JonFund, Inc. :: Education, exploration and recreation for the 4 wheel drive and off road community

While using my winch on the Back Beacon ride, I noticed it struggling under moderate load and making disturbing noises. I contacted Warn and found out that it wouldn't be covered under warrantee because I didn't have my receipt. I decided to take it apart and see if I could fix it myself. It was fairly easy to take apart and put back together, and considering the amount of mud and rust that I found inside, I'll probably do this once every year or so.

Tools/items required:

Assorted hex wrenches, American sizes
Gasket scraper
Small wire brushes if rusty
New gaskets (less than $1.00/ea from Warn + shipping)
Grease (Molylube#1 or Aeroshell#17)

A note on warrantees: Warn winches generally come with a one year warrantee on the motor, and a limited lifetime warrantee on the geartrain. However, you must have your original sales receipt from wherever you bought it from. Either way, you pay the shipping to an authorized service center. If it's covered under warrantee, they will pay the shipping back. The closest authorized service center to most of us (in New England) is Hoak's 4WD Center in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, which is where this information came from. Warn recommends that you send your winch in for service anytime it is submerged under water.

Grease: Warn recommends Molylube#1 or Aeroshell#17 for the XD9000i and other similar winches. These greases have molybdenum particles which continue to lubricate after the grease has been squeezed out under heavy load. I'm not sure if other greases would be adequate. I ordered some Aeroshell#17 from www.aeroshell.com. I used most of a 14oz tube in the winch.

Diagrams/part lists: If you didn't get a parts list and diagram with your winch (I didn't), you can download them from

www.dsiwarn.com.

They are in the "Parts and Service" section, in PDF format. You will need the part numbers to order replacement parts.

Disassembly: I only took pictures of the pieces going together so "removal is the reverse of installation". All the pieces of the gear side are shown below. Pay attention to which direction the pieces face as you take it apart - the "Sliding Ring Gear" in particular has different shaped teeth on one end than the other. The Clutch Lever pulls straight out after unscrewing the Clutch Lever Detent Screw, and the whole gear assembly slides out off the Hex Shaft after removing the 10 hex screws. You may need to whack it with a rubber mallet to break the gasket seals.

geartrain pieces

Here is the source of my problem: the bushing that supports the first Sun Gear is chewed up and out of round. It's shown below next to the new bushing.

bushings

Assembly: Here is the End Housing, with the new bushing installed. I couldn't get the Thrust Plate out from under it, so I just left the old one in.

End Housing

Now the first Sun Gear goes in, along with some grease.

Sun Gear

Next the Sliding Ring Gear can go in. Note the teeth are beveled on one end and flat on the other.

Ring Gear

Now the First Stage Carrier Assembly goes in. You may have to wiggle it back and forth to get the teeth to line up. This gets pushed all the way back to engage the first Sun Gear.

First Carrier Assembly

Next comes the Second Stage Carrier Assembly, engaging the sun gear on the First Stage.

Second Carrier Assembly

At this point, I wanted to make sure everything was put together right so far. I tried sliding the assembly onto the Hex Shaft to see if everything turned properly. Whenever I tried to push it on the shaft, the gears would slide out a little. Between the grease and the snug fit of the Hex Shaft into the first Sun Gear, air was getting trapped behind the Sun Gear and forcing it out. Here I am forcing out the excess grease with hex wrench and a screwdriver.

Oops

After reassembling everything up to this point, the Ring Gear is placed on the End Housing, with a gasket in between.

Ring Gear

Now the Thrust Bearing (not shown), the Third Stage Carrier Assembly, and the Drive Spline go in. The Thrust Bearing is another piece that is not symmetrical. You can test that everything moves smoothly by inserting a long hex wrench (5/16", I think) all the way down into the first Sun Gear and turning it by hand. You can engage the Sliding Ring Gear by pushing it down with a screwdriver or you can install the Clutch Lever.

Third Carrier Assembly

Now the whole assembly slides back onto the Hex Shaft and bolts back onto the Drum Support, with another gasket in between. The Clutch Lever can be installed if not done yet. The Sliding Ring Gear can be moved with a screwdriver if it needs to be lined up for the Clutch Lever to go down into the groove.

Back Together

That's all for the geartrain. While I had it apart I took a few pictures of the drum and brake. Here's the driven end of the drum, with the Hex Shaft sticking out the end.

Spool Driven End

Here's the other end. The Brake Assembly is down inside.

Spool Brake End

Here's the brake partially sticking out the end.

Brake

And here are the bushings that support the drum. They look kind of flimsy but show no signs of wear.

Spool Bushings

That's all the pictures I took. I didn't bother taking the motor apart because I found the problem in the geartrain. I respooled the cable and it seemed to work fine under light load. I'll have to wait to get good and stuck to test under heavy load.