Winch problem ?

[theothersean]

Anyone else ever have this issue ?

I was out plowing , and about 20 minutes into it , the winch would not spool out , it would work going in , but not out , I figured it may be the switch , but when you take the seat off and push the switch you can hear it click under the seat I moved a few wires around trying to see if there was anything loose. I must have crossed or uncrossed something because when I put the seat back on I was going to continue to plow and have to pick the plow up with a ratchet strap, but the winch started to work again . then a little bit later same problem , it will spool in but not out ,

is it possibly overheating from frequent use ?

I was able to finish up the driveway , but now I guess I need to start tracing some wires to find the problem .

[theothersean]

just for giggles I went to the garage to try it again now that it sat for a bit over an hour and it works in and out . So is this a common thing for winches to overheat and shut down ?

[Stoneman]

Actually, ice build-up would be my first guess. When you stopped, the engine & winch heat thawed out the ice that had gathered around your spool while it sat...

My second guess would be maybe you're unspooling too much and you need to slack it back in with some tension. Take the plow off and pull the cable all the way out. Tie it to your truck and spool it back in with you on the quad - winch your quad to your truck, leaving your quad running and in neutral...

Of course, I'm assuming you're using a cable. In which case by the way, you're gonna wanna get a few 1/4" cable clamps to keep on hand...

[Trouble]

I don't know about the ATV winches but my Warn truck winch has a heat overload that will completely shut it down. I've been abusing the winch for years and the brushes are burning out. Not the brushes so much but the copper fitting at the end that the screw goes through. The copper has melted back. I have it rigged up now, but I've gotta fix them soon. They are over $75 for the brushes through Warn!

[theothersean]

Yeh it is a wire rope, and does have a couple kinks here and there and a few stray strands that are broken . I had thought of replacing with a synthetic rope as I hear they are as strong if not stronger than the wire variety and less prone to kinks.

I'll try to un spool it and see if that helps any.

and I am guessing the 1/4" cable clamps are for when the wire rope snaps and I need to rig the hook onto the shorter section of whats left on the spool ? I had thought of that but haven't gotten around to getting any .
Perhaps I'll stop at the hardware store on the way home tomorrow .

[Stoneman]

Yeh it is a wire rope, and does have a couple kinks here and there and a few stray strands that are broken . I had thought of replacing with a synthetic rope as I hear they are as strong if not stronger than the wire variety and less prone to kinks.

The PLOW rope is the strong stuff. It comes in like a 8' length, but it's expensive. The regular synth rope'll snap more than a cable will when you're using it for plowing. Either rope set up though, you'll hafta change out your roller fairleads to the composite ones too. Just stick with the cable for now...

I'll try to un spool it and see if that helps any.

I'm guessing it will...

and I am guessing the 1/4" cable clamps are for when the wire rope snaps and I need to rig the hook onto the shorter section of whats left on the spool ? I had thought of that but haven't gotten around to getting any .
Perhaps I'll stop at the hardware store on the way home tomorrow .

Exactly! When mine snapped, I used two of 'em. I also went and got a small snatch block with a hook so I could alternate my plow set-up. I run the cable-to-plow 3 different ways so I'm not always putting stress on the same section of cable. Some with the snatch block, one way without. I'll show you when you come up. Takes a few minutes to swap my set-up around...

[theothersean]

I'm hoping its ice/ heat or kinky rope, I read a few quick searches and found that it may either be a bad solenoid or there is corosion inside and would need to be taken appart and cleaned assuming that the brushes aren't too badly worn or coroded .



you know what sounds dirty but isn't ?

"snatch block "
and
"kinky rope"

[Stoneman]

I figured you'd get a kick outta 'snatch block'!

[R7]

My wench is hit or miss, sometimes she works, and sometimes she doesn't.

I haven't had to replace the cable yet, but have had the cable end pull off from plowing. In my case, it was a single clamp and it just pulled out. I ended up cutting off 2' of the cable and adding double clamps and it was fine all last winter, and so far this winter.
I havn't investigated the winch working sometimes and sometimes not yet, I'm thinking it's a connection. I do know when I took it off to fix the cable end, I put something back together backwards (I had to split the winch to get the wire cable back out) because "in" on my switch goes out and "out" goes in. I have a pull strap for backup, no biggie to use it IMO.

I also wore out a set of the plow guide feet and just picked up a new set last week. I am amazed at how something so simple can make such a difference in plowing!

[ssg]

You've been totally snatch blocked.

[theothersean]

winch quit again while plowing . I am pretty sure its the solenoid , I did the old tap on it with a screwdriver while holding the button down and it worked again .
I also respooled it , though I had to do it twice because the first time I did it I was reeling in by pushing the out button , it took me a minute to figure out why the buttons were opposite .

[Femmekat]

Dammitt... I was hoping this thread was about busty beer bearing broads...