Factory winch just died

[BroncoHooves]

Sparks could have came from the solenoid pack as well. Just because it ‘clicks’ doesn’t mean the solenoid is letting power flow to the motor. Could be defective solenoid(s) and motor may be good still. @ccw

 

[blumhagen]

So I remember there was a thread where someone was complaining their dealership just started requiring appointments for oil changes.

Well, it’s not an oil change, but I heard back from one dealer near me and they’re booking service appointments for the end of March right now! :O

Earliest I could get in was January 16th, though another dealer has the parts for the wiper arm recall for me so I’m going there. Their earliest appointment was the 23rd.

Just crazy in this area.

I'm shocked My dealer you could drop off no notice and other than work further than maintenance it would for sure get done in a few days if no parts required to order. It's called Ford Quicklane so I assumed it was at all Ford dealers.

 

[BroncoHooves]

@ccw The fate of your winch will decide on whether I axe plans to buy and install one for Red Zeppelin.

 

[Jrod250]

Warn is the flagship of winches and makes an amazing product. I’m very surprised to hear this.

 

[BroncoHooves]

In before ccw gets a Sherpa sherpa winch.

 

[Alpoba]

I had the same issue, winch completely dead. I bet your issue is the same as mine.

From the plug where the controller/remote plug in, follow the wires back and they lead to a grey male/female plug that attaches to the rest of the winch wiring harness. On mine the plug was completely full of water and mud so when I operated the remote it immediately shorted the plug, sparks and all. Bypassed the plug and all was good.

This is the plug, on the bottom left you can see one of the pins has completely blown off:
View attachment 106892

Thanks for this. When i end up installing my winch, i will just seal all these points on my own to prevent these kind of issues.

 

[Alpoba]

@ccw The fate of your winch will decide on whether I axe plans to buy and install one for Red Zeppelin.

I feel like if you do the install you will be extra careful and prevent all the weak points where water /moisture might get in so this wont end up being an issue. Dealers doing the install wont take the extra time to seal a possibly weak connection.

 

[Cuervo]

@ccw What dealer you go to?

 

[ccw]

Tagged for interest.

Pro-tip for the future, you can "watch" a thread with the button at the top of the thread if you want to get notifications for it, no need to reply to it! No harm no foul, but I find it easier to do than responding if I just want notifications.

I'm shocked My dealer you could drop off no notice and other than work further than maintenance it would for sure get done in a few days if no parts required to order. It's called Ford Quicklane so I assumed it was at all Ford dealers.

I wish that was the case here! Don't know if the scheduling backup is a Seattle area thing specifically, or a big city thing, or what. Not that the Seattle area is even that big in the grand scheme of things, when compared to the likes of LA, Atlanta, New York, etc.

Ya I don't think the dealerships here have Quicklane, unfortunately. Certainly not drive-up service. I know when you go in for a basic oil change you don't get the same mechanics that do the in-depth diagnostics and repairs (not a bad thing; junior mechanics have to start somewhere!). As a result those tend to have a bit of an easier time getting scheduled, but I've frequently seen oil changes scheduled 2 to 3 weeks out.

Warn is the flagship of winches and makes an amazing product. I’m very surprised to hear this.

Same! Hopeful it's just an odd-ball failure.

In before ccw gets a Sherpa sherpa winch.

Well I hadn't heard of that brand before! My attention has been peaked! Though dang it I don't want to drop $4000 on a bumper and another $1500 on a winch right now.

I had the same issue, winch completely dead. I bet your issue is the same as mine.

From the plug where the controller/remote plug in, follow the wires back and they lead to a grey male/female plug that attaches to the rest of the winch wiring harness. On mine the plug was completely full of water and mud so when I operated the remote it immediately shorted the plug, sparks and all. Bypassed the plug and all was good.

This is the plug, on the bottom left you can see one of the pins has completely blown off:
View attachment 106892

Interesting! Thank you for sharing this! I'll see if I can get to that plug tomorrow. Any tips on getting to it? Did you pull off the trim in front of the winch? Get to it from behind? Pull the fairlead?

@ccw What dealer you go to?

Purchased from Ford of Kirkland, but try to go to Evergreen Ford for servicing. Haven't had a bad experience with Ford of Kirkland when it comes to servicing, just have a positive history with Evergreen Ford from my old truck so no reason to experiment.

