Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Has anybody broken one of these cheap chinese winches?
I have used mine heaps with no dramas until sunday when I discoved the fuse was blown and a dead short in the winch motor. I'm lucky I decided to fuse it or might have burnt the whole car!
The windings on the 'spinny' part are good but the outer case has melted copper in it.


My questions: Is it worth fixing the motor? .... Should I buy a whole new chinese winch?.... Should I spend three times as much and get a "name" brand?
Jas.

want33s wrote:Has anybody broken one of these cheap chinese winches?
I have used mine heaps with no dramas until sunday when I discoved the fuse was blown and a dead short in the winch motor. I'm lucky I decided to fuse it or might have burnt the whole car!
The windings on the 'spinny' part are good but the outer case has melted copper in it.


My questions: Is it worth fixing the motor? .... Should I buy a whole new chinese winch?.... Should I spend three times as much and get a "name" brand?
Jas.

man i think you might beable to bolt a warn motor straight upto that winch?
or a t-max one

Jes

jessie928 wrote:
man i think you might beable to bolt a warn motor straight upto that winch?
or a t-max one

Jes

That was my first thought but after removing the motor I found the output spline looks like this....

and a Warn looks like this

What brand winch is it?

Have you dismantled the motor? It might be reparable at no cost. The fuse may have protected it and it might be something minor like a brush breaking up and jamming or something.

edit: sorry, missed the bit about melted copper!

TMax motor wont fit. It is splined like the warn (but different - we once looked at making an adaptor to fit cheap TMax motors to recreational Warn winches).

Look up a local Electric Motor Rewind mob. There's a place here in Melb called Dandy Re-winds and they fix Ramsey motors for me at about $100-$200 a pop if I cant get a replacement motor. You will have joints like this up your way.

A new cheap winch will start at mid $500's delivered with new cable, warranty, etc.

Hobzee wrote:TMax motor wont fit. It is splined like the warn (but different - we once looked at making an adaptor to fit cheap TMax motors to recreational Warn winches).

Look up a local Electric Motor Rewind mob. There's a place here in Melb called Dandy Re-winds and they fix Ramsey motors for me at about $100-$200 a pop if I cant get a replacement motor. You will have joints like this up your way.

A new cheap winch will start at mid $500's delivered with new cable, warranty, etc.

i have a tmax 5.5hp motor sitting right in front of me ATM and it is the same/similar to your picture (15mm dia shaft, 8mm across flats, 17mm tongue length). these motors are available from aunger for ~$270

LPGQ4.2AUTO wrote:What brand winch is it?

EBAY chinese ... no brand name on it.


Thanks for all the replies..
I have taken the motor to a rewind/repair place to see what they can do with it.
If its beyond repair I'll measure it up and a T-max motor might be the answer.

Looking on Ebay I can replace my 9500lb unit with a 12000lb that is only a few mm bigger, weighs 500g LESS & is waterproof for just over $500.
Might be the best way to go if repair is going to be more than $200 or so.
I don't know.. so many decisions...
Jas.

Tigerz11 carries all spares for these things i think, might be worth contacting him and asking the question.

you could just buy a decent quality winch like a warn and be done with it.
magnums start at just over $900.
at least then you would have a winch that you can rely on.

4x4 guy wrote:you could just buy a decent quality winch like a warn and be done with it.
magnums start at just over $900.
at least then you would have a winch that you can rely on.

HA! Never seen a fried Warn before?

Considering the price Warn charge, they should be far more reliable than they are.

That said, I have a second hand Warn but when I bought mine there were no where near the winch options and support there is now.

x2 with just buy a decent winch.

if that thing has lasted you as long as it did, a warn will last you 100 years.

If your looking to replace it i would say go the tabor. Its made to compete with the cheep iron man winch. Runs around 900-1000 bucks and is a far site better than some cheep chinese thing. Its made by warn and ANY warn part will fit it. If your in the outback and your winch packs it in then you can get parts at any wrecker or 4wd shop instead of waiting for another boat anchor from china to finish your trip. If you made the decision to put a winch on your car then you intend on using it someday and you need something relyable.

Hmmmmmm .... here we farken go again.

Buy Ford, they shit all over Holden ...

No sorry, make that a Nissan instead of Toyota ...

