Winch Problems

[Celticsfan]

So I’ve been having some issues with my winch, a Quadratec 10k winch with synthetic line. I’ve had it a few years and have only used it a handful of times. Anyways, I went to let out some of the line, not under any load and I get the clicking of the solenoid but the doesn’t go in/out.

Initially I had it wired with an Inline fuse, looking back I probably didn’t need that. I thought it may have been that so I got another fuse and then took everything out and wired it straight to the battery. Still nothing.

Looked up a video on “jumping” the winch with cables from the battery straight to the terminals on the motor and nothing, no spark with I saw in the videos. Checked with test light and it was reading 12v. (Also hooked up straight to battery booster, no go)

I then hooked up the jumpers to the solenoid and activated the switch and found that the motor was getting power from the solenoid at the motor

I’m no electrical/winch expert but I’m thinking the motor is shot? Super disappointing considering I’ve only used it a few times. I know you get what you pay for but I can’t justify spending a ton when I barely go off-road.

I tried getting the motor off but one of the Phillips head screws in there is nearly stripped, tho manipulating the motor around a lot of crap Maybe dirt or rust flakes were coming out... winch definitely hasn’t been submerged or anything.

Quadratec does offer a replacement motor for $100 but I just want to be sure that’s the issue before dumping more money. Any input would be appreciated.

edit: battery is new, no issues with it.

 

[mrblaine]

So I’ve been having some issues with my winch, a Quadratec 10k winch with synthetic line. I’ve had it a few years and have only used it a handful of times. Anyways, I went to let out some of the line, not under any load and I get the clicking of the solenoid but the doesn’t go in/out.



Initially I had it wired with an Inline fuse, looking back I probably didn’t need that. I thought it may have been that so I got another fuse and then took everything out and wired it straight to the battery. Still nothing.



Looked up a video on “jumping” the winch with cables from the battery straight to the terminals on the motor and nothing, no spark with I saw in the videos. Checked with test light and it was reading 12v. (Also hooked up straight to battery booster, no go)



I then hooked up the jumpers to the solenoid and activated the switch and found that the motor was getting power from the solenoid.



I’m no electrical/winch expert but I’m thinking the motor is shot? Super disappointing considering I’ve only used it a few times. I know you get what you pay for but I can’t justify spending a ton when I barely go off-road.



I tried getting the motor off but one of the Phillips head screws in there is nearly stripped, tho manipulating the motor around a lot of crap Maybe dirt or rust flakes were coming out... winch definitely hasn’t been submerged or anything.





Quadratec does offer a replacement motor for $100 but I just want to be sure that’s the issue before dumping more money. Any input would be appreciated.

View attachment 199029

I'd guess you lost grounding before I'd venture the motor was fried.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Clicking usually means the motor is simply not getting enough power. That means either the battery is weak or the connections on the battery are loose, corroded, or simply bad. If your battery starts the Jeep ok, remove, clean, and reinstall the winch power connections.

And make no mistake that seeing 12 volts on the battery does not necessarily mean it's good or fully charged. That 12 volts may be dropping way down when a load is applied to it.

 

[Celticsfan]

Should’ve added that it’s a brand new battery, no issues starting it. Pardon my ignorance here but if I’m using jumper cables straight from the battery to the winch motor terminals shouldn’t it engage the drum ?

also when I engaged the switch in/out I was getting around 12v on the motor terminals, the red, and yellow , blue ? Or whichever colors they are.

 

[HYRYSC]

Clicking usually means the motor is simply not getting enough power. That means either the battery is weak or the connections on the battery are loose, corroded, or simply bad. If your battery starts the Jeep ok, remove, clean, and reinstall the winch power connections.

And make no mistake that seeing 12 volts on the battery does not necessarily mean it's good or fully charged. That 12 volts may be dropping way down when a load is applied to it.

Yes, what he said X2! I chased a gremlin like that for about a week before I figured that I had a bad ground. I got 12.4 volt when I tested it, but I FINALLY got smart enough to test it AS I WAS APPLYING THE LOAD, sure enough, dropped down to less than 3 volts.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

take it apart, clean it up, replace the grease in the gearbox. It may just be locked up from lack of use/maintenance.

 

[Celticsfan]

Finally got the motor off, having a hell of a time getting the internals out, what am I doing wrong ?
Don’t want to hit the end with the shaft too hard...

 

[freedom_in_4low]

That's the motor housing, the gearbox should be on the other end of rope drum. If you can turn the motor shaft I would spray that out with some electronic parts/contact cleaner and button it back up. Then hit it with power and see if it spins.