 

[Modman]

@ccw The fate of your winch will decide on whether I axe plans to buy and install one for Red Zeppelin.

Same opinion here... I may just return to the front hitch/modular solution. Will wait and see based on the results.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Your winch body is sealed up pretty good, I have refurbished a bunch of warn winches..usually its the grease in the winch hardens up after 6/7 years... If you saw sparks I am willing to bet its a connection/solenoid pack not the winch it's self as I don't know how sparks could escape the winch body from the motor.

 

[sillawydna]

Interesting! Thank you for sharing this! I'll see if I can get to that plug tomorrow. Any tips on getting to it? Did you pull off the trim in front of the winch? Get to it from behind? Pull the fairlead?

I just pulled out the plastic insert in the bumper and could reach it from there. The plug isn’t too far back.

 

['37 Driver]

Bunch of sparks sounds like a short to me.

Also, without knowing the specifics, and knowing Warn winches, I'd suspect the install over the winch.

These aren't things to throw away, they are simple and tough, get it fixed.

I've had a couple trucks with Warn winches and they were great. One particular Warn M6000 I put through hell and abused for the better part of 15 years and it saved me a lot of times. Once, I shorted it out accidentally, I called Warn and they sent me to a local equipment dealer/repair place, I think it cost me about $50 or $70 to fix... can't remember what they did.

What I learned though was put a motor disconnect on the lead to your battery and inspect it all periodically.

Can't wait to get my '23, didn't order the Ford Warn but will definitely be adding a full frame Warn probably on their ascend bumper if it fits the '23. These things might not be "crash rated" but I've seen the protection a Smittybuilt tube bumper brought, and also seen the damage mitigated by a ight Warn transformer mount. There's no question for me that there is no substitute for putting more steel up front between you and the offender if you are going to take a hit.

Good luck with your winch.

 

[ccw]

I just pulled out the plastic insert in the bumper and could reach it from there. The plug isn’t too far back.

Oh awesome! Ok will take a look. How did you bypass it? Just shove some wire in there for super temporary operation?

Bunch of sparks sounds like a short to me.

Also, without knowing the specifics, and knowing Warn winches, I'd suspect the install over the winch.

These aren't things to throw away, they are simple and tough, get it fixed.

Great points. And it's not necessarily that I would want to throw it away, moreso that I would want to get something that's easier to access/work on. I'll poke around more today, removing the front trim like @sillawydna suggested and maybe I was mistaken. But if I wasn't mistaken, then it sucks having something go wrong and effectively needing to drop the bumper to work on it.

I've had a couple trucks with Warn winches and they were great. One particular Warn M6000 I put through hell and abused for the better part of 15 years and it saved me a lot of times. Once, I shorted it out accidentally, I called Warn and they sent me to a local equipment dealer/repair place, I think it cost me about $50 or $70 to fix... can't remember what they did.

That's awesome! And great to hear. Long-term I'll be suspicious of the factory winch with regards to support from Ford/Warn - this experience isn't really representative since it's in warranty. Hearing from others who have called warn for various reasons, though not a winch failure, Warn was punting to Ford for support.

Yes the winch is made by Warn, but apparently Ford is the front-end for support for it. Don't know how I feel about that.

What I learned though was put a motor disconnect on the lead to your battery and inspect it all periodically.

Absolutely my intent. I want to run it to an upfitter switch so I can toggle the power that way, but it's a great callout.

Can't wait to get my '23, didn't order the Ford Warn but will definitely be adding a full frame Warn probably on their ascend bumper if it fits the '23. These things might not be "crash rated" but I've seen the protection a Smittybuilt tube bumper brought, and also seen the damage mitigated by a ight Warn transformer mount. There's no question for me that there is no substitute for putting more steel up front between you and the offender if you are going to take a hit.

My only pushback on that is: was damage to the vehicle mitigated, or the occupants. In a high speed collision with a solid object or another vehicle (think head-on collision) you want damage to the front of the vehicle, a.k.a. crumple zone, as that's energy dissipated before it gets to the passenger compartment. No damage to the vehicle means all of the energy was transmitted to the passenger compartment.

