I have a Hawkeye with a factory Warn 1500 lb winch and a 48" plow.

Two situations:

1) As I'm raising the plow, the spool skips - sometimes just a little and other times the plow will drop all the way to the ground.

2) If I am able to lift the plow, if I step a little on the top of the blade the spool will again let loose and allow the blade to drop to the ground.

When the spool skips, it makes a sound like a worn ratchet and it moves in short increments.

I looked at the free wheel lever and noticed that it can rotate 360 degrees. Not sure if this is normal or not. I was able to put it in the free wheel position (1 o'clock) and verified that the spool was free. I leave the lever in the down position (5 o'clock) for normal operation.

If anyone needs more info on the winch I can get it tonight.

Of course everything was working fine when it got put away last spring. The winch hasn't been used since.

Any ideas would be appreciated!!

 

you need to remove end assy from winch and see if gears are stripped or broken.....

 

Try Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word  if you are having trouble keeping it up [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

LOL sorry.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: colt2245p

you need to remove end assy from winch and see if gears are stripped or broken.....</end quote></div>

I was afraid someone would say that... Any words of wisdom in taking the winch apart? Are any springs or parts going to go flying when I take the end cover off?

 

owners manual for warn 1500what model is it? you can probably get a wiring and assembly schematic for it.

A more specific manual for the warn 1500 is located here.

 

I had a Polaris 2500 winch (which I later found-out was not made by Warn but cheap Chinese JUNK)

The way you can tell if it's WARN is if the pull teather is RED and reads "Warn".

If your pull teather is ORANGE and reads "Polaris", you own a pure junk winch! Go to Warn.com and Replace it with something of value.

Last Winter I went through TWO Polaris-chinese junk winches. First one would drop the plow like a hot potato and sometimes not go up. The second one lifted it just fine but would jam and not go down!

Polaris was not pleasant about warranting them. My dealer really went to bat for me for the warranty work.

I have since changed it for the high quality one that currently hangs off the front....a WARN.

Don't fix it, replace it. When you try to fix junk you still have junk!

 

i had the same problem with the same set-up, the problem for me was the exterior case split at the free spoole switch/lever, cost me around $50 for the new end cover.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: GunnSmoke

i had the same problem with the same set-up, the problem for me was the exterior case split at the free spoole switch/lever, cost me around $50 for the new end cover.</end quote></div>

I just spoke with a VERY helpful CS rep at Warn. He believes the problem part is the same as you described. I'll check it out tonight and let everyone know.

 

What plow blade are you using? It sounds like you are on the right track, but for what it's worth, I had a 1500lb winch on my wifes suzuki vinson 500 just for plowing. I had a very heavy 48" swisher plow blade. It would do the same thing you are describing. The blade was so heavy it would make the rear wheels come off the ground when you first started to lift it. I think it was just too much for the little winch. You would think a 1500lb winch would suffice for plowing, but I guess not. Anyway, the quad was stolen soon after so I guess I eventually replaced the winch? LOL!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: mtpockets

I had a Polaris 2500 winch (which I later found-out was not made by Warn but cheap Chinese JUNK)



The way you can tell if it's WARN is if the pull teather is RED and reads "Warn".



If your pull teather is ORANGE and reads "Polaris", you own a pure junk winch! Go to Warn.com and Replace it with something of value.



Last Winter I went through TWO Polaris-chinese junk winches. First one would drop the plow like a hot potato and sometimes not go up. The second one lifted it just fine but would jam and not go down!



Polaris was not pleasant about warranting them. My dealer really went to bat for me for the warranty work.



I have since changed it for the high quality one that currently hangs off the front....a WARN.



Don't fix it, replace it. When you try to fix junk you still have junk!</end quote></div>

had my 2500 polaris winch 6.5 months and it burnt out the first real time i used it, dealer replace it with an upgrade to the 3000 warn winch for a little over a hundred for the upgrade, the winch is alot better now.