# winch stopped working



## IPLOWSNO

hey guys,

my winch suddenly gave up, i can hit the button and all it does is click, from the black box all the wires connect to under the seat,

what should i be looking at?? winch,or black box or something else, arghh its suppose to keep snowing for the next few days, 

any help would be appreciated?

i am trying to find my box and see if i still have the new stuff i never used to see if i can narrow it down. dam i hope i didn't give it to someone to hook them up lol

thanks and its a 3000# superwinch with warn elec, componets if that helps????


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## IPLOWSNO

alright so i found my box and i still had all the original superwinch stuff, i read the manual and for trouble shooting tips it really blew,

i can hit the button, and what its doing is clicking at the solenoid? [black box] and it says nothing about that type problem,


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## sublime68charge

clicks for either in or out?

sound's like your contactor block whent poof and not making the connection from the battery to the winch.
you due have 12V going into the contactor from the battery?
Id check that then check the output on the winch side. manual bypass the contact block make sure the winch goes in/out and if that works Id replace the contactor block. 

good luck.

sublime out.


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## ALC-GregH

sounds like the contact solenoid is bad. Similar to a Ford starter solenoid.


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## IPLOWSNO

yea blime if i go in or out it just clicks, the superwinch block is cheesy compared to the warn one that is why i left it on there,and i liked the switch from warn better also,

and i hate electrical so it was easy to just hook up the winch 

i hooked up the superwinch box quickly and it has a male that i beleive goes to a male spade, and the directions are useless for that. 

now i get nothing : i was happy to hear the click anyway, ooof:laughing:


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## Dave T

That sucks man! I think the contactors on all winches are less reliable than the winches themselves. 

As sublime said, just to be sure, I would check that the winch or rocker switch isn't bad? Make sure all connections are clean an tight too. 

Good luck.


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## revdwg

get a meter and check if you got power going to the winch when you hit the switch. if you do its your winch. if you dont then its your contactor


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## ALC-GregH

revdwg;1199836 said:


> get a meter and check if you got power going to the winch when you hit the switch. if not its your winch. if you dont then its your contactor


You mean if it doesn't have power at the winch, it's the contactor.


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## revdwg

ya thats what i ment. i fixed it there now


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## IPLOWSNO

thanks guys, i have to get a meter, then you can tell me how to work it lmao,

dam sled is leaking chaincase oil so i have been staying off that and then this happens wtf

to top it all off i took a p/t job with a loser company as a loader operator.

they call me at 130 am just to find out the loader is broke and he knew it, so that made me happy, then the next night i plowed snodust and car boogers, for two hours.a salt truck could of done it faster by melting it,but i feel it may have been a test by the foreman,

then it snowed to wear you could actually see snow in the pusher and for the last two mornings no call, but i spring awake to wait for the call, which never comes, so maybe it was a weekend off type thing,

theyre poorly managed so that maybe the reason, during the interview the boss found out i am a finish carpenter and he wanted me to work on his house for 15 an hour, to which i said no thanks,but he still hired me to be a loader operator,

then the foreman said the same thing, and i said to me thats a slap in the face, if i wanted to work in the winter doing my skilled trade all i have to do is make a call, i just want to sit my ass in a loader and do circles, it's alot easier and it is just to keep me from doing nothing, its like someone telling him to plow for x amount imo

if i don't get the call tonight , it looks like i have some electrical and mechanics work to keep me busy lmao

thanks guys i will keep ya posted


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## IPLOWSNO

so i got a test light and it lights up at the winch, so is it the solenoid that is bad?


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## IPLOWSNO

i think another one bites the dust, and another one gone and another one gone another one bites the dust, dada shootout hahahaha


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## sublime68charge

if your getting light at the winch then its most likley the winch. 
though you could get enough volts and amps to light the light but your connection 0somewhere is bad and not good enough to draw enough amps to power the winch.

I'd run jumper cabels direct to the winch and then to a battery. when you hook up the last connection Id just touch the clamp to the winch post and it should spark and winch will go in/out.

if nothing happens whack the winch with a hammer kinda like a stuck starter motor. You might buy your self a day or 2. or take the winch off and then take the motor apart and clean it.

I know there's threads on cleaning a winch motor over at www.highlifter.com
or you need to pony up that snow plowing money and go buy a new winch.

good luck
sublime out.


