Warn 8274 free spool problems (2 Viewers)

[rdang]

I seem to be having problems with my free spool on my 8274...

When the clutch is out, the drum does not turn with the remote (which it shouldn't), when the clutch is in, the drum turns fine and the cable moves in and out. This tells me that the clutch is working fine.

I tried strapping the hook to a tree and slowly reverse with the clutch in free spool mode, thinking it was stuck. I didn't tug all that hard and had someone watching the winch while I did it and it would not budge.

Someone recommended rebuilding the brake, which I just finished. I bought the brake rebuild kit from a local 4x4 shop.

I assume that I rebuilt the brake properly as after everything was assembled, it worked the way it used to... perfectly with the clutch in but still no luck with the free spool. The brake rebuild was needed anyway as there was no grease left on the bearings and the braking plate was pretty rusted. I had everything cleaned out.

Also, I put in way too much oil... now it's leaking. Do I need to open it up again and drain and refill or will the excess just leak out on it's own?

Thanks!

 

[Poser]

6 ounces of 30-weight oil is not a lot.


If it is leaking out the seal behind the brake assembly, then you may want to tear the winch down again, clean everything of oil where the brake bushing and seal seat into the case, and then use a retaining compound to seal the bushing bore in the case. I hope that you saved that split cardboard seal/bushing installer.


Also:

1- How old is this winch?
2- How is it secured to the bumper? Can you post up a few pictures of the winch and its’ mounting?
3- If the winch is not PERFECTLY SQUARE on the mount, it can cause it to bind and not free-spool as it should.
4- What is the condition of the lower housing bushings?

 

[rdang]

Thanks Poser, I put in half a litre... it's leaking out the bottom where the drum meets the lower assembly. The cardboard is still on there so yeah, it's saved if that's what you mean. You make it sound like I was supposed to leave it off... was I? If it's not leaking behind the brake assembly, is it okay to leave it?

1. I don't know how old the winch is, I bought it used off another member.
2. Pics below... it is an ARB so I assume it's pretty secure.
3. I am using the ARB mounting holes... again, I assume that this is sitting square
4. That I don't know... I did some more reading tonight and remember reading something about this seizing up but I don't remember if it has anything to do with the free spool. I guess I'll have to take it off the winch again and have a look at the lower housing bushings.

Pics:

 

[flintknapper]

Pay out about 10' of cable. Have a strong helper nearby ready to assist you.

With no tension (yet) on the cable pull the clutch firmly out. Test clutch disengagement by tapping the remote, the drum should not move.

Disconnect remote.

Manually push the spring loaded "pawl" down until it does not touch the toothed part of the brake mechanism. Hold it down while your helper pulls on the cable to "free spool".

If the winch free spools, then its your brake that is causing the problem. If it does not..then you have something binding or worn and/or no lubrication of bushings/bearings.

Keep in mind, the 8274 does NOT free spool as easily as other winches. The only thing the clutch (gear) disengages is the motor and the first driven gear.

 

[Poser]

it's leaking out the bottom where the drum meets the lower assembly.

It is very easy to pinch/roll/damage the square seal ring that is used to prevent oil from leaking out the bottom of the housing. I have also seen people forget to install that seal all together.

The cardboard is still on there so yeah, it's saved if that's what you mean. You make it sound like I was supposed to leave it off... was I? If it's not leaking behind the brake assembly, is it okay to leave it?

The cardboard is used to install the bushing and oil seal, and then removed after the brake assembly is driven into the lower housing.

You should be able to remove the locking plate and get the drum out of the lower housing without removing the brake assembly. However, you may find it very difficult to get the drum back into the gear it is removed from with the brake installed.


Flint is spot-on with his procedure for diagnosing the brake and how it may be to blame for difficult free-spool.

 

[rdang]

Alright, I finally got around to trying this tonight... no luck. Glad to hear it's not the brake though as that has just been rebuilt.

So I guess the next step is to replace the seals in the lower housing... unless there's something else it could be.

Pay out about 10' of cable. Have a strong helper nearby ready to assist you.

With no tension (yet) on the cable pull the clutch firmly out. Test clutch disengagement by tapping the remote, the drum should not move.

Disconnect remote.

Manually push the spring loaded "pawl" down until it does not touch the toothed part of the brake mechanism. Hold it down while your helper pulls on the cable to "free spool".

If the winch free spools, then its your brake that is causing the problem. If it does not..then you have something binding or worn and/or no lubrication of bushings/bearings.

Keep in mind, the 8274 does NOT free spool as easily as other winches. The only thing the clutch (gear) disengages is the motor and the first driven gear.

 

[rdang]

Oh yeah, the oil has pretty much all leaked out but I put the wrong oil in. Going to drain it tomorrow and refill with the proper oil (SAE 30) and make sure this time I put in the right amount.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Poser]

Oh yeah, the oil has pretty much all leaked out but I put the wrong oil in. Going to drain it tomorrow and refill with the proper oil (SAE 30) and make sure this time I put in the right amount.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Take some pictures of splitting the winch and fixing the seal...

 

[rdang]

So I finally got around to taking my 8274 back out today, opened it back up to drain the wrong oil I had put in and cleaned it up. I had left the cardboard spacer used to tap the gasket in which caused the brake to have a bit more resistance than it should, so after removing that, the brake seemed more free again... So while up on the table, I held it down and tried pulling on the cable, and holy crap, it free spooled! So it wasn’t the brake...

