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Buyn a used M12000 warn anything to look for before handing over the money?

1/2 inch cable is too big for that winch.

Won't hurt anything, but you lose capacity and its much harder to work with than 3/8.
The only upside is that the size of the pull point decreases faster as you pull cable out.

Remember, the smaller the spool diameter the more pull you get.
So a 12,000 rated winch will only deliver that at the first wrap.
Full spool, it might be less than half.

As for rope vs steel, I don't have a dog in that hunt.
I run steel. I have been watching rope for a while now, and like a lot about it.

But for my uses, I am planning of sticking with steel for a while yet.
My two concerns are sunlight and cutting.
Being in Fl. I see a lot of sun damage and I have heard that UV can damage the rope.
Not sure though.

Also, for pulling myself out, rope would be fine, but I often have to pull other folks out.
I have seen my cable having to be up against bumper edges, and other sharp things to reach a tie point.

Also, I have used that winch to straighten things, pull things and move equipment.
During which I have had to let the cable slide over objects that might damage a rope.

For straight self recovery and regular pulls you should be fine with rope.
 
So, picked up the winch last night. Looks pretty good other than that the casing on the motor looks like its been hot. This thing has to be one of the 1st m12000 built. Its serial # is 000329 date code j13. Anybody decifer the j13 code on here. Just curoius on when it was built.
 
Build date is 5 1983 this thing is old. I tore it down tonight and got about 1/2 a pint of oil out of it and i doubt its ever been changed. The guy i talked to at warn said it holds 18 oz of 20w. All the planets and bushings barely show wear. Only bad thing is the motor has quite a bit of oil inside looks like one of the seals had the lip rolled over on assembly. I was kinda dissapointed by my conversation with **** at warn, i read on a few other sights about how much help they were and how they shipped out new decals for free and so on, but for me i had to beg info out of the guy. I guess maybe the winch is so old he didnt give a sh!t. Anyhow im excited to get this thing put back together and mount it up.
 
I know when I re-did my 8274 (untouched since it was bought in '84) I looked at the manual to see what grade and how much fluid it recommended and it said there was no service interval for the oil :eek1:

Suffice to say the 25 year old oil was more gel/goop than oil, cleaned everything up and it still works awesome and I really wouldn't trade it for anything.

Good call on changing the oil, Warn's are tough though :thumb:

As for rope vs. steel cable, there really is no question in my mind that rope is WAY better for a recreational truck. Lighter, stronger, safer, etc.
 
Yea im thinking the same thing fresh paint seals and oil I should be good to go. I also found why the motor looked like it had been over heated and it was because the po had all the cable mount nuts loose and melted the cable covers.
I think I'm going to put some money together and get some rope but that sh!ts pretty pricey 350 for 125 feet of 16k 3/8 is the best deal I've found. If anybody else knows where to get it cheaper let me know.
 
kauzenkaos said:
Yea im thinking the same thing fresh paint seals and oil I should be good to go. I also found why the motor looked like it had been over heated and it was because the po had all the cable mount nuts loose and melted the cable covers.
I think I'm going to put some money together and get some rope but that sh!ts pretty pricey 350 for 125 feet of 16k 3/8 is the best deal I've found. If anybody else knows where to get it cheaper let me know.
Click to expand...


Rockstomper is a VERY reputable vendor here in CO and looks like $320 for the same length, with a 20.4K breaking strength.

I know PORC sells this stuff too for cheap.
 
So I talked to another guy at warn and finally got some good info. He told me a light coating of Molly grease would do me way better than oil and the good part no more leaks.
And back on the rope subject anyone heard anything bad about amsteel blue? I hope not because I bought 125 feet of it. I will say Todd at custom splice took pretty good care of me, I got 125' of 3/8 a hook a 10' rock guard and an aluminum fairlead for 330 shipped. Maybe not the best deal but I didn't feel like I got took.
 
Well, if Warn told you that, you gotta at least give it a lot of consideration since they built the darn thing.
But I am always suspicious when someone says the original lubrication method was not the best, and recommends less lubrication.

This is a spur gear winch right?

Planetaries will usually do fine with some heavy grease.
Worm gears MUST have liquid to keep them lubed and cool.
Moly hangs in there pretty good, but it seems that spur gears would eventually wipe dry.
 
OK, well like Gilda used to say on SNL.......Never Mind.

I was thinking about a different Warn winch.
This one is Planetary, and uses Molygrease from the factory.
They recommend Aeroshell#17, but most good molys should work.
 
The original gear box lube for the winch is not 20w oil. The only Warn winch to get oil was the 8274. All other gear boxes got swabbed with Aeroshell #17. Still the same way today.
 
This winch started it's life off as oil bath lubricated with 20 weight oil. It's got a fill plug in the cover and everything. I'm not sure how long they did it but like I said it's serial # is 000329 so I'm thinking it was one of he 1st. After cleaning the 27 years of dirt and oil off the motor I found a warn tag marked 5-83. Regardless immjust happy I don't have to fill it back up with oil the damn seals are turning out to be pretty hard to find. And since they don't have to hold oil I'm gunna reuse the old ones.
 
Well more good news from warn. I was getting ready to assemble this thing and decided to ask about the brake and here was their reply.
We did not take into account the brake being a oil bath as well. It leaves you with two options. Either replace the brake assembly with a modern day m12000 brake P/N 32456. Or you will need to try and find the seals and refill with oil like it was factory. Im very sorry for overlooking that. It actually slipped past two of us.
*
Regards,

Anybody out there that can get a good deal on warn parts?
 
That Amsteel blue rope is strong stuff, very strong. We use it at work on heavy equipment, capable of lifting up to 35,000 # &+. Of course the rope is thicker and designed for such, just make sure you keep it within mfg. rated capacity. The stuff holds up well to wet/ dry cycles, UV, and general weather good from years of dealing with it. We test all of them @ 1.5 times rated capacity prior to leaving the shop and have never had any issues. Don't abuse it and it should treat you good.
 
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