Warn XD9000 winch Solenoid ???

[chaser0517]

Thanks for the "Point in the Right Direction"
Like I said, I don't really know anything about winches, but it doesn't look like there's too much to it.
But again, thanks for the advice.

 

[Fordum]

I really don't like Warn winches, for no good reason. I used to pull folks out that had the original one, and got down on them for that reason.
The ones after that one, like yours, are pretty good, but I guess first impressions stick with a fellow.

I used to be involved with a guy who built winches as a sideline. Used a Ford 6 volt starter and a planetary transmission. As a test, we would mount it to a big post sunk in the ground, hook a bus battery to it, and fill the spool half way with 5/16 steel core cable hooked to a chunk of old bulldozer.
Throw the switch and get behind a shield. It should break the cable without damage. He drew a chalk line down the shaft and stretched a string across the spool. If anything twisted, we rebuilt the frame and shafting.

A friend of ours brought in a new Warn. One of the first ones. He had gotten stuck, and it had just pulled up tight and quit. Another truck pulled up with one of our winches and pulled him out. So he wanted to see if we could fix his.

We could not find anything wrong with it, so we hooked up two batteries in parallel plus a heavy ground straight to the motor to see if it was a supply problem.
Pulled pretty good, right up until the aluminum gearbox exploded.

Surprisingly, not only was the guy not upset, he bought one our winches on the spot<G>.
Anyway, I veered off the reason I wrote in the first place.

Before I did a lot of work on the motor, I would do a search. There are a LOT of places that sell replacement motors.
Sometimes you can get a more powerful one for less than factory.
For instance:
http://www.db-starter-alternator.co... Motor for WARN 20 Spline HEAVY DUTY LRW0005

In case the weblink function here does not shrink that huge link down to size, here is the base link. http://www.db-starter-alternator.com.

I don't think I have done business with this outfit before. I have bought aftermarket winch motors, but I don't have the info as to where right now.
But this outfit says they have one for your winch for $78, and if all else fails, at least the page has a schematic for the solenoid system.

If it looks confusing, remember the two end contacts are NC, and the two side contacts are NO.

J.

 

[Fordum]

OK, screwed up slightly. You have the old style solenoids.
The new ones use a pair of double pole double throw ones. That is the schematic I mentioned.
This place sells the ones you have for $19 each. Look them up, and you will see the correct schematic. It takes 4 to do the job.

Or, for $37 you can get the two new style and convert the winch over. No major changes, just eliminate a couple or jumper wires.

No opinion myself as to which is better. However I note that the two system is the new style, and there are two less solenoids to go wrong.

J.

 

[chaser0517]

Thanks. I'll definitely have to check that out.
And I got to looking and it doesn't really look like there's anything that's gonna cost me alot of money. The cable looks like it might, but the guy I got the winch from has some brand new cable, about 160 ft of it. He said he needed 90 ft of it for his winch, but I can have the other 70ft.

 

[chaser0517]

Have any idea as to around how much a rebuild kit is for one of these?

 

[moneypit_K5]

warn is real proud of their stuff, and the rebuild kit wont be much different. I bet the kit will run you 400 bucks or more.


And x's 2 on what fordum daid about aftermarket. Warns motors really arent well designed. There is no moisture seals whatsoever, I always rtv them when I put them back together.

There is a canadian company who makes better motors for them. THey have more power, better sealed, and they use good needle bearings as where warn uses bushings. The motors usually run 30% cheaper there too.

 

[chaser0517]

Ouch. $400. Plus anything else I would need.
Couple hundred more and I'm sure I could find a working winch off craigslist I wouldn't have to mess with to get it going...

 

[moneypit_K5]

exactly. I wouldnt bother rebuilding everything. usually the gear box is just fine. make that motor run, get some solinoids for it. You know, you dont need a warn solenoid pack either. all the winches are basically the same setup. you could go get a smittybuilt pack/remote, and wire it in just the same. there are only 4 connections on the motor, one being a ground...

 

[Fordum]

Cable is another point where there is some disagreement. First of all, remember that a winch's pulling power is rated on the first layer of cable. The more layers you have, the weaker the pull.
I once had guy tell me that he only wanted 30 feet of cable on his winch. I asked him how he knew he was always going to be stuck within 30 feet of something to pull to.
He said that he wanted maximum pulling power, and he was going to carry around lengths of chain to make up the distance.
I reminded him that that was the reason we rated our winches at a half spool to allow for real world conditions, but he was insistent. So we sold him what he wanted.

The winch on my truck has 180 feet of cable. But its a power take off with gobs of extra pull. I have the hydralic release set so as not to quite break the 3/8 cable with a full spool. A layer down, it will.
But, I go a lot of bad places alone, and sometimes its a pretty good distance to a pull point.
I damaged the cable on my old Jeep's PTO winch one time, and cut half of it off. Figured that it would be plenty.
Sunk it up to the doors one day, and could hit the hook on a big lightard stump but did not have enough cable to go around it. Had to walk out 5 miles. Refilled the spool the next day.

So, how much cable you need is a personal choice. Go short for max pulling power, or long in case you need it, but take a chance on not having enough power on a short pull.
Adding a snatch block to the long cable can make the choice easier.

Cable has come a long way from my days. Galvanized was almost unheard of, and way too expensive. Instead they had steel center or rope center cable. Rope center cable had a strand of rope in the center instead of a steel strand. It was supposed to make it last longer because the rope soaked up the oil you poured on it and kept it from rusting. Worked too. Of course, it was only about 2/3 as strong as the same size steel center.
Found that out the hard way when I could not pull myself out because the darn rope center cable kept breaking.

Nowadays, Galvanized is reasonable and the best way to go. Technically, it is slightly weaker per diameter than non-galvanized of the same size, but not having to pour oil on it to keep it from rusting is worth the trade-off.
As for tweaking your frame, I would not worry about it too much. Just make sure the mount is good and strong, and maybe run a support between the frames behind the winch to stiffen it some.
A lot of your pulls are going to be off center anyway.

J.

 

[chaser0517]

Yeah, I'm hoping not have to put too much into this thing. Otherwise I'll just save up and come across a deal...

 

[chaser0517]

Just curious, how do you tell when the winch was manufactured?
I know there's a date code on it somewhere, right?

 

[chaser0517]

I tried to test the motor on it... And I think it's shot. I dunno. I found a place that sells the motor I need for pretty cheap. And I may give it a shot just to see if I can get some power to this thing...