Fender Bender Trashes My Winch

FordRelic

Tremor Buff
Founding Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
69
Reaction Points
145
Location
Siesta Key Florida
Military
Navy Vet
Current Ride
2021 Ford Tremor F350 XLT Oxford White
The other day I rear-ended a Subaru Outback. I almost stopped in time but ended up making impact. The extent of the Subaru's damage were the holes my tow hooks punched in the bumper.
I had no damage to the truck but the winch clutch handle got bent way up and doesn't operate anymore. I think it would be a better design if the clutch handle shaft was shorter so that it would be protected more by the bumper.
20211025_121246.jpg

I'm taking it to the dealership on Wednesday to get a repair estimate for the insurance company.
Do you think the winch is repairable or will it need to be replaced? I don't think the Ford dealership can repair a winch.
They couldn't even install it properly.
 
Fack.

Well - the Winch may be able to be saved by disassembling it and changing internals. I bet the bending of the lever smoked the internal switch. It may be simpler to replace the whole thing. I would call WARN and see what they have for advice. Ford is basic when it comes to winch knowledge.
 
Its a tough call. If you pull it apart and try to fix it will the insurance company deny the claim because you messed with it? Might be best to just run it through insurance. If you can, get the "old parts" back, aka, the entire winch and hopefully cable.

I agree with the above, over the years I have found that Warn is very good at taking care of things like this. I had an M8000 on my Toyota that after 10 years was gummed up, the internal slide collar for the clutch was shot. Called Warn, was told lifetime warranty, sent out the parts for free I just had to take it apart and put it back together which was not hard.
 
Hopefully Ford will say the winch needs to be replaced. I hope I don't have to wait as long for the second one as I did for the first one.
 
I have a similar winch to that one on my Jeep. I've had it apart a few times. I "may" have blown the planetary gears out of it a couple years ago doing something stupid. The motor is not the weak point! Anyway, if you can't get it replaced under warranty, replacing that lever is not difficult. Call Warn and they'll send you the part. Spread out some paper towels on our work bench to keep the grease on the parts and the workbench gunk off your winch parts. Get your camera/phone handy. Take stuff apart. Take pictures so you know how it goes together. Put it back together with the new lever. It's not a big deal. I think all you need is a hex key to disassemble the winch. If you don't want to do it yourself, any offroad shop will do it for you. But I bet you don't have many options in the keys.
 
Insurance company will not say fix it. If it fails down the road related to the damage of it not being fixed properly than said insurance company is on the hook lets say you use it and it fails and causes injury or death. They won't touch it. Easier to give you a new one and call it a day. Seen this at the body shop, you see a gas tank shield is "ok" but adjuster put it on his estimate. We cannot waiver from what the insurance company tells us to do.
 
Insurance company will not say fix it. If it fails down the road related to the damage of it not being fixed properly than said insurance company is on the hook lets say you use it and it fails and causes injury or death. They won't touch it. Easier to give you a new one and call it a day. Seen this at the body shop, you see a gas tank shield is "ok" but adjuster put it on his estimate. We cannot waiver from what the insurance company tells us to do.
Thanks for letting me know how it works with the insurance companies.
 

Latest Discussions

Back
Top