After nearly ten years of regular and occasionally hard use, the motor in my Warn 9.5xp winch finally developed a problem. It started running slower than usual during a pretty difficult recovery 3 weeks ago and then it just stopped working while unspooling the winch rope in my garage last week. I started troubleshooting it and the solenoids appeared to be working fine and providing full battery voltage to the motor, both directions. That meant its 6 HP motor had a problem. I was bummed, I was hoping I just needed to replace a solenoid or two.
Officially the winch has a lifetime mechanical but on electrical things like the motor, it has a 7 year warranty.
I started pricing replacement motors, aftermarket 6hp motors were $240-250 or so. I emailed Warn's Customer Service department about the problem and asked for gaskets, confirmed what kind of grease they recommended, asked about an overhaul document I heard about, etc. I was planning on getting into it and just doing an overhaul. I also told them I was a bit surprised the motor had died since it had never been abused, submerged, etc.
Then I got a call from a really nice lady at Warn and they offered to replace the motor and get the winch working like new again. For free. I was so stoked I could barely talk on the phone with her, she knew she had made my day lol. They even shipped me a shipping box. I was thinking it'd be $80 or so to ship that 90 lb. box back to Warn but inside the box was a pre-paid UPS shipping label to Warn in Clackamas Oregon. Wow. I doubt they do this for all electrical problems but they must have believed I hadn't done anything to cause the problem so they are covering it 100%. I can tell you getting that 90 lb. cardboard box to UPS Saturday was hard on my 71 year old back. Yowsa
And some wonder why I have always recommended nothing but Warn. Yes I'm a happy man. Especially since I have my first 5-day trip on the Rubicon Trail coming up in August. Good timing. Maybe I'll even throw a new rope on the winch lol.
Edit: As an update, it turns out the motor didn't fail on its own, I caused the problem when I installed too long of a screw through an aftermarket rope keeper that threads into the drum. The screw protruded just far enough past the drum that it was grinding into the side drum support and the resulting steel chips made their way into the motor shorting it out. And despite that, Warn still replaced the motor at no charge.
Officially the winch has a lifetime mechanical but on electrical things like the motor, it has a 7 year warranty.
I started pricing replacement motors, aftermarket 6hp motors were $240-250 or so. I emailed Warn's Customer Service department about the problem and asked for gaskets, confirmed what kind of grease they recommended, asked about an overhaul document I heard about, etc. I was planning on getting into it and just doing an overhaul. I also told them I was a bit surprised the motor had died since it had never been abused, submerged, etc.
Then I got a call from a really nice lady at Warn and they offered to replace the motor and get the winch working like new again. For free. I was so stoked I could barely talk on the phone with her, she knew she had made my day lol. They even shipped me a shipping box. I was thinking it'd be $80 or so to ship that 90 lb. box back to Warn but inside the box was a pre-paid UPS shipping label to Warn in Clackamas Oregon. Wow. I doubt they do this for all electrical problems but they must have believed I hadn't done anything to cause the problem so they are covering it 100%. I can tell you getting that 90 lb. cardboard box to UPS Saturday was hard on my 71 year old back. Yowsa
And some wonder why I have always recommended nothing but Warn. Yes I'm a happy man. Especially since I have my first 5-day trip on the Rubicon Trail coming up in August. Good timing. Maybe I'll even throw a new rope on the winch lol.
Edit: As an update, it turns out the motor didn't fail on its own, I caused the problem when I installed too long of a screw through an aftermarket rope keeper that threads into the drum. The screw protruded just far enough past the drum that it was grinding into the side drum support and the resulting steel chips made their way into the motor shorting it out. And despite that, Warn still replaced the motor at no charge.