Winch Duty Cycles

[Adventure Teq]

What do you use as a general rule of thumb for your winch duty cycle?

I've looked around quite a bit and can't seem to find any actual specs for that of a Warn 8274. My buddy claims that his Warn 12k is like 35 seconds on then 10 minutes off or something. The other day I ran my 8274 for about 2-3 minutes straight with only a few seconds of breaks during the pull. Seemed fine and never had any probs, didn't seem real hot or anything. What do you guys do?

 

[flintknapper]

What do you use as a general rule of thumb for your winch duty cycle?

I've looked around quite a bit and can't seem to find any actual specs for that of a Warn 8274. My buddy claims that his Warn 12k is like 35 seconds on then 10 minutes off or something. The other day I ran my 8274 for about 2-3 minutes straight with only a few seconds of breaks during the pull. Seemed fine and never had any probs, didn't seem real hot or anything. What do you guys do?

Obviously...it depends on how hard you are working the winch (electric).

If it just a light to medium pull 2-4K then I have no problem running my 8274 for several minutes...but honestly...I'd have to have a lot of line payed out to winch for that long (the 8274 is fast).

A heavy pull.. (where you can actually hear everything straining), I limit to 30-45 seconds, then let it cool for 5 minutes just to be safe.

 

[FJ40_owner]

Be sure your winch has all the current needed to do the pull. More current equals less heat.

I have run my 8274 for as long as two to three minutes. The motor gets warm, not hot. I shut down all my 12 volt accesories including my ham radio (Switch to hand held) and run two batteries in parallel.

I say watch for excessive heat and you will be fine.

 

[e9999]

if it's pulling, it's presumably the motor that would get the hottest, right? so I would think that simply touching it to see how hot it is may be a good way to avoid overheating.
Hopefully, if you can't feel it being objectionably hot, the inside is probably still OK?

 

[Adventure Teq]

Makes sense. Thanks.

 

[ohrly?]

My buddy beat the s*** out of this winch, didnt give a s*** how long he ran it, it got dropped in the mud, ran under mud, there were no worries.

It will take a beating.

 

[landcrusher80]

I had sort of the same question.
Not long ago I had to winch very hard with my Warn 8274 (24V) since I could not get the engine to start.

The winch motor did not even get warm after winching the truck out of the river.

Recently the old motor finally died.
I replaced it with a brand new one. After re spooling the cable yesterday I had noticed that the new motor gets warm quick.

That comes as a surprise since the old mother never even got warm.

Any ideas?

LandCrusher80

 

[flintknapper]

I had sort of the same question.
Not long ago I had to winch very hard with my Warn 8274 (24V) since I could not get the engine to start.

The winch motor did not even get warm after winching the truck out of the river.

Recently the old motor finally died.
I replaced it with a brand new one. After re spooling the cable yesterday I had noticed that the new motor gets warm quick.

That comes as a surprise since the old mother never even got warm.

Any ideas?

LandCrusher80

Man, you can't post a pic like that and NOT tell us how the vehicle got into the river to begin with.

 

[landcrusher80]

Man, you can't post a pic like that and NOT tell us how the vehicle got into the river to begin with.

Perhaps you need to PM me it's a long story.

 

[Degnol]

What size cables are you running for power and ground? The one Warn supplies are kinda dinky.

Ed

 

[landcrusher80]

Ed,
not sure about the size; however all things are equal.
Just wondering why the NEW motor gets warm and the old one never did.

What size cables are you running for power and ground? The one Warn supplies are kinda dinky.

Ed