Warn winches are probably the best in line for off-roaders and snow plowers to prep their vehicles. Warn has manufactured a lot of winches for different ATVs, UTVs, SUVs, trucks, and other vehicle categories. But, in the pursuit of using it, there might be situations where your Warn winch might malfunction. And this article is exactly focused on helping you troubleshoot some of the minor hiccups with your Warn winch.
Warn Winch Troubleshooting Guide
To be able to straight up call and claim your warranty, you first need to come out of the situation you are stuck in. Imagine being out on an off-road trip and getting stuck in a muddy valley. Now, you want your winch to get your vehicle out of that situation, but due to some reason, it just won’t work.
You must have a general idea to troubleshoot these hiccups, and later you can complain to the manufacturer to get a permanent solution. The instruction manual with Warn winches has troubleshooting procedures on some specific mechanical and functionality aspects.
But to save you the complexity of going through all of the instructions, here are the troubleshooting approaches for different areas of operations in your winch, in easy words:
1. Remote Control
Most of the Warn winches are equipped with corded or wireless remote control, which triggers some common usability issues after a certain period. Here is a common remote control issue that can be fixed with proper troubleshooting practices.
The remote control switch turns out to be defective at one point in time, which causes the motor to run only in one direction. In such scenarios, all you must do is:
- Disengage the clutch of your Warn winch
- Remove the plug of your remote control switch from the winch socket
- Jump the pins at 8 & 4 o’clock.
- The motor should now run seamlessly as per the remote control buttons
- If it still doesn’t work, consider jumping pins at 8 & 10 o’clock. It should fix the problem.
If the problem persists, then you must talk to Warn and get your remote control replaced to resume the seamless functionality of your Warn winch.
2. Clutch Operation
You will notice that even with sufficient power and proper controls, the clutch won’t engage with the motor to give you a functional outcome. Such scenarios indicate that the motor is running, but the drum is not turning to let you release or retrieve the rope.
You might have to disassemble the winch and see the root cause within to get it repaired. Clean up the clutch area and remove all the dust and debris which might be obstructing the mechanism from functioning as programmed. Re-assemble the winch and check if the clutch engages with the other winch mechanisms.
If the clutch engages, but the drum doesn’t rotate as per the controls, you might have to consider replacing one or more parts to fix the problem.
If you are not a winch expert, then you should contact Warn and ask for their help to find a solution to the problem. Let them run their tests on the clutch of your Warn winch, and if convinced, they will help you with the replacement.
3. Spooling Out / Warn Winch Not Retracting
If your cable is not spooling out and is jammed onto the drum, then there might be a lot of reasons for it. Some of the common reasons why your cable won’t spool out are:
Rusting
The cable is rusted after it sits idle for a long time, which jams its spooling potential. It is a common problem with steel cables. To attend to this problem, you must use a PB Blaster[1] or any alternative product for spraying onto the drum with rusted rope. It will lighten up the rust on your rope, and you can spool it out after a while.
Lack of Tension
Spooling out of the rope needs constant tension through electric power or a manual unspooling approach. If you put the tension at a halt while spooling out the cable, then there is a possibility that the spun windings will remain undone and one coil of rope overlaps over another. Hence, this creates a mess around the drum which jams the spooling out functionality.
The best way to eliminate this problem is to keep applying substantial tension to get past the messy spot on your winch drum. And then, the spooling out function will smoothen up.
Overfilling of Cable on One Side
At times, when you use your winch and spool in the rope at a particular angle, there is a possibility that it will overfill the cable on one side of the drum. When the cable is not evenly distributed across the drum, spooling out the next time will be a problem.
Even if the situation demands you to winch your vehicle or any object at an angle, remember to spool it back by observing the even distribution of it on the drum.
But unfortunately, if there is an overfilling of cable at an angle, you should use lubricants to reduce the friction between the winded-up rope curls. Make sure you use a quality lubricant free from corrosive agents such as acids.
After you have spooled out the rope effortlessly, ensure you wipe extra lubricant off the rope’s surface while spooling it back in. If you fail to do that, the oil will retain dirt and dust on it and wear out the cable prematurely.
4. Spooling In Under Load
If you are facing problems while spooling in your winch under load, there are a few causes that need your attention. Here are a few of those causes and ways to fix them:
Winch Cable is Spooled in Wrong Direction
If the rope doesn’t spool in the right direction due to technical faults or manual negligence, then it will oppose the functionality of automatic brakes. Hence, this will prevent your winch from spooling in while you have locked the load.
This situation will seem like you are driving your vehicle with the handbrakes. To solve this problem, you must switch to free spooling and take out the entire rope and reinstall it in the right direction. Check the Warn winch manual or follow a sticker indicator to determine the right drum rotation angle.
Lagging Battery Power
One of the most common reasons people face problems while spooling in the winch under load is lagging battery power. The only troubleshooting solution to this problem is to charge the battery at full capacity or replace it if the battery is already damaged.
If you believe that the batteries are charged, but still the power is low, then consider cleaning the terminals. If the issue of battery drainage persists, then the problem might be in your charger or charging system.
5. Spooling in Under No Load
One of the common reasons why the winch won’t spool in with no load scenarios is because of gummed-up old grease around the winch gears. It mostly happens if you have not greased the winch gears in a long time. The grease will attract dirt and water debris to harden up and jam the gears. This way, even free spooling or electric spooling of the winch becomes difficult, even when there is no load.
You must clean up the old grease and follow a specific procedure to re-grease the gears. Set the winch to free spooling and check if the ropes are now smooth in terms of moving in and out with no load.
6. Overloading/Overheating
When you are running the winch for a long period of time without giving it a timely break, then the motor will run at an extremely hot temperature. Overheating of the motor is also triggered if you are pulling something which is way heavier than the specified load pulling capacity of the winch.
If you are exhausting the motor beyond its capabilities, overheating will be an evident problem. If you are doing so, stop it at once because you will lead the Warn winch to go dead after a few such instances.
Overheating deteriorates the power of the winch motor, and the pulling efficiency will take a hit. So, you should not neglect overheating symptoms as it might also cause permanent damage to the winch.
If overheating is caused due to a longer working period, then substantial cooling-off breaks will do the job of retrieving the lost efficiency of your Warn winch.
More on Warn winches:
Summary
If you are using Warn winches for the first time then i recommend reading my warn winch review article, you must get a clear insight into what possible problems you might encounter. But if you have understood the troubleshooting remedies mentioned above, you will eventually have a better usability experience with your Warn winches.
Each of the problems listed above has been commonly reported by Warn users. Keeping that in mind, if you are a new buyer or an existing user of a Warn winch, it is important that you have the knowledge to tackle minor and repairable problems without spending a lot of money on replacing or repairing them by professionals.
References
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Blaster Products. (2021, June 16). How PB B’Laster works in 15 seconds [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIYIHusYjDY
winch on my 4 wheeler lets cable out while using the switch everytime but when bringing cable in it clicks and wont come in until I repeatedly hit the switch then it comes in. What is the problem and how much? Thank you. Bill .
Contact me at canadianyank69@yahoo.com