Warn winch......does it work even in water?

2nd low,
'Water and electrics don't mix. There is a winch on the market that says it can be used under water but I have not seen it work. Looks like it might be the hand winch to the rescue or try and get snatched out. Good idea with the switch on the dash. I have had a switch for a while now and it is easy to winch the vehicle sitting in the drivers seat without the hand remote coming through the window. I put a kill switch on as well so that if the switch for the winch got bumped the winch would not work until the kill switch was turned on. The other good thing is that the winch control box can now be placed under the bonnet away from any unwanted use. Since I placed the control box under the bonnet and away fron the weather I have found that the solionds were not packing up at all.
Wayne

I can only talk about the H/M warm winch which I have used under water on and off for about 25min without stopping. Sure the winch had been prepeared for this purpose as it was in the 2000 Outback Challenge.

From the factory the sealing on warn winches is far from perfect, and as stated above, put the control box under bonnet and as high as possible.

From what I can gather a lot of electric winches are carted around on the front of vehicles for thousands of kms, & then found to be siezed when they are really needed.
Apparently it is important to spool the cable on & off the winch about once a month to prevent this.

According to some of the guys on Outerlimits4x4 forum, they don't work under water, have lousy waterproofing, and Warn won't do any warranty repairs on them if they have been submerged (used or not).

If you do submerge them, have them serviced ASAP.

You have been "Warn"-ed.

I used one under water before - no problems. But true Warn don't like it and strongly recommend a service afterwards.

Gaz

Hi All,

Believe me when I say that water will get into the motor of a warn winch and warn gearbox (low mounts anyway) as a standard off the shelf item.

I am at present rebuilding my XD9000 completely including waterproofing and breather pipes etc. I am also adding the new XP 6hp motor as a replacement for the 2-3hp motor I have now. That should give it a bit of a supercharge.

I have rebuilt my winch twice in 8years and would recommend using gasket sealant as well as the gaskets to get a good seal on the gearbox. Also pay attention to sealing up the motor where it mounts to the drum support as there are actually drain holes machined into the drum support where the motor end face meets the drum support end face. Fill them with sealant and tap in a breather line from the motor to the vehicle air box.

Thats my two bob anyway.

Regards,

Stuart.

Hey 2nd Low,

Not sure about the Warn 10000 and the Xp motor will invetsigate on Monday and get back to you.

Stuart

Winched out of a hole in Toolangi in May with the XD9000 and it's control box under water, no problems.

Serviced winch immediately afterwards and motor had water in it as did the guts of the drum.

The drain holes in the ex factory winches are designed with mounting with the mounting flanges facing downwards as they are commonly mounted on jeeps in the US. On the bars as they are mounted here with the flanges facing forward the holes just allow it to fill with water and only partially drain afterwards.

Also there are grooves to take an o-ring to seal the drum ends to the housings a bit and they are not used by Warn so if you service it put the o-rings in.

As a final note - a liquid grease is used in the planetary gear box, don't use anything thicker as it makes it near impossible to spool cable off when it's disengaged. Oh and there is a correct spline position to put the internal brake back together and it varies from winch model to winch model. If you don't get it right the winch won't hold you if you need it to stop you falling back down the hill you were winching up! Not good...

S & G Leslie in West Heidelberg in Melbourne are great for servicing and waterproofing winches. They don't recommend XD9000's but if you have one they will happily improve it for you.

By the way the Aeroshell grease recommended for Warn XD9000 gearboxes isn't available in Australia as far as I'm aware. Leslies recommend an alternative but I can't remember what it is. If I've still got it written down I'll post it.

Dave