Ok, so I probably deserve having a problem with a brand new winch since I bought one of the ebay special Gorilla Winches.

Here is the story...

Took out the quads this weekend. Had not previously used the new winch. Had a guy ride up to me and my buddies while we were sitting and resting, asking for some help for a stuck side by side. I go over, and offer to winch him out. Hes stuck good, but I plant myself behind a tree and pull him out just fine.

Later in the ride, I get myself high centered in a mud pit, with no way to rock my way out of it. I winch myself out with it.

Finally, my buddy gets himself stuck good in a spot, so I pull in front of him, I power the winch out to him, he hooks it up. I press the IN button for a just a second and suddenly the winch is stuck trying to pull itself in. I can't stop it, I can't reverse it, all it does is winch in. Now, I wasn't prepared for this obviously so very soon, my bike is nose to nose with his in this mud hole he found. About 10 seconds later, and my bike has lost all electrical power (battery ran down). So I disconnect the negative battery cable to the winch, get our bikes disconnected, and get my bike pull started. The battery begins to accept a charge again, and I just leave the winch disconnected the rest of the day.

Now, I kinda thought that maybe I should have siliconed the contactors, I thought maybe they got wet, and thats what my problem was. I was just outside playing with it, connected it all back up and its still stuck on going in.

Anyone know what the problem is? Is the switch box messed up? Should have mounted it somewhere that it would never get wet? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Warn contactor are water proof. I don't know about gorilla.

Warns are set up with a key-hot power wire going to the handebar switch, which sends power to one of two wires from the switch to the contactor depending on if you push in or out.

If yours is set up the same way, you could disconnect the wires from the handlebar switch at the contactor, turn the key on and see if either wire is hot (with the switch in the middle- off position). That would tell you if it's the switch, or the contactor.

I suppose you could also disconnect the wires from the handlebar switch, then hook the thing back to the battery and see if it runs in...

I don't think I've heard of one failing like this (stuck on). Could have been dangerous.

 

I had the exact same problem I bought the Xtreme winch off ebay myself, and the handle bar switch contacts stuck on mine doing the same thing .
What I did was replaced that cheap rocker switch with a good rocker switch and also put a 14ga. anderson connector in the wires so if it happens again I just unplug the connector.

Any connector you put in-line that you can get a hold of fast enough will do the job if need be. My contactor was fine like I said it was my handlebar sw. easy and cheap fix. as far as the winch it works great but be easy on the plastic freespool **** on the side I did replace that too already. you have to take the winch all apart for that.

 

did the Gorilla come with an 8 post contactor of 4 post? The 8 post is known to cause problems and caused the Gorrila on the wifeys Hawkeye to go OUT only.

 

ive been using a 2500 gorilla trail series which is waterproof been working great.

 

it was a 4 post contactor, havent had time to check the rocker switch out yet. Will try to get to it tomorrow.. Thanks for the help folks.

 

sounds like a electrical problem, loose wire, bad contractor solenoid problem, not necessarily that the winch or brand was bad.

 

sounds like the contractor issues. it may have the last time you used it. the contacts inside the contractor welded/melted them selfs together. thus making the handel bar switch in active. just my thoughts.

chuck

 

old post I know, just thought I would tell what happened.

I did a real number on this winch. I screwed it up more than once. When I took the Gorilla contactor off I found I had overtightened and broke one of the posts, thats how water got in it and fried the original contactor.

I went out and bought a Warn contactor, and promptly brought it home and hooked it up to the winch, incorrectly. DOH! Don't ask, its really quite embarrassing, Im supposed to be an electronics tech here. So, I fried the winch.

I contacted Gorilla and told them the winch itself did not work, it was still covered under the warranty from when I bought it. I was asked to send the winch in and it would be repaired. They ended up replacing the Motor, Motor Housing, Brushes, Drum Brushing and Armature. I hooked it back up on the bike (correctly this time) and fired it up.

I think its actually working better now than when it was new in the box. I have used it at least a dozen times now pulling either myself or other people out. It even sounds better than it used to. Im wondering now if there wasn't something wrong with it before I messed it up (twice).

Either way, it costs about $90 for the Warn Contactor which brings the total cost of this 3000lbs synthetic rope winch to over $250. Still well under the cost of a comparable Warn. With any luck this will be the last thing I have to do to this winch. I will comment again if anything else breaks on it. So far, its still a good purchase.

 

way to go! lol... i got a warn 3k off of ebay. for my new wheeler. $220 plus i hada buy a contractor and switch. i got that off ebay. has worked awsome. when you hook them up right and dont break things. lol j/k. but i also got a contractor and switch from the same guy and never had an issue.