Similar with pedestrian safety, you want a crumple zone of some sort to protect them. Obviously I don't plan on hitting a pedestrian, but I'm a human around humans so I can't discount it. I would far rather have a pedestrian live and my truck take some damage than the other way around.

To be clear: obviously everyone can do what they want. But that's why I'm so suspect of aftermarket bumpers. 50+ years of crash data, along with the immense engineering that's gone into consumer vehicles, has bore out the benefits of crumple zones for human safety by sacrificing the vehicle.

 

[Cuervo]

I would recommend my dealership, but it is way "hours" out of the way. But maybe worth while to call.. Van Cleve Ford and talk with their Service manager Austin.

 

[ccw]

I would recommend my dealership, but it is way "hours" out of the way. But maybe worth while to call.. Van Cleve Ford and talk with their Service manager Austin.

Appreciate it! I'll hold off for now. Want to give Ford of Kirkland a chance to work on it since they did the install, and they're close. But I'll absolutely keep them in mind if I run into issues!

 

['37 Driver]

.

y only pushback on that is: was damage to the vehicle mitigated, or the occupants. In a high speed collision with a solid object or another vehicle (think head-on collision) you want damage to the front of the vehicle, a.k.a. crumple zone, as that's energy dissipated before it gets to the passenger compartment. No damage to the vehicle means all of the energy was transmitted to the passenger compartment.

Similar with pedestrian safety, you want a crumple zone of some sort to protect them. Obviously I don't plan on hitting a pedestrian, but I'm a human around humans so I can't discount it. I would far rather have a pedestrian live and my truck take some damage than the other way around.

To be clear: obviously everyone can do what they want. But that's why I'm so suspect of aftermarket bumpers. 50+ years of crash data, along with the immense engineering that's gone into consumer vehicles, has bore out the benefits of crumple zones for human safety by sacrificing the vehicle.

Fair comments. Only relating my experience from my own years of crash data.

With the Warn transformer kit I t-boned someone turning left in from of me at about 40mph while I was on a green light. The minivan was wrecked, I just had to readjust the mount and replace my CB antenna. The end of that bumper was in a nearly head on when a minivan came across the centerline, we were both doing about 40mph. Wrecked the mount pretty good, truck took a bit too but was repairable, the other folks were wrecked up real bad though. Bad drivers in my town (Vancouver Canada) so I replaced the Warn mount with a bigger bumper, a Smittybilt with a double tube and hoop, that one t-boned another driver running a red light and almost tore that Honda in half... bumper needed minor adjustment, no damage to truck.

Through all that action that Warn M6000 was the tip of the spear and it didn't skip a beat, kept on trucking...

On the rrar end of that truck I had a trail gear tube bumper, I was rear ended twice, both times no damage, no injury to me, readjust my bumper, the other guys front ends were folded back somewhere in their engine compartments though.

Anyway, automobiles have gotten lighter and lighter in search of fuel efficiency and with the steel coming out and more plastics going in crumple zones and such were needed to prevent an impact from going right into the passenger compartment but in my opinion there is no substitute for steel between my family and the outside world, particularly when you out weigh and out size the offender as odds are you will driving a Super Duty.

I may be wrong, just my experience...

 

[PapaRaptor]

@PapaRaptor what was the failure mode with yours?

my clutch lever has been jammed and about ready to break off since day 2. It will not free spool. My dealership was not able to look at it in a timely manor. They wanted me to drop it off and let it sit outside for weeks until some time freed up for the tech. At first they did not even want anything to do with it but they installed it and charged me good $$$$ for it. This was during the camping season and I have a very nice 5er we used and need the truck. I could not allow it to sit at a dealership and miss the camping season. Now the warranty has expired.


So I figure I will need to remove the entire winch from the truck and rebuild it myself. It's too bad since I never used it, other than the time I unspooled it to stretch the rope and rewind the rope proper.

But it looks real cool, maybe I trade it in and let someone else deal with it.

Thanks Modman for allowing me to vent. carry on!

 

[sillawydna]

Oh awesome! Ok will take a look. How did you bypass it? Just shove some wire in there for super temporary operation?

I cut the wires on both sides of the plug and reconnected with marine heat shrink butt connectors.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

I cut the wires on both sides of the plug and reconnected with marine heat shrink butt connectors.

You remember the size of the connectors? I am going to get some to keep in the truck.