M1200 problem........

[reffug]

OK so yesterday I go to pull one of my idiot employee's out of a snow/ice situation which any 'smart' person never would have been in and the following occured. I freespooled out about 50 ft. of line from the 12K and hooked up to the front of his truck. Pulled my remote and went to retrieve the line and his truck and all I got was clicking. Now I know both my batts are in good shape and yes I had the engine running the the throttle locked to supply good power but nothing just clicking. So instead of screwing around with it I just got in the rig dropped it into reverse and got him out with good old hp. Got back to work and decided to play with the winch a little. Finally got it to retrieve but very, very slow and after about 6-8 inches it would stop. Would unspool if I wanted under power but again and again the same thing happened when trying to retrieve the line. Talked to Christo and he told me I probably have moisture/water in my planetary gears and due to the temp here its frozen solid. So of course I figure that is 99.9% what the problem is. Has anybody else run into something similar and did you actually take the winch apart and regrease the gears and eliminate all the moisture from it? Christo didn't make it sound to me like this was any easy shade tree mech. project so I would like feedback and who if anybody has dealt with a similar problem and how they handled it and what results they obtained. Part of the reason I bought a M12 was that I didn't want to dick around with something that wasn't realiable and would work when I needed it. There is nothing more frustrating than pulling out one of your 125lb. toys only to find out its a cute decoration on the front of your truck and not actually functional.

 

[Mark W]

I would tend to suspect solenoid problems. If you had small amounts ice in the lube, the motor wold probably overpower it and crunch it up. And it would be a problem moving in wither direction, not just spooling in. If you had large amount of ice, it probably woldn't move at all.

Where are you at and how cold is it?

We have never seen this sort of propblems with any of the Warns we are using. Have had to deal with the outside of the winch encased in ice and the cable frozen onto the drum beyond getting it free unless you take a propane torch to it. A few times. But never had a occurance of ice in the lube causing problems.


Mark...

 

[reffug]

I would tend to suspect solenoid problems.

Ok school me on solenoids if you would?

Where are you at and how cold is it?

Mark...

Northern VA yesterdat it was in the teens where I am.

 

[Mark W]

I'd be surprised if you had enough frozen moisture to cause trouble at those temps. Unless you have got a LOT of water in there. Water in lube either stays separate or it emulsifies. Nothing earthshaking there. If it is separate than you get hard ice when it freezes. That would pretty much lock stuff up if it did anything. If it is emulsified than you get a mess of ice crystals spead through the lube. Sort of like sherbert. The gears will just crunch it up and reliquify the ice as it crushes the crystals.

I would not be looking in that direction with temps that high. If I'd looked at everything else and not found a problem, then I guiess I'd check it, but that's way down on the list of things I consider likely.

BTW, have you had the winch apart or is there any other reason to suspect poor water proofing? Have you done any deep, extended fording with the rig this last season?


Solenoids... What do you need to know? Basically they are just big relays. If you have a bad one it can fail to hold the load or it can fail to pass sufficient amperage. Resulting in a clicking on and off operation, a short pull that then fails or a slow dragging operation. Or any combination of all three.

Generally there will be four of them to operate your winch Two for power in and two for power out. Sounds like one of your power in pair is the problem.


Just a guess without actually laying hands on the winch of course. But I've seen just the symptoms you mention a few times. Not an uncommon problem.


Mark...