So my buddy was pulling a jeep out of the mud with a Warn 2.5ci (which has always performed well) when it seems like the gears started slipping. We took it apart, cleaned it very well and didn't see any stripped gear or busted pieces. Other than being almost dry and really dirty, it looked fine. We then greased the heck out of it and put it back together.

On the first test pull, it started out fine and then started slipping again. I told him that I thought is may be the "Freespool-engagement" mechanism. If you have a Warn you know that it is a chinese star looking peice that moves up and down and engages/disengages the shaft to the gears on that side. I think that dirt and mud got into this mechanism and is keeping it from going all the way down and engaging the shaft and gears. The reason that I think this is because the **** used to "click" into place in the "engaged" position and no longer does. He seems to think that the clutch is stripped on the motor side (which we didn't take apart). He's about to order a new clutch assembly, so I figured that I would run it past all of you first.

Have any of you had this problem before? Surely this is a common problem!? What is the fix? Should we take apart the motor section and look at the clutch? If you need me to be more specific about something, I will try. Thanks for the help!!

 

I have the EXACT same problem with my older Warn A2000 winch. I also took it apart and cleaned out the side with the freespool/engage mechanism. It was very sticky/mucky. so after getting all the mud out, we thought we had it. put it back together, and now it's always making a "ratcheting" sound, like it won't engage under load. It sounds like something is stripped. It was downright dangerous before, because it'd suddenly loose tension and let go when you were winching. And I thought I used to be able to feel more of a positive lock when I'd engage, whereas now, it definitely has a lock feel in Freespool, but not in Engage. But when we looked at it apart, that seemed to make sense.

I was wondering if it's the spring on the freespool/engage side, OR, the long hex shaped shaft might be a little stripped, OR, the last gear that the shaft goes into on the freespool/engage side. It's an internal hex shape, and maybe just rounded enough under load??

We did NOT take apart the motor side. I was afraid I'd never get the brushes around the armature again (assuming that's what it's like once you remove the cover). Perhaps that might be a good area to look. I just tried calling some Warn dealers, but everyone is closed Saturday. I also looked at their parts diagram at www.warn.com . They don't show much for the motor side on the diagram.

So I tried a search here and found this so far. Let me know if you make any progress, and how much the parts cost. Our Costco was carrying a 3000lb Champion winch with remote for $80 (Cdn= $66 US). I'm a little peeved that a quality name like Warn would perform so poorly. Mine hasn't been used that much. And I'm guessing the parts will be expensive to the point i might be looking at one of those Champion winches.

 

It has a endhousing clutch assembly but its not actually a clutch. It is a motor and a series of planetary gears. Then on the freespool side you have another set of gears. Usually the first thing to go is the freespool endhousing casing. The planetary gears ride inside the freespool case and the casing is plastic. The splines in the case strips out and it will not work. This acts as like a kinda fuse so nothing else will break. This is the weakest and cheapest part of the winch. If you get this part it has all the freespool parts.

Here is a parts link for the 2.5 warn. He will need part#1 & 3

http://www.warn.com/atv/winches/images/196/66003A2.pdf

 

the splines in my plastic case are perfect. the planetary gears ride in there perfectly. I did notice the end on the driveshaft is a bit worn. When I slide the end gear over the driveshaft, it seems fine. If I move the end gear so that only a portion touches the shaft, its loose and I could see how that would sound like a ratchet. I'm surprised by how little of these 2 parts actually mesh. Almost like the driveshaftshaft isn't long enough, as only a small part slides inside the gear. I'm gonna call Warn and ask them about this.

 

hmmmmmm. I'm wondering if we re-assembled this thing wrong? Unfortunately, i didn't pay great attention while taking apart. but I think we put the spring on the wrong end of the shaft.

I bought a new drive shaft and Sun gear. I also replaced the spring. I replaced my old thrust plate and cam follower. The replacement part for that is now 1 piece, and they just call it a cam follower. So with new parts in place, i put it all together. What a pain! I musta been on dope! I put it together about every WRONG way possible, until I finally got it right. Seems to be working okay now.

So here's the gist of it. The driveshaft locks into a sun gear. it only rides on about a 1/4 inch of the end of the shaft. The shaft is a hex shape, and it rides INSIDE the sun gear which is also hex shaped in the center (with regular cogs/teeth on the outside). So you can imagine that the 2 hex surfaces don't require a lot to wear out to the point of being stripped, especially when they only have about 1/4 inch of contact area at the best of times. the OPPOSITE end of the shaft has a tension spring on it. When you "freespool", the cam follower pushes the shaft back just enuf to disengage the sun gear. when you "engage", the cam follower moves outward toward the end of the plastic housing, the spring unloads and pushes the shaft back into the middle of the sun gear. SOMETIMES, you only need to clean out the cam follower and that will cure your problem (too much muck and mud and gunk gets jammed in there).

TOTAL PARTS COST: $45 (Cdn = $37 US). I guess I can now call it "over-hauled". And the guys at the 1-800# for Warn's head office in Oregon are VERY helpful and knowledgeable. AND you can also view the exploded winch diagram . It's actually in the Winch Owner's Manual. You can view the owner's manuals from their website.

 

I fixed my winch the other day... the new Gear has "Hex" through-out the entire gear and the new Drive shaft comes "Hardend" - they basically heated it up then cooled it quickly.... I also replaced the Cam follower which indeed is a 1 piece.

Attached are pictures of the new gear / old gear. It seems that you will have better engagement on the new gear!

Pictures go in this order
Drive Shaft // New Gear // Old Gear x2

 

I know that this is an older subject that I am replying to, but I am telling of my experience any way. I use an older model warn 1.5 ci. I think that they still use the same POS design with the freespool/engage end of the winch. Basically it has the small plastic cam switch style lever on top that engages/disengages winch. Mine was getting dirt inside that casing and not allowing the button to travel the whole way back down to engage the winch. It would work one time and not the next. I ended up cleaning it all out, freeing up that spring, and getting it engaged. I then cut the head off of a 1/4 inch bolt and put it inside the plastic lever on outside winch. I used a large hose clamp and put it all the way around the winch and lever to put pressure directly on the pin pushing down to engage winch. Someone else out there may be having same issue and this has worked very well so far.
Mudslinger2

 

Buy a new winch on eBay from ProMark. They make a great winch and their 3000 lb winch is cheap, waterproof, and works awesome. Just a thought.

 

The Promarks look like Old Warn winches... or they just copied the design....

 

Just a similar design. Great winches though.