Anybody hear anythin good or bad about plow lift actuator? Today I plowed all day and broke the cable twice and I think I broke the gearing on my 3000lb Moose winch, It wont retrieve the line, or hold up the plow, the whole day really sucked. Does anyone know where to get it fixed, its about 3 years old so I know its not under warrenty. One of the problems are the hook that attaches to the plow is real close to the fairlead, so the plow does'nt go up real high, you never know if your going to suck the cable connector into the plow, man I hope it wont be expensive to get the winch fixed. Maybe I need to get a Warn, but I will have the same problem not knowing how close the cable is to the winch. This is why I think a plow lift actuator will be good. I just want something reliable. I dont want problem hooking up the plow, I dont want to replace cables with rope, or rig up pullys, I want to just hook up and plow.

 

I hear they dont hold up too well.
Your best bet might be to go to Harbor freight and get a cheap $49 winch and make or buy a fairlead with a big bottom roller on it.
Warn makes one.LINK
I take my hook off the cable and use a small shackle like this to hook my cable to the plow mount LINK
Anyway to hook the cable up farther away then where your hooking it up now?

 

I replaced the cable with a heavy tow strap. I hear the lift actuators are slow and week. if you have a heavy plow cycle country told me they won't do the job.
I have a the swivel actuator on my plow and i think it's the same motor they use for the lift actautor. It deffinatly wouldn't pick up a plow. I don't plan on it lasting the season.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]The first couple times I used my plow, I snapped my cable from reeling in to far. Then I cut the middle section of the middle support tube on my chrome brushguard and replaced it with a boat trailer roller with a long threaded rod through it. Now the syn. rope rides on the roller down to the plow hook up. I learned not to reel in so far now, no problems since. When I figure out pics, I will post some.

 

Thanks guys, I took the advice from Kodiak660 and bought a 49.00 winch from Harbor Freight. I actually mounted it on my warn bumper. I made three one half inch holes in the bumper and mounted it on that. Now the winch is straight over the plow hook up, the plow raises a little higher, and the cable doesnt touch anything, I figured in the Summer I can remove the wintch or just leave it on, and use it for a back up, its really not in the way. I thought about the winch and how long could it last for 49.00. But while I was there a guy said he bought one for his Polaris for strictly plowing, and this is his third season using it and its still going strong. he was there to buy a 2nd one for another wheeler he bought. Now I have the task of removing the Moose wnch and getting it fixed. I looked at the exploded view of the winch and there is only 3or4 gears, there is really not much to it. There is also a parts list to order parts. I think I'm gonna try it myself. If I cant I'll send it to moose and have them do it. The only thing is what kind of grease do I use for the gears befor I put it back together, and is there any other maintenence I need to do while I have it apart? Anothe question I have is, are all winch bolt patterns for mounting the same. I would like to maybe get a warn 1.5 to replace the 49.00 one in the future, but I dont want to put any more holes in my bumper.