bearings...


Mods...

Painted texture black. 3 grease fittings were installed. The first is one on the side cover for the left drum bearing, next is on top of the worm gearbox which feeds down to the right drum bearing. The last can not be seen in the picture, it supplies fresh Redline moly grease to the spur gear box, which sits behind the worm box and motor. The worm gearbox is filled with Redline Synthetic 75W140NS gear oil. A gear oil that is safe for alloys with copper in them is important, the Redline lube is.



Motor was disassembled, painted with a rattle can high temp silver ceramic paint, then baked for an hour to harden the paint. I figure black motors soak up the sun and get hot before you even use em'.



Winch mock up on front of 80... needs to move up about 4".

I know Husky are very tough. but ramsey RE series are very tough also. I will outpull any planetary gear winches but worm gear are really slow. They do have a lot of advantages in heavy winching. Worm gear winches does not need any brakes and could be powered out for a long distance.

Where did you get Husky in US? Land Rover Outfitters? They are pretty hard to get in US.

I am pretty impressed but my next winch would be something waterproof. I might just go to 9.5 XP so I could still use it if I got smaller trail vehicle someday.

Brian,

What was the final price to your door from England (if you don't mind me asking)? Long time ago I talked to hem about using the same motor in a Warn M10000. They said it should fit ok.

Ali

They can be slow out of the box, Superwinch rates the 10 at 22ish FPM no load, and they rate the 8 at 19ish FPM no load. It appears as though the marketing department under rated the line speed on the 8 to make the 10 look like the better choice. Same power and higher gear ratio... 28 - 29FPM is more like it. Throw on the 4k rpm engine and 40 FPM should be about right. The Warn M12000 spins 30 FPM no load.

As mentioned above, the Husky is waterproof, even the motor.

They are readily available from many sources in the USA. Just run a search on google.... the cheapest price I saw was just over $1000. I snagged mine off of ebay a couple of weeks back for $568 delivered, brand new.

The motor was $280 USD plus about $70 to have it express air mailed, which took about 4 days. I do have some issues with the motor, though. 95% of it looks top notch, but the brush holder and associated hardware/springs are not what is pictured on the web-page. The clock spring brush tensioners are gone, replaced with coils, and the support that the nice brass brush holders are connected to is made from plastic. I'm no electrical engineer, and no very little about motor design, so I plan to buy a book or two and get edumacted... they don't look as though they'll hold up nearly as well, but I could be wrong.... so before I start to shout BS, I shall read and ask questions.

why is everybody so worried about no load speed?
I'd happily relax waiting for 5 mins for the thing to reel the cable back in after I'm done if the alternative is to spend the night in the woods...
And contemplate the meaning of life while I'm at it too....

E

It is not a huge concern, but a concern none the less. Have you ever over run your winch cable while assisting the winch with wheel spin? The less time spent standing in the pouring rain while rewinding, or standing in that swarm of Mosquitos, the better!

what bumper are you mounting it in?

The bumper will be fabricated this week... something simple and relatively light weight.

It looks cool *bling red*and I like the idea of the mods. If you want line speed would you better off with the 3" spool? Another plus to the 3" spool would be that you would not need to pull out as much cable to get down to 1 wrap.

Phil

I do like the bling red :whoops:, but it attracts to much attention. All bling red pieces were stripped yesterday and will receive a few coats of texture black today. The thought of the larger drum with lower gears did cross my mind, but this Husky 8 showed up on ebay for the above mentioned price, and I could not say no for that price. Since all drive and brake parts are located in one end, many folks have custom long drums built, usually several inches longer. How much cable do you want? 200'?

The drum bearings and spur gear box were drilled and tapped for their zerk fittings, I'll try to get a picture up today.

will they fit on ARBs?

I've also heard they are much better with synth line as no melting from the drum...

I don't think they will fit... though if I have a chance, I'll try to drop it in my friend's FZJ80 with empty ARB on the front.

No heat in the drum from a brake, so no melty melty.... smooooooth in, smoooooth out.

Updates placed above.

Interesting grille........

I guess it's intended to confuse folks, no?


They can't tell if you are comming or going......

Hehe... I forgot that is on there, trial fitting with duct tape.

I know you're busy with 10,000 other projects going on, but what's the word on this setup? You diggin it?

I currently have the X9 taken back off the rear bumper, and have it sitting on the floor (yet again) of the garage. Now there is a Warn XD9000 next to it tempting me. Give me a reason, please, to not throw this X9 as far as I can towards the dump (or more realistically the for sale section). Thanks.

I love this winch... since the Bowmotor was repaired, it has performed about half a dozen pulls w/o issue.... The smoothness of the pulls is so sweet, in or out, no brake to overheat, a real working tool. That reminds me, it is probably time to do the initial gear lube change in the worm box.

As for keeping the X9? Upgrade the electricals and never look back. I would actually enjoy seeing the insides of the XD9000, care to break it down?

B - What electricals are you talking about replacing when you talk about the X9, i have one on my 80 and it works great other than my battery going dead when it's overloaded, Thanks, Brad.

Solenoids - With only 2 solenoids to do the switching, they really are not up to the task. I like Curtis Albright contactors.. I have a post on here somewhere about them.

The motor is decent, but could be better. Look at the armature size pictures above. The Husky motor will bolt right on to the X9, much more torque and can run longer. I think the newer 4.6hp motors from the EP series will also bolt up. You can buy the Husky Iskra motor on ebay for $150.

Bradass, here's the link to the other thread he has going https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=15877 .

Brian, a friend of mine is looking for the selenoid pack, so if you still have it and are interested in selling it, please shoot me an email or pm. Thanks.

Probably Monday night or Tuesday night I'll be looking at both winches and trying to decide which route to go. Will take pics of the guts on the warn.