Grease for winch

Here's the vid, cued up to the relevant spot:


He says to run the outside of the ring gear "dry", then spray a bit of WD-40 on the outside every couple of months.
My clutch lever was super hard to turn. Shot of WD-40 really helped. Need to pull mine apart and service it.
 
Here's the vid, cued up to the relevant spot:


He says to run the outside of the ring gear "dry", then spray a bit of WD-40 on the outside every couple of months.
Having seen a sliding gear fully rusted to the inside of the housing and the bottom of the shift lever sheared off from the owner trying to engage the winch out of free spool, there is no way in hell I'm running the outside of that ring gear dry. WD-40 is shit for rust prevention. It is a great solvent, pretty good cutting fluid for aluminum, it sucks at everything else.
 
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Having seen a sliding gear fully rusted to the inside of the housing and the bottom of the shift lever sheared off from the owner trying to engage the winch out of free spool, there is no way in hell I'm running the outside of that ring gear dry. WD-40 is shit for rust prevention. It is a great solvent, pretty good cutting fluid for aluminum, it sucks at everything else.
That's why I actually used 30 wt - for better or worse.
 
after regreasing it with whatever AeroShell formula I found listed as the recommendation from Warn, mine free spooled so easily that I see no need whatsoever to use anything thinner like motor oil.
 
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Had trouble engaging/disengaging my clutch and used a moly grease I had sitting around for my motorcycle. Was much easier to engage the clutch afterwards. That was a year or so ago and it still feels great.
 
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Here's the vid, cued up to the relevant spot:


He says to run the outside of the ring gear "dry", then spray a bit of WD-40 on the outside every couple of months.

I find it interesting that a he is just saying to run some parts store CV grease and WD40. Warn makes specific recommendations on what grease should be used in their winches. With the exception of drum seals on certain models they want an arctic weight grease with a minimum of 5% moly. This is based of years of research and testing to find what performs.

The original grease that Warn specified was Aeroshell 17, a grease that was designed for lubricating sliding metal parts on aircraft landing gear. With 5% moly and a temperature range of -100f to +300f no automotive grease came even close. When Shell discontinued the Aeroshell 17 (technically replaced with the much more expensive Aeroshell 64) Warn decided to go with Philips Moly Low Temp #1. It is a bit of a compromise as it is only rated for -30f on the low side but how many of us are actually using our winches at 30 below? Another good choice is Caterpillar Extreme Application Arctic with a low operating point of -58f.

You would never see me pulling the clutch lever and spraying a solvent down the hole. One it is just running down the groove in the gear and if you spray enough in it will just pool in the bottom of the gear box and just react with the grease. And two if you are having an issue with free spooling it might be time to take the winch down and service it.
 
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@Blackjack or anyone else, thoughts on this grease for regreasing my xd900i? I can get it pretty cheap from work. From what I’m seeing discussed about the importance of low operating temp requirements I’m guessing that may be a issue?

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@Blackjack or anyone else, thoughts on this grease for regreasing my xd900i? I can get it pretty cheap from work. From what I’m seeing discussed about the importance of low operating temp requirements I’m guessing that may be a issue?

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So the two things that stand out are that it only has three percent moly and it is #2 weight. The lower moly content is not probably the end of the world. #2 weight can lead to stiff freespooling in colder weather but that is probably not as big a deal where you are at.
 
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So the two things that stand out are that it only has three percent moly and it is #2 weight. The lower moly content is not probably the end of the world. #2 weight can lead to stiff freespooling in colder weather but that is probably not as big a deal where you are at.

Appreciate the input. JD has another moly grease but I’m not sure if we have it in stock. I’ll have to check today and if we have it, see if it’d be a better option in comparison to this stuff.
 
I took a look at the Warn Mid Frame Winch Service Manual. Regarding the sliding ring gear during re-assembly:

"Apply a light coat of machine oil to the inside of the gear housing where the sliding ring gear rides.

Do not apply grease to the machined surface of the gear housing. This will cause difficultly in freespooling."
 
I took a look at the Warn Mid Frame Winch Service Manual. Regarding the sliding ring gear:

"Apply a light coat of machine oil to the inside of the gear housing where the sliding ring gear rides.

Do not apply grease to the machined surface of the gear housing. This will cause difficultly in freespooling."

That was EXACTLY what I did. No grease there, just a bit of oil.