So I filled it with 180ml’s of the recommended oil, and lifted the winch back into the ARB, mounted it up, pulled the clutch out and yanked on the cable again just to make sure. NO FREE SPOOL! WTF??

With the lower housing assembly still mounted, I removed the end support assembly and tried it again... Free spooled with no problems... So I cleaned out the support assembly, re-greased, and re-mounted and tested... NO FREE SPOOL. WTF??

I loosened the top bolt of the lower housing assembly to re-mounted the support assembly, yanked on the cable and out came the cable. At this point, it’s starting to click in. Poser had mentioned that the 8274 needs to be mounted perfectly square for the free spool to work, because the driver side of the ARB was smashed in about a half an inch by the previous owner, or it could have been when my FIL pulled that side back out that moved the mounts, I just don’t know.

To fix this, I put a 1/8 washer between the ARB and the top bolt hole of the lower housing, tightened everything up, and FREE SPOOL HEAVEN.

Thanks to everyone for all the help!

 

[azcactus]

He is correct about the 8274 not free spooling easily. The trick is , not to wait to free spool it out a coulple hundered feet. I learned this the the hard way. Four Wheels Supply on 40 St. In Phoenix told me to avoid this problem, pull it out 3 times a year. I have had mine since 1994. Had to use it this week-end. They are a little harder to pull after they are 16 years old., but I would rather have that than a free spoolin' overrun like a birdsnest on a bait-casting fishing reel. Jeff

 

[dennis461]

Old thread I know, but...
I also bought a used 8274 that needed lots of work to get going again.
The brake parts were rusted to the shaft among other problems.

On my final check, winching in on flat ground,the center section of the brake started to wobble and the ball bearings started falling out.

Now I just replaced all 21 3/8" ball bearings, the six friction pucks are 3/4 in thick but the center section has lots of wobble (in my opinion) even with the two outer steel discs tight against the six friction pucks.
It also seems Warn no longer offers friction pucks and now sells a 5" diameter disc material.
This could be my problem. One of the pucks has the remainder of a lip on it, did the original have a top-hat shape or hockey puck shape?
My pucks pass right through the center steel piece from either direction.

Someone had posted that the center section should NOT wobble, anyone know for sure?

I haved not tried a long pull yet to see if the new ball bearings fall out.
The old ones measured .372" vs .375"

 

[JasonR]

For the free spool problem - I'd remove the d/c handle and see want the gear looks like and see if the fork it hooks to is bent or not. Remove the drum and clean it out and lube the seals and see what it does then. This is normally the problems with free spool issues. Also a issue is gear case contamination and the gears do not mesh smoothly from water, dirt and rust.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

I tried strapping the hook to a tree and slowly reverse with the clutch in free spool mode, thinking it was stuck. I didn't tug all that hard and had someone watching the winch while I did it and it would not budge.

Thanks!

This is not a good thing to do to this winch. The brake is inertia sensitive and will lock up solid if you pull the cable out too quickly when in freespool mode.

~John

 

[subzali]

Pay out about 10' of cable. Have a strong helper nearby ready to assist you.

With no tension (yet) on the cable pull the clutch firmly out. Test clutch disengagement by tapping the remote, the drum should not move.

Disconnect remote.

Manually push the spring loaded "pawl" down until it does not touch the toothed part of the brake mechanism. Hold it down while your helper pulls on the cable to "free spool".

If the winch free spools, then its your brake that is causing the problem. If it does not..then you have something binding or worn and/or no lubrication of bushings/bearings.

Keep in mind, the 8274 does NOT free spool as easily as other winches. The only thing the clutch (gear) disengages is the motor and the first driven gear.

So I tried this yesterday because my 8274 doesn't freespool. It worked; when I pulled the lever down I was able to pull cable (though it still wasn't easy). As soon as I let the lever go though it was stuck again. What's my next step?

 

[dennis461]

Old thread I know, but...

So I tried this yesterday because my 8274 doesn't freespool. It worked; when I pulled the lever down I was able to pull cable (though it still wasn't easy). As soon as I let the lever go though it was stuck again. What's my next step?

When working properly, the 8274 will only free spool immediately after using the motor to pay cable OUT.
The brake mechanism "resets" when reeling cable in.

For example, if used to lift a Jeep up a hill, you'd be reeling cable in, and you'd want the Jeep to NOT roll backwards when stopping the electric motor.

Now lowering a Jeep down a hill, you'd pay cable out, Jeep would be rolling back down, and it would keep rolling when the electric motor stopped. A short press of the reel in pushbutton would set the brake.

Now here is what I suspect to be your problem.
Inside the brake/clutch mechanism are two steel shafts which move in-out of the housing to set the brake-release for free spooling.

It is a poor design, not waterproof, and these pieces rust and sieze together. If the winch is normally uncovered, they rust in a year. If covered, they rust in 5-10 years just from the humidity.

You should NEVER have to touch that thing on the side people are calling a lever., if all parts are working correctly.

 

[subzali]

I guess I called it a lever; it's actually supposed to be called a brake pawl I suppose. I will probably disassemble the brake mechanism to check it out and grease the ball bearings and the drum bushings. And I will check out the shafts as well. Thanks.

 

[Paul78FJ40]

I just got my 8274 mounted today, and I can't get it to freespool. I will try to make sure the mounting is square as suggested somewhere. I have it mounted on a CCOT bumper.

 

[1911]

You did power it "out" for a second before trying to free spool (as per post #15 above)?

 

[Paul78FJ40]

Yeah, I tried just about everything, but I'm going to try it again.