It's a different winch, but here's a video of I did when I cleaned out and regreased the gearbox on my Smittybilt.

 

[Celticsfan]

Oops I meant internals, the shaft was definitely seized, got it loosened up a bit would like to remove it from the casing to clean it up inside, assuming it’s going to come out the cap side ? Doesn’t appear the cap screws off.

intially when I got it off I hooked the motor up to a jump box, it sparked but no movement of the shaft, just tried again after messing it with and I’m getting nothing now so I’m assuming I disturbed a connection somewhere inside

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Oops I meant internals, the shaft was definitely seized, got it loosened up a bit would like to remove it from the casing to clean it up inside, assuming it’s going to come out the cap side ? Doesn’t appear the cap screws off.

I didn't have to take my motor apart, didn't even open it up, so my usefulness here may be used up.

 

[Celticsfan]

Got the stripped screw out and the rest of
The internals are now out, I’ll take a few pics as im not 100% sure what im
Looking for:

not sure if that wire on the positive thermal is supposed to be exposed, also the other pics are fairly corroded with some of the wired exposed, again not sure if normal or time for new motor...

 

[Celticsfan]

Bump, anyone with experience have any insight ?

Unless it’s a feasible repair my options are either $100 replacement motor or just get a new one from them, they did offer 20% so I’m looking at $240 for a new one with steel cable.

I’d prefer the synthetic rope, this one only has 50 ft, clearly didn’t read when I bought it. , thoughts on putting the 50’ on the new winch ? I do already have a decently long tow strap as well to make up for the lack of length.

Either way I’ll be sure to use it a few times of year so hopefully this doesn’t happen again.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

I don't have any specific advice as to what might be causing your problems but if it were me, I would take that motor apart and go to town on it with a wire brush and electrical contact cleaner. Get the corrosion off of every contact surface, then put it back together and see if it runs. Failing that, I'd get a motor before replacing the whole winch.

When it comes to my smittybilt, I told myself that I'm willing to take apart and service it, but if it comes to the point of having to spend any significant amount of money, I'd rather just buy a nicer winch. It's not hard to find an older used Warn to clean up or rebuild for about what it costs to buy a new cheap winch.

 

[Celticsfan]

Sounds like a plan just wasn’t sure if anything was obviously messed up. I’ll do that and see what happens.

I’ve been scouting FB Marketplace and Craigslist, not much so far but found a used M8000 Warn for $300 used.

 

[freedom_in_4low]

Sounds like a plan just wasn’t sure if anything was obviously messed up. I’ll do that and see what happens.

I’ve been scouting FB Marketplace and Craigslist, not much so far but found a used M8000 Warn for $300 used.

I paid $450 for my Smittybilt XRC9500 with synthetic rope. If it ever fails I'll be hitting the interwebs for a used Warn like that. Wish I'd have done that to start.

 

[Zorba]

Sounds like a plan just wasn’t sure if anything was obviously messed up. I’ll do that and see what happens.

I’ve been scouting FB Marketplace and Craigslist, not much so far but found a used M8000 Warn for $300 used.

That is exactly what I paid for my used M8000. Having to go through it, clean, paint, and re-grease, etc. but by all accounts I won't have to worry about it.

 

[Celticsfan]

I’ll give cleaning it a go and hopefully it works, my luck I’d buy used and it would go shortly after. We’ll see !

 

[Celticsfan]

So I messed around with the winch for a few hours, the end cap finally popped up so I was able to free up the brush assembly, then went and googled an assembly and think I found the problem, the wire going from the positive cable terminal is no longer attached to the brush assembly, circled in red. Done for tonight but I’m hoping I can reattach it somehow or just buy a new assembly ring, tho I doubt there universal.

That looks very similar to my current setup:

 

[Blackjack]

Common problem with those styles of motor. Lack of proper sealing of the brush end cap causing corrosion. Check the bearing on the end of the armature as well as it will most likely be rusted up as well. Clean everything up, make sure it works and then put a slathering of Ultra Black or similar sealant on the outside of the cap to seal it to the motor case.

 

[Celticsfan]

The bearing was surprisingly pretty smooth, I also opened up the gear end, had grease in there no water or rust so Didn’t go too far in depth.

Now my question is how do I re-attach the wire to the brush assembly ? Almost tempted to order that one in the pic above and see if I can fanagle it.

On another note the finish on the outside of the case is complete junk, not sure if I want to go through the whole process of repainting it ...