winch issues

[hockeyplayer4]

so yesterday i went to use my winch to pull a trailer out of a ditch near my house and it wouldnt work. ive only used this winch once and have only had it for about two weeks. i looked at the wiring and the small ground had come off. so i regrounded it and the winch worked, but intermettly. meaning i would press the button on the controller and it wouldnt do anything. i would press it again and it would work for a few seconds then stop. that goes for spooling in and out. i got to work today and i securly grounded the wire on the winch where the main ground is with a new connector. and it did the same thing. this time it would only spool in. i didnt mess with it long because it was cold. what should i do?? i dont know anybody else with a winch to let me use there controller to rule that out. any suggestions?

[fire931]

could be the soleniods sticking. i just recently had the same problem. hadnt used the winch since fall, went to run it out the other day and it wouldnt do a thing. after beating the solenoids with a wrench they started somewhat working. would stick on and off. so might check solenoids.

[hockeyplayer4]

yeah but the winch is brand new. ive used it once. i got it two weeks ago. i think it might be a internal wire loose?

[Bloo]

Yeah, you do know someone with another controller for an M8000. Check your messages for my mobile. I'm off today but going to F'Burg get some tires mounted and down to Iron Pig to help out on the FZJ40 build.

[Topper]

sounds like solonoids. I have replaced all of mine on my old 8000i.

[hockeyplayer4]

im at work until 5. then i have to go to my house to get a john deere trailer. ill text you later on so you can get my number, then we can figure out something. later on today im going to take my solenoid cover off and check all the connections and see whats up in there. whatever the problem may be it would be under warranty being the winch is about two weeks old.

[gsmsnuffy]

Why not post up pic's???
That makes it easier for us to help? Oh wait, You can't post pic's? Your phantum rig sure has alot of problems?

[hockeyplayer4]

a lot of problems? the only issue i have is my winch being inoperative. what do you need pics for...? if i took a picture all you would see is a winch on a bumper. maybe if i did detailed pics you would see two big guage wires running to the battery, and threee running to the winch. a small one ran to a ground. thats bout it. it has shiny metal rope and its grey. the solenoid is black and red. what else do you need to see? i asked for help and suggestions. you gave me nothing. congratulations

[hockeyplayer4]

it says it uploaded it. this is the night i installed it. last picture i took of it

[gsmsnuffy]

Looks like you have the wire opening up? Rotate down to keep excissive water out and drain eaiser. When you clocked handle, no wires pinched? If all worked before remote install, then that's the problem.
:2cents:

[hockeyplayer4]

what do you mean wire opening up?

[hockeyplayer4]

you mean through the top of the winch as opposed to the two metal crossbars. thats the way the winch came. i mounted it as is and then rotated the handle down. it worked everytime i used it for two weeks (once for an actual line pull) it worked just fine. left it alone for a couple of days and it started acting up. now it doesnt work at all..

[gsmsnuffy]

Your control box should be mounted with the wires exiting out the bottom/slotted area. Still sounds like the remote controller? Disconnect and try w/o. More work, but will eliminate. This will also allow you make sure no wires touching?
:2cents:

[Topper]

possibly, with the control housing mounted on it's side (it is designed to mount, plug facing up) you are getting water in there.

[hockeyplayer4]

ohh i see what your saying. so the solenoid wires are supposed to exit out the bottom of the black cover as opposed to just out the back like they come?

[gsmsnuffy]

The wires should have been exitting out the slot NEW out of box?

[hockeyplayer4]

i installed the winch as it came new out of the box. with the clock switch facing up. i clocked it counterclockwise to make it accessable from the front of my allpro. the solenoid wires come straight out the back of the housing. thats how it came new out of the box

[gsmsnuffy]

Just looked at mine. Yes out the back!

[hockeyplayer4]

ok, so the wires are coming out the back of the solenoid which is how its supposed to be. the little black wire is grounded on the bottom of the winch where the main ground is for the battery. all three solenoid wires are attatched with the black sleeves on them. the pos+ and neg- are on the battery secure. i have not fully inspected all the wires yet cuz im at work. the black ground was on my core support but it broke. so i crimped a connector on the end and grounded it on the winch. ever since the ground broke is when ivebeen having problems. any thoughts? it hasnt been subject to any rain or mud. im clueless. im going to pull it in my shop after work and fully inspect all the wires. any other things that sound wrong with my setup?

[Topper]

so i crimped a connector on the end and grounded it on the winch. ever since the ground broke is when ivebeen having problems. any thoughts?
You may have found the problem yourself.

Certainly the place to start checking.

Also, run your leads from the battery through some heater hose to protect against abrasion.

[hockeyplayer4]

the night i installed it i was under a time limit because the shop was closing. tonight im going to re route all the wires and secure them. is grounding the wire to the main winch ground a bad idea?? when it was grounded to the radiator core support it worked fine. i dont see why it wouldnt work tho.

[hockeyplayer4]

i think i might have just figured out the issue in my head. my allpro front bumper is rhinolined. meaning that the winch technically isnt grounded. the neg wire coming off the winch isnt grounded on the winch, therefore the ground wire coming from the solenoid wouldnt be grounded attatched to the winch. makes sense in my head. now i just gotta fix it. thanks for all the help guys, ill be sure to follow up on what i find.

[hockeyplayer4]

i redid the ground wire, checked all connections. it worked for a min or so. but only when i tapped the controller against something. then quit completley:confused:

so im kinda leaning towards the controller being messed up, or maybe the solenoid in general. i tightened all the connections in the solenoid. they were all super clean

[hockeyplayer4]

i rewired the entire winch with the help of a winch installer at a local shop. he told me everything was wired properly and when all was said and done nothing worked still..unless we tapped the winch controller against something. we went in his shop and got a brand new controller out of the box and it worked flawlessly. i have the remot with the plastic switch that moves left to right, the controller he used was the one with the toggle switch. i called warn and and they are warranting the controller for me. thanks for all the help and ideas. i learned a lot about how the winch works in the process.

[Bloo]

At this point you probably earned Warn's Journeyman Technician certification... :rolleyes:

So it was the Warn cable remote that was at fault; and your Roadless Gear In-cab remote ran okay throughout this whole goat rope?

[hockeyplayer4]

i dont have the roadless gear installed yet, i ran the wires for it to the winch outside the truck and allplied power and ground to it just to see if it worked. i havnt actually ran them through the firewall and mounted it yet. i dk if it voids warranty or not so until i get this warranty thing figured out im not going to mess with it.