A friend of mine told me that his Warn 2500 winch said "Do Not Submerge". I will be buying this winch specifically for wet and muddy conditions, particularly creek riding. If I cannot get it wet as it is, can I silicon it or something? What should I do and how should I do it?

 

First, don't buy that winch!, The Warn 2.5 is a piece of crap. I put one on my 660 Griz.
Here's my sad story:
One of the two bolts holding the elec. motor to the gear case was loose, so I unscrewed it so that I could apply some loc-tite thread locker. BIG Mistake! There was nut on the inside that fell out of place and I had to remove the whole winch from the mounting plate in order to get it all back together. While I had it apart, I could see how cheaply made and poorly designed that thing was.
The sun gear is molded-in to the housing. That in itself isn't bad. The problem is that the entire gear housing is plastic!!! I am not freaking kidding! It only had some metal inserts/reinforcements in other "visible" areas.
Warn has designed a newer winch that according to their web site is now "metal" the 3,000lb model and an even newer 4,000lb one is available. I wish I had at least bought the 3,000lb one, but the 2.5 was the best one they had at the time. The newer 3.0 came out only a few months later. :-(
This is their quote from their web site about the 3.0ci winch:
"Eight sealed areas protect the winch from water and contaminant infiltration. Steel alloy gear housing provides exceptional durability, strength and rigidity from the winching forces generated by the gear train torque during winching. The new gear train design provides greater efficiency and pulling strength than any other 3,000 lb. capacity ATV winch on the market. "

Buy the 3.0ci. the 2.5 is JUNK. They should stop selling it. The engineer who designed it should be FIRED. The If you have a small battery, buy a Ramsey winch due to lower amp draw. I have no experience with Ramsey though. I bought the Warn based on my experience with the good quality of their truck winches.

 

You gotta take the good w/ the bad. That's the 1st complaint I've heard about the 2.5ci. I've got one and have it under water all the time and it works like a charm. I'd recommend one in a heartbeat. I noticed in the subject you said 2.5 and then later you said 2500. I'm not positive, but I think the A2500 isn't "waterproof" while the 2.5ci is.

 

I thought about the Ramsey. On another thread, it was said that the Warn pulls faster while using more juice from the battery. The Ramsey does use less power, but pulls slower. Neither one has an advantage in this way then.

 

I have the 2.5 and have had it under water for short periods of time with no problems. One thing I don't like is that it slips with heavy loads on it. I don't have much experience with winches so maybe this is something they all do. I put a front end bucket on my Griz and when I have a full load of dirt and raise the bucket it will slowly spool back out. Is there any way to adjust it to make it hold a little better.

 

There is some sort of brake I've seen advertised. Check out rocky mountain atv, i think i saw it on their site and it's purpose is to keep the winch from spooling back out when you have a load on it.

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

I have a Warn 2.5 and have had no problems. I've only had to use it once when I got stuck in mud but it worked like a champ!

 

Do not seal the winch. Winches were made to breathe.

Yes water can get in them.

You will never be able to completely seal it.

After riding when you wash the bike, unspool the winch and pull it back in. The heat from the motor will evaporate any water inside the case.

When you think your sealing the case, all your actually doing is preventing the water from getting out which will lead to premature motor failure.


On a side note, I service ramsey winches and have had great luck with them on my personal toys.