A quick how-to video that might help you figure out why your winch wont freespool. www.bleepinjeep.com/ - All the best Off-road videos of RU-vid in one spot without all the boring stuff - Updated Daily!!
nice job, and to those worried about taking the grease out, I spoke to mile marker 3 years ago, and they told me to go in an remove the grease, they said what happens is people over work the winch (guilty) and take it beyond its duty cycle and liquefy the grease, then it re solidifies all in the bottom and makes it near impossible to free spool. He actually told me I could use a heavy weight gear lube oil since in the north, if in the south do a light-fair coat of synthetic grease. solved my problem. As for those worried about water, check your seals and you should tear your winch down every couple years and re grease anyway... Thanks man, I meant to actually do a vid on this but never got to it.
on my smittybult i dont think the problem was too much grease but rather low quality unstable grease that thickens too much over time to more of a waxy state, i removed all of the cheap grease with solvents and replaced it with standard black molly wheel bearing grease packed as much grease in as i could and years later now it still free spools like a champ.........so its not quantity of grease that matters, its quality of grease.......................bad grease is the problem, i recommend to use a lot of grease when you repack............these winches are made in china so your getting bad chinese grease when you buy them.............
Nicely done video, great sense of humor, got your point across just fine. Thanks for sharing! Bet you wished you'd dove in to that winch gear box six years sooner =)
Thank you for your video. I have the exact same prob. with my Jeep winch. Now know where I start to take a look in there and see what's going on. I have not been able to pull out my cable in free spool since I bought it new. I am guessing I will fine exactly what you did and that will be to much thick grease. I will do this tomorrow. Thanks again.
It is called a planetary gear set. Fill it to 60% with AeroShell 22 and every Six months (if not used) pull out the cable and respool it to keep the gears coated.
If you squirt a little lot of motor oil in there, the oil will soften the grease, making it free spool without any more disassembly. Heck, you may be able to remove the selector and add oil through the hole.
Awesome page with great how-to's. Many of the short cuts are ones my dad taught we as a kid...I have a similar issue except I can't even get the free spooling knob to turn at all and I end up having to use the winch to free wheel. What do you think that could be? Thanks in advance!
Hey guys I have a waren 4500 free spoll and it 3 is mouths old used 3 times . took a ride out today and it is stuck in the pull in position I can't turn in release the cable any suggestions my atv is stuck in the woods
I think XJs are one of the only vehicles where all of their owners use the hoods as workbenches. When i'm working under the hood, my winch bumper sure comes in handy as a workbench!
that thick grease was high pressure grease so the gears dont wear out to fats for warranty purposes but thin grease will be much easier to pull the cable now yes its a good way i do sam to my winch
some people call that a dovetail. I just cut and hacked and then bent them in. I thought about doing a vid on it but I only have pictures and not that many.
Tie the winch hook to a tree and drive backwards as fast as you can, this will free up the spool in no time - saves having to wear those rubber gloves.
All grease gets dry over time from heat cycles. Same thing in when bearings. The grease just breaks down. People don't realize this. Probably just a good cleaning and new grease. Don't forget, grease not only lubricates but helps to cool also.
@fordpower6973 When your winch has never free spooled for six years and it finally does, you will get excited and pull all the cable out. The leather gloves will keep you from getting splinters when spooling it all back in;)
I've got the same problem as the video and as juromebato. Hard to engage free spool. Won't free spool. And it makes a strange sound when winching in or out. Have you heard about this? Could it be that it got water inside or the grease is gone? It's mounted behind an ARB bullbar so i haven't got it removed so far.
jan585 sounds like something with the clutch, my warn does a similar thing but relieving the tension on the gears first (by spooling in or out with the controller) it works fine. If i half the lever halfway in or out it makes a funny sound too, so to me id say something has your clutch stuck, which could possibly be water which could now be corrosion
You fixed the problem without knowing the EXACT cause the problem (you sprayed oil inside the gear housing). The actual problem is thick grease between the gear housing cover and the clutch gear; there should NOT be any grease on the outside of the clutch gear and the inside of the gear housing, this is where you should use light oil. For the best explanation of this, see ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CyYs-oKlxUE.html between 21:20 and 22:50 minutes (It's a different brand of winch, but they are all the same in this regard)
This comment needs to be pinned to the top. About 10 years ago I cleaned and greased my winch after it got submerged and I used "Green Grease" all over everything in the gearbox including the outside of the engaging collar. That's the thickest, stickiest, nastiest grease I've ever used and I could barely get it to freespool by hand afterwards. This weekend, I pulled it apart again and used moly grease on the gears and some thin air tool oil on the outside of the engaging collar and it made a night and day difference.
Hey, can I do this with my diffs and transfer case too? I think I would get extra gas mileage if I took all the thick oil out and just sprayed wd-40 in there before I take it out every time. Ha ha.. just kidding buddy, but food for thought. Do you think it will really be a good idea to take all the lube out of your winch? You'd probably want to check it often to make sure it doesn't get contaminated with water and/or go dry. High pressure grease is in there for a reason.
I figured the "grease" in mine was like tar & saw your vid before I took mine apart. It's "tar" & there is 25 pounds of it! I heard The factory had a shit load of WW2 BUBBA GUMP sticky bomb grease & the employees were trying to make it dissapear
