Winch problems galore

[jeepwm69 7,600]

This 4000 lb Viper Max was the first ATV winch I bought back in 2010 when I picked up my first Foreman.

 

It has been submerged for hours at a time while I duck hunted on the Foreman, yanked, jerked, snatched, and overheated, but has never missed a beat.

 

It finally quit working when the bottom post on the motor end cap rusted away or burned off.  Upon disassembly I found the motor was DONE.  New motor is $155, which is quite a bit, but dang if this hasn't been a great winch.  New winch like it is $249 now.

 

When the Viper quit I slapped on a used RT25 Warn I picked up a while back.  When I got stuck last weekend, I took a different wheeler out and hooked winch hook to winch hook to try to pull out the stuck wheeler, and apparently Warns don't like being yanked on as it now won't pull in under load, just makes a stripped gear sound.  It winches in and out fine with no load, but won't pull any kind of weight at all.

 

After doing some research, looks like a lot of the Warns have plastic gear housings that tend to strip out (seriously?) if you use them as a tow rope or to hold the wheeler to a trailer.

 

I've long been a fan of Warn winches on my Jeeps, but dang if I'm not disappointed that their ATV lineup doesn't seem to be all that great.  I've yanked and towed for a decade with the Viper, and also with Superwinch LT3000's that I've put on my other Foreman and several of my friends' rigs.  I thought the Warn would be tougher than them all but apparently not.

 

The bad thing is I've picked up 3-4 other Warns to use on future projects, and looks like most of them have this plastic gear housing that supposedly strips when the winch is used the way I use winches.

[shadetree 5,880]

2 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

This 4000 lb Viper Max was the first ATV winch I bought back in 2010 when I picked up my first Foreman.

 

It has been submerged for hours at a time while I duck hunted on the Foreman, yanked, jerked, snatched, and overheated, but has never missed a beat.

 

It finally quit working when the bottom post on the motor end cap rusted away or burned off.  Upon disassembly I found the motor was DONE.  New motor is $155, which is quite a bit, but dang if this hasn't been a great winch.  New winch like it is $249 now.

 

When the Viper quit I slapped on a used RT25 Warn I picked up a while back.  When I got stuck last weekend, I took a different wheeler out and hooked winch hook to winch hook to try to pull out the stuck wheeler, and apparently Warns don't like being yanked on as it now won't pull in under load, just makes a stripped gear sound.  It winches in and out fine with no load, but won't pull any kind of weight at all.

 

After doing some research, looks like a lot of the Warns have plastic gear housings that tend to strip out (seriously?) if you use them as a tow rope or to hold the wheeler to a trailer.

 

I've long been a fan of Warn winches on my Jeeps, but dang if I'm not disappointed that their ATV lineup doesn't seem to be all that great.  I've yanked and towed for a decade with the Viper, and also with Superwinch LT3000's that I've put on my other Foreman and several of my friends' rigs.  I thought the Warn would be tougher than them all but apparently not.

 

The bad thing is I've picked up 3-4 other Warns to use on future projects, and looks like most of them have this plastic gear housing that supposedly strips when the winch is used the way I use winches.

winches are not meant to be jerked on...hello !!!..lol. i've run warn all my life, yes..they have a plastic gear housing the gears rotate in, never had a warn fail me yet ?, then again..i do not jerk on them !...lol.

[jeepwm69 7,600]

I'm used to my old 8274's.  Dang things are dang near indestructible.

 

The Viper in the pic had metal gears and a metal housing.  The motor crapped the bed, but gears are good to go.

 

Wonder if the Warn motor will fit the Viper housing......😈