I'm in the process of removing the Warn 2500 winch from my wife's 04 Bruin and the plan is to install it on my 07 Rubicon. She hardly drives the atv and has never used the winch.

First off, why did the 'smart' engineers at Warn decide on square nuts in the housing that are used to mount the winch to the mounting plate? I managed to get one bolt out of the bottom of the winch and the rest I had to cut the heads off...they just spun in place.

When I took the winch apart, I could not believe that amount of dirt that has managed to get inside the winch...motor included! I thought they were sealed better than that!

So I'm asking, what would be the best way to clean the dirt and crud out of the motor housing, short of taking the whole motor apart? The reduction gears are in good shape....just caked with grease and dirt.

Anyone ever taken one completely apart?

 

go to Auto Zone and get a few cans of their brake clean and spray all in the winch and motor. or take it apart and spray it, would be the best way to do it

 

That's what I was thinking of doing...thanks!

I just couldn't believe the amount of dirt that got into the winch! It's a wonder it even worked !
Hopefully it will run and sound better after a good cleaning and re-greasing of the gear train!

 

I guess thats what happen to my warn also, I used it maybe 5 times in its life and one day it just quit, I just took it off and threw it in the garage , there is a guy who rebuilds auto starters and alternators, I'm going to let him look at it. If its done for I will just toss it.

No even sure I want to buy another $300 winch for it to get me unstuck 5x ,it just seems so uneconomical.

PS With the heavy winch and mounting plate off the front end the ATV rides nicer then it ever did before.

 

you can get all parts for a Warn. do it your self, it is not that bad at all.

 

this is what i would be doing too.

have you done this already?

 

I took the winch apart and sprayed it with brake cleaner and did a fairly good job of getting all the caked on dirt and grease out of the workings.
The slots where the square nuts go for the mounting bolts were worn from where the nuts spun because of the caked on dirt that bound them up. Well....one came out easily.

The housing on this unit is a hard plastic, hence why the nuts spun in their slots. I thought Warn used metal housings and I'm quite surprised the gear teeth molded into the housing weren't worn.

Anyway, I got it together and mounted on the atv....the mounting bolts tightened right up to the specified torque......and now am in the process of running the wiring.

I'll let everyone know how it runs afterward. Couldn't have hurt a thing considering how much crud was in the winch itself!

 

good for you thumbs up

 

Well< I got the winch mounted and wired and it runs a heck of a lot better! It's a lot quieter now too! No doubt the cleaning and addition of moly based grease helped it out.

I pulled over half the cable out, hooked it to a tree and had my son rewind the cable as I guided it in.

Now for the problems I had in mounting the winch!!!!! First off, I had to drill four new mounting holes to mount the winch as the front plastic grill hit the spool in it's intended mounting position. I moved the winch back 1" and that cured that problem.

The other hassle was attaching the positive cable to the battery. I wound up attaching it to the positive post on the starter solenoid.

Anyway, it works great and I suggest that all who own this winch take theirs off, take it apart and clean it. Being that we never had this unit under water, the previous owner did so it's worth the time and effort to tear one apart and clean it if it's running rough and loud!