winch help?

[Jimmyly]

Hi last week I went on a canada trip, we did some offloading but my jeep got stuck in a mud hole. So I decided to use my winch. My winch is a superwinch lp8500. I purchased it last summer but never really had to use it. When I needed it for the first time it was giving me troubles. After I started to reel myself in it would sometimes just stop on its own. I would try to reel it back in but it wouldn't go. I found out if I reeled it out and stated to pull back in it would go for a few seconds then would stop again. This was very frustrating. It took 8 hours to get myself out reeling in and out. Sometimes I had to push the in or out switch 4-6 times before it would activate. Any ideas?

[Dacotensis]

Bad connection somewhere.

Keep in mind electrical parts over heat.
For every minute of winching you NEED to let it cool for 3-5'minutes.

Check your connections.
Turn go somewhere and try it again before you actually need it.

Then, throw it away and go buy a Warn.

[sawbuck]

Bad connection somewhere.

Keep in mind electrical parts over heat.
For every minute of winching you NEED to let it cool for 3-5'minutes.

Check your connections.
Turn go somewhere and try it again before you actually need it.

Then, throw it away and go buy a Warn.

X2 superwinch=superpain

[lannie]

I would be looking for bad/loose connections also and would think you are having a ground circuit problem. Test by using booster cables and attaching one cable to the housing of winch and the other end on the negative post of battery. Put the other cable on the negative side of battery and other end on engine block. You will need to load up the winch again for this test by pulling the vehicle with the park brake on or some other method.

[Jimmyly]

Thank you for your advice. I will check the connections. I would rather keep the winch if it's fixable because I hate spending money on things I already have.

[6.5swedeforelk]

Hi last week I went on a canada trip, we did some offloading but my jeep got stuck in a mud hole. So I decided to use my winch. My winch is a superwinch lp8500. I purchased it last summer but never really had to use it. When I needed it for the first time it was giving me troubles. After I started to reel myself in it would sometimes just stop on its own. I would try to reel it back in but it wouldn't go. I found out if I reeled it out and stated to pull back in it would go for a few seconds then would stop again. This was very frustrating. It took 8 hours to get myself out reeling in and out. Sometimes I had to push the in or out switch 4-6 times before it would activate. Any ideas?

Check on your winch positive cable to the battery.

My Superwinch 8500 is 80 amp breakered, but with (2) 40a bkrs in parallel.

Chances are one bkr is loose, so you're tripping as soon as you pull.

The 6 no-goes is the time required for a breaker reset.

The guy who determined the Superwinch's 8,500 lb rating is now working for the 10 million candlepower lantern company!

[SPRATLEY ADAMS]

From someone who used to rebuild these motors on winches, I can tell you first hand that the winch motor can draw upwards of 250 to 300 amps when loaded. If the manufacturer only puts on an 80 amp circuit breaker, these will overheat in a very short period of time and circuit breaker will blow. Ideally, you should have a much larger breaker on these winches imo. However, by allowing the breakers to cool, they will reset themselves. Check your connections for sure. If clean and tight, go to a larger breaker or even start using a constant duty solonoid for high amperage draws like a winch motor. Warn winches usually use constant duty solonoids. More expensive, but a lot more reliable imo.

[Jimmyly]

@ 6.5swedeforelk & SPRATLEY ADAMS

Thank you, your information was very informative.

It seems everyone is in agreement that this is some kind of electrical issue due to poor connection.

[curtz]

buy a warn

[roger]

buy a warn
Yesyesyes!!!
I got the receiver mounted warn 9.5 with sythetic line, snatcch blocks etc. about $3000 to replace it all again. Buy once cry once.
The others are great for mounting on a flatdeck trailer and dragging dead cars up.

[coreya3212]

Buy a warn,buy a warn! Here's another winch question. What do all broken winches have in common? Here's a hint, it isn't the name.

[Dacotensis]

Yesyesyes!!!

The others are great for mounting on a flatdeck trailer and dragging dead cars up.
Not even.
The costco crap a few years ago wouldn't last 50 vehicles.
I went through 4 of them.
Then cccan hooked me up with a warn. Thanks fella.
I mounted it on a 2" square and can hook it up on my trailer, or the front and back of my truck.

I've done over 100 vehicles with my warn.
Add a block, put a 3-4' chain lead with a hook on the end.

The super winch and other stuff might be good as cheap insurance, but not constant pulls over a year.

[CaberTosser]

The best advice has been covered, so I'll ask what gauge wire you have supplying power to the thing, this is another potential weak point; too small a gauge can cause performance issues as well. Some types might undersize the wire when they install due to inherently Scottish tendencies.