Blah, blah, farken blaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh ....

good to see im not the only one running a fuse in the power supply for winch.
my mates rekon im paranoid but fu k rubbing though a 100 + amp cable and owning a pile of ash.
fitted a 150 amp fuse on battery lead.

ajsr wrote:good to see im not the only one running a fuse in the power supply for winch.
my mates rekon im paranoid but fu k rubbing though a 100 + amp cable and owning a pile of ash.
fitted a 150 amp fuse on battery lead.

I never wire anything up without a fuse..
It took a while to find but I fitted a 900amp overload/100amp dead short fuse. Bloody glad I did. It definately saved my battery and maybe my whole car.
Jas.

Once the motor is rewound by a proper motor rewinder it should be as good as anyother motor ou there so you shouldnt have this problem again. Unless the armature (spinnig thing) burns out next time.

ajsr wrote:good to see im not the only one running a fuse in the power supply for winch.
my mates rekon im paranoid but fu k rubbing though a 100 + amp cable and owning a pile of ash.
fitted a 150 amp fuse on battery lead.

Lol. I assume you haven't used the winch in anger yet then?
You might wanna check the current draw on the manufacturers specs

yeah plenty of anger on my winch but only 6000lbs and only have to pull a zook

Why the hell would you need a 12000 pound winch? I highly doubt a zook's thin chassis would appreciate the full brunt that a 12000 pounder could produce.

Get a Tmax, for the price you can't beat them.

GRPABT1 wrote:Why the hell would you need a 12000 pound winch? I highly doubt a zook's thin chassis would appreciate the full brunt that a 12000 pounder could produce.

Get a Tmax, for the price you can't beat them.

I don't know about you but I have mates and most of them don't have Zooks they have Cruisers and Patrols and when they get stuck I pull them out. I never wanted a Zook only winch that I would burn out saving a bigger car.
The 12000lb winch is actually lighter than my 9500lb and has a faster line speed.

Cossie wrote:Lol. I assume you haven't used the winch in anger yet then?
You might wanna check the current draw on the manufacturers specs

Thats what I was thinking. But my Ironman winch came with a key switch on the main power lead. Its similar to a Narva one with removable key, which specifies 100amp continuous at 12V. The winch is supposed to draw a lot more when working hard, and I'm expecting this switch wont last, but the sales rep said his is still going strong after 3 years. I'll be replacing it with a stronger Narva switch soon, but what sort of fuse would have such high capacity? Is there a suitable circuit breaker for the job perhaps? I'd prefer to just reset a breaker than to stuff around with a fiddly fuse when stuck up a hill. I only have the power running through the lead, via the switch, when I need to winch or expect to be winching in the next few hours. Every other day its turned off, so power is only running to the switch, which is close to the battery.

If you go into Autobarn and look in the car audio section they have lots of high current fuses for the doof-doof guys and their audio power amps. They have an in-line fuse holder with a 250 amp fuse (nice and wanky clear perspex holder with gold plated terminals. I used a 400amp fuse - they are used in forklifts. I don't have any photo's just yet. The fuse holder andd fuses were not that expensive.

jas i have a solution................., buy a hand winch you lazy bugger lol.
i paided 250 for mine, might be hard work but it is more reliable lol.
its pulled me out easily before.

BENOLUX wrote:jas i have a solution................., buy a hand winch you lazy bugger lol.
i paided 250 for mine, might be hard work but it is more reliable lol.
its pulled me out easily before.

i reckon you should try it. you feel good about yourself wen you know you have supermanned it out of the bog hole

BENOLUX wrote: i reckon you should try it. you feel good about yourself wen you know you have supermanned it out of the bog hole

Buy some real tyres and drive out of the bog.

lol i did and it got me out ok, just coz betsy is an underpowered pig lol, she has feelings u no but honestly check out the aldi stores in brissy they were selling winchs a month or so ago for 450 each. i think they were 9500 or 10000 so look up the ALDI store catalogue maybe.

BENOLUX wrote:lol i did and it got me out ok, just coz betsy is an underpowered pig lol, she has feelings u no but honestly check out the aldi stores in brissy they were selling winchs a month or so ago for 450 each. i think they were 9500 or 10000 so look up the ALDI store catalogue maybe.

I can get a replacement same as mine from Ebay... $399

DO IT