Winter Winch Care

I live in northeast Ohio where the winters can be quite nasty and regardless, whenever it does snow the DOT uses salt on the roads. You all know the relationship between salt and metal. With this in mind, I am somewhat concerned about my winch. Until this year my winch was mounted on a receiver plate so I just didn't mount it in the winter, well now it's permanently in the bumper. I'm interested to know what you guys do who live in similar environments, to protect your winches..

 

First off.....
If you don't already have synthetic rope.... GET SOME!
Synthetic rope won't rust or corrode from the elements.

A good winch should already be sealed & protected for any outside & offroad abuse.
http://www.warn.com/atv/importance-of-winch-sealing.shtml

You could get a winch cover....but I wouldn't leave it on constantly. A winch cover can hold moisture inside just as well as it can protect against it.

 

Yep, it is spooled with synthetic rope, and as far as quality, I'm guessing it's up there - Warn Cti 9.5. I thought about putting the cover on it and I realize the issues with moisture, thought too the cover might block air flow to the coolers. So I guess just leave it exposed. I have a wireless remote, do you think I should pack the plug with dielectric grease and leave it mated to the winch?

 

I would keep the remote in the cab/glove box, etc.
You don't want that falling off or getting stolen.

Do you have an abrasion guard at the end of the rope?
Getting one of those and having it wrapped around on the outter wrap of rope on the drum will help keep salt off the rope.

 

There is a box mounted in the engine compartment that is plugged into the connection that you would plug in the wired remote, that's the plug I'm talking about. I do have am abrasion guard on the rope.

 

I spray mine off at the car was then hit the whole thing with some spray lube, but I'm running cable.

 

Biggest thing is to make sure it's all cleaned off after use, especially the spool and cable. Pay the cable out at home, clean, and re-wind it right after you use it as part of your post-wheeling cleaning, and it should hold up pretty well. Warn winches in particular are pretty tough and made to work in bad conditions, as long as you don't let debris, mud, or water build up when it's spooled for storage for longer periods, you should be pretty good. It's been a while since I have had a Warn, so I am not familiar with the newer models, but if there are any lubrication points I would be a little more liberal and frequent with greasing them than in warmer weather.

 

I recently took the old winch cable off of my Superwinch EP9.0 and found that the drum and a couple other chromed parts are