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## sublime68charge

IPLOWSNO;1200540 said:


> i think another one bites the dust, and another one gone and another one gone another one bites the dust, dada shootout hahahaha


to bad see if you still had a warn winch you could listen to "We are the Champions"
not be messing around with another bits the dust LOL


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## Dave T

IPLOWSNO;1200530 said:


> so i got a test light and it lights up at the winch, so is it the solenoid that is bad?


I know this sounds crazy, and I don't mean it in a bad way, but is it possible the winch is in freespool?

Just a thought.


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## IPLOWSNO

i still have my warn, sitting in a box with new cable on it even,

i just spent the last who knows how long getting it out of there, and i hooked it up to my batt charger and nothing happened.

i hate wrenching on ****, dam hands are all bloody muddy and greasy arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

and to top it off my sled is really throwing a fit so i threw it on craigslist hahaha i spent the last few weeks ordering parts for it, basically throwing moneyaway hahaha and thinking i tightened it all up and it's still a huge pos dam yamaHA

no i wish it was in freespool, i couldn't get it in freespool till i got the dam thing off and now i am throwing it in the deadpool.

so i called superwinch and to rebuild it they said something around 150 and about a week to turn around.so i am gonna see if the new one i seen for 200 is the same one,


pony up my plow money hahaha i am lucky to keep gas in it with that,all my vehicles are 4wd so at this point the neighbor is screwed lol me i will just drive my snow into the ground lmao

so anybody have a better way to mount a winch up on the rack maybe? right now its down in no mansland and is usually submerged in mud snow water? and frankly i am not fighting it back in there hahaha

i can bang **** with a hammer so for ****s and giggles i will try that lmao

thanks for the help guys,as usual you guysare the best, just wish you were neighbors hahahaa


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## sublime68charge

pic 
has the winch mounted on the top rack.









I like it up there Keeps the winch out of the mud/snow and can watch the cable wind up and if it gets to much on 1 side you can back it off and spool it back on the drum the correct way.


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## IPLOWSNO

yup that was what i was thinking thanks blime,

wheres little blimes helmet?????????


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## IPLOWSNO

i might have good news, i have been on the phone with superwinch, awesome company and product imo as my winch is 6 years old ,

well i took blime advice andfigured hey hit it with a hammer and take out some frustrataion, it didn't do anything but i figured i would remove the bolts and see what makes it tick, so i opened that sucker up, the hammering let the case come apart as it wouldn't before,

well it has a copper coil surrounded by earth magnets i beleive and it has 4 brushes with springs under them, guess what i was missing hahaha one was intact which led me to surmise what i was missing,

the brushes well slabs of metal that look like wedges, gone ,ground up ,dust lol who knows how long it was just contacting the bare edges of the wire lol

i am gonna send it infor a rebuild and i am waiting for some special number from him to send it back, hopefully it will be under a 100 bucks so i can still get my tires without displacing too much mad money as it is scarce these days

i will keep ya posted, maybe i should take apart my warn now that i am overflowing with confidence and i still have my hammer out lmao thanks guys


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## revdwg

you can buy the brush kits for them on ebay for like $20


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## sublime68charge

IPLOWSNO;1200840 said:


> yup that was what i was thinking thanks blime,
> 
> wheres little blimes helmet?????????


when we are yard crusin as we are here and not going over 5MPH we run without helements when where out on the public trail we both have them on for that.

good luck on getting the winch repaired.


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## IPLOWSNO

hahah just busting your balls 

thanks for the for the good luck maybe it is enough to kick the crap out of my string of bad luck lol


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## IPLOWSNO

so the snow arrived and my winch is in the mail,

i thought i spoke too good too fast about superwinch as he never got ahold of me with a rga number.

so after day 2 i was gonna call a manager and he answered and said he couldn't get ahold of me saying the phones were down, i guess he was right as i heard other people had problems too.

so i plowed with a loader all day and came home to 6 to 8'' without a winch, it isn't pretty but it got cleaned enough to clean it up with time tommorow, even hackedthe neighbors drive and then went back to the loader job to replow that,

how did i do it , i used a big ratchet strap and just hovered it off the ground, hence it isn't pretty but i didn't have time to do it nice,maybe tommorow will be better.and less busy


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## IPLOWSNO

now my winch is lost in the mail, so if you plan to ship a package do not use fed ex, as i am fed up .


