I just thought I'd pass this along to everyone.

When I bought my 2004 Sportsman 700 I chose the free Warn Winch that was offered along with the Glacier Plow System, which I must say is Grrrrrrrrrrreat. This past winter is the first winter that I used the plow and I almost made it all the way through without any problems. The Steel Wire Rope Broke!. Now living in the S.E. corner of Michigan we had an above average snow fall this year and the 700 got a workout plowing driveways, plowing a trail to the main road, and even pulling out stuck cars!! This is the kind of work I could enjoy!

So I contacted Warn Winch and this is the reply I recieved.....

"That is NORMAL when using wire rope to raise and lower a plow. It is being subjected to repeated use of the cable over a small diameter roller which fatigues the wire rope at an accelerated rate. <u>This is common with any wire rope in this situation.</u>

Your options would be to use our Plow Roller Fairlead (Pn # 69373), which has a larger diameter lower roller or the Plow Lift Rope (Pn # 68560) to raise and lower a plow blade instead of using wire rope.

Either one will help you when using the winch to raise and lower a plow blade."

Michael McEwen
Technical Customer Service Representative

I of course ordered both of the parts!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I hope that this helps someone else as the Polaris Dealer wasn't any help to me. They were unaware of any reported problems. Rest assured I forwarded this note to Polaris Headquarters as well as my Dealer.

 

I had a winch cable snap on me this past winter also and warn did nothing for me but my dealer replace the cable free of charge.

 

Hmmm no kidding? My Dealer really acted like it was the first time they had heard of it happening. And they pretty much said that there was nothing they could do but order me a new cable and they would let me have it at cost!! Big Help huh?

I'll let everyone know how the new parts work but it might be until next winter! The parts are back ordered... four months! lol

Makes Ya think why they are back ordered huh? lol

 

I broke mine this winter too! I had a new cable made and the guy at the sling shop said to just cut the old one into 6 ft pieces and then you have a bunch of line. If you break a small one at least you didn't ruin a full winch cable![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

LAmudman - what did he use to crimp the loop at the end of the 6ft cables? got any pics?

 

You know that is a very good idea having lengths of rope just long enough to work the plow.

Ditto on the crimp question. What did He use and can the average JOE get the crimp and do it?

 

Hi Guys,
I heard others complaining about breaking cables & put a boat winch nylon strap on my winch for plowing in the winter. Just duct tape the end to the winch drumb & after a couple wraps it'll never pull loose. Hope this helps.

 

You will probably find the main reason your cables are breaking is the roller fairlead. When the cable works its way to either side the rollers aren't big enough to keep the cable off the fairlead housing. I actually took mine apart and ground the framing back in so the cable wouldn't rub on it. I haven't had a problem since.