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## sublime68charge

that suck's.

next time the wife ask's me why I have a winch sitting on the shelf and not in use I'm gonna point her to this thread and say this is why. 

though with my power up/down set up my winch on the ATV is the back up for that but then the winch on the shelf is the backup of the backup, LOL not to mention I have a 2nd quad with plow ready to go as backup. though the 2nd quad is spending the winter out at the woodland doing snow removal duties for my folks out there.

sorry for the ramble.

sublime out.


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## IPLOWSNO

i was thinking of sending in my warn to get fixed now too just to have a back up, they told me at the mail place 2 days and that was 5 days ago. glad it isn't a bad winter it could get bad quick imo

fedex tried to say the address wasn't a good one, so i double checked and it's good so they keep sending it to another state, so it's been to ct, then ma, then back to ct, dam my winch has travelled more than me for crying out loud.


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## IPLOWSNO

so my saga continues my winch that fed ex deliverd to the wrong address was the superwinch address they say they have to deliver to, why bother putting an address at all on it.

so the idiot at superwinch basically dropped the ball and my winch he was supposed tobe keeping an eye out for has sat at his warehouse since the 25th.

i called him yesterday but due to snow they sat there asses home, i need to talk to someone in authority i guess.


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## sublime68charge

so your still without a winch?

and it's been at fed ex since the 25th?

I be calling somebody about that.


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## IPLOWSNO

well i just got off the phone and looks like my winch is a total loss, gears shot, cable done for and no brushes what so ever hahaha. i told him it had none when i talked to him in the first place.

so they offered to get me another at cost, so now i am just waiting to see how long this will take to get back to me.


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## Dave T

Man... this sucks!

Don't you hate it how everybody just wants to get paid... and very few want to do a good job at earning it.


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## IPLOWSNO

yea , thats how it works i guess. i always go above and beyond in my line of work, but that is a double edge sword as i won't take on another job till the one i am working on is finished, which leaves me with a lull between jobs. however i am good at what i do so they pay my price. sometimes ya just want to be like everyone else but my conscience won't let me. thanks mom hahaha

i guess they don't want to fix it? i thought thats why they have a service department? they made it in the first place right?

if i would have known this in the beginning i would of just ordered a new one right then. the funny part is , i called to talk to someone in charge and it went to the guy who left me hanging for 2 weeks. so i called back and asked for someone in charge of him,

i ended up getting ahold of a lady that in a minute just by my zip code she knew exactly what was going on with my winch, the other doofus had talked top me more than my friends and when i would call it was like i had to remind him who i was wtf some memory retention they have.

so hopefully the lady is sending out my new 3000# winch i just hope they ship UPS cause i don't want to take a chance with fed ex shipping it where they think it should go,

i can hear it now, we had a hard time locating you so we left it down the road for you to get hahahaha


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## KL&M Snow Div.

I have the same winch as you. I got the clicking sound last night when I was plowing. First thing I checked was my ground connection. Turned out it wiggled loose and that fixed my problem. Then the winch started grinding like the gears were stripped out. Then just quit all together. Anyways. I called a place in Iowa this morning that superwinch referred me to as this guy is a warranty center. He tells me that the lt3000 and lt2000 have no repair parts. So they are just a throw away. He said to call the place I got it from and they are supposed to give me a new one at to cost. Called them and my winch is on the way right now. Not sure how old yours is but I can give you that number I called that got me fixed up real quick. Overall I'm not happy with superwinch. Seems to be a cheap product. Anyways, idk if that helps you or not but just my 2 cents worth.


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## KL&M Snow Div.

319-354-4040 is the number they gave me to call. The people there seems real knowledgable and don't bs around the issue.


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## IPLOWSNO

thanks kl and m, what is your cost price ? i was always talking to superwinch direct, you would think he could of told me that to begin with, i wouldn't of had to find out how bad fed ex was at there job lmao and costing me an extra 30 bucks and some time lol

hopefully my new one is on it's way also, mine was probably 6 years old and it was a good one as far as i am concerned thats why i wanted to fix it. i paid 428 when i bought it. i saved everything in the original box and seen the receipt lol what was i thinking hahaha


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## KL&M Snow Div.

Wow. I wanna say I ended up getting mine for 200 something. I don't think it was that expensive. I don't know the exact number though because it was added into the flat price I paid for the combo. Fourwheeler, plow, and winch all for 3500 so not sure of the exact numbers.


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## IPLOWSNO

what was the cost of your replacement winch was what i was asking?


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## KL&M Snow Div.

Oh. My replacement winch is only going to cost me fuel to go pick it up. Its a straight swap. My new one is on the way to my dealer at no cost to me, I'll take him the old one when the new one comes in and walk away with a new winch. No money involved.


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## IPLOWSNO

good for you , i guess mine was too old for that deal lol


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## IPLOWSNO

so my new winch finally arrived, 165.00 bucks ihad to shovel off my roofs yesterday so i reinstalled it today, waist deep snow on my roof wtf its hardtosee its that deep theway the edge looks like 12'' but it drifts up higher mid height, so i was a shoveling fool yesterday,

well because i snoblowed , i got lazy and didn't keep it all open like when i plow, well it is a frozen mass of snow and i lost my push area. so now i have to wait for some time and daylight and get it reopened.

i realized after i drove into it and seen my quad sink, its from the roof snow i blowed made my path deeper than i thought, luckily my new winch picked up the plow and i gunned it to less deep snow, well i have a turn down by the dog kennels. it got deep again 100's of feet away from my van that could pull it out, so i was there for a few minutes but got her out just to get stuck coming out where i had broke thru. so now i am back to having to get tires for the dam thing. i hope nothing else goes wrong hahaha


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## sublime68charge

sounds like your having quite the year for snow removal.


along with a few other's on here as well, Me included.


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## IPLOWSNO

yea at first it was no big deal , but how quickly that was not the case , we have 12 to 20 coming right now too, i think i will snowblow and then go drive that pos dodge for the rest of the day,

i will get pics you will be impressed with that pos hahaha


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## IPLOWSNO

your gonna love this one, as i am blasting back the banks with my quad in the neighbors drive way, she comes out and says ya know i have a big tractor with a bucket at my cousins house?

i was gonna sell it, i was like are you kidding me, here i am doing this as a favor thinking the old bat had to use a snowblower to keep her drive open, she throws me a fifty every couple weeks which isn't worth my time i do it as a favor.hell my winch cost me more than that hahaha

well guess who isn't getting plowed next year wtf


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## sublime68charge

How many years you been doing here drive for her?

you could maybe mention you'd like to use the tractor and bucket 2-3 times a year for pushing back the piles at her's and your places. if your in need of moving the piles a quad will only due so much as you already know.

I'd try that. bite your toung and be nice and maybe you'll get use of the tractor from now on when you need. keep using your quad for what it'll handle with ease and then when you get the big stuff you can use the tractor.

good luck.


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## IPLOWSNO

i have done the house for years but she just bought it this winter, and i see the old lady out there fighting with a little blower.so i just went and did it. i am too nice of a guy lol

yea thats what i was thinking about using it but she sounds like she is gonna sell it. it's only 2wd and she was told it is worth 9 grand by a tractor place.

she doesn't want to leave it outside and her garage is full of crap and she parks her car in the carport.

she has a guy remodeling right now, so i mentioned to her that is what i do lol she said he does all her work. she is waiting for him to shovel off her roof, it's waist deep i hope he cleans it up after he does because i won't.

i didn't plow her today i am gonna let it slowly fill in on her and see if she gets the tractor over here.

if my winch didn't go out i wouldn't need my banks pushed back, ican still snowblow it if it comes down to that but i am not blowing hers too, way too much walking for me haha

oh and to top it off the town went over there about her dog and she volunteered info to them about my dogs. people need to mind their own business imo.


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## Bunky1

Have you guys ever thought of taking your damaged winches to a starter rebuild shop in your area. Just a thought. The guy that does my starters also does most of my electric forklift motors, Remember a motor is just a motor and it usually does not require to be sent back to the manufacture unless it is under warranty. Plus you will get it back within a day or two and keep the money in your own town.


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## IPLOWSNO

i did think about it but supposedly my winch was discontinued after hearing their runaround for so long so it was a throw away winch, well they sent the same exact one as a replacement lol but mine was pretty well shot it no longer had brushes, they were just wires that were welded onto it imo.


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## sublime68charge

IPLOWSNO;1257670 said:


> i did think about it but supposedly my winch was discontinued after hearing their runaround for so long so it was a throw away winch, well they sent the same exact one as a replacement lol but mine was pretty well shot it no longer had brushes, they were just wires that were welded onto it imo.


should keep the old girl around and on the shelf you never know what other parts you might be able to use in a pinch. Gears or the drum or something.


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## IPLOWSNO

they never returned it, its probably sitting on their wall of shame as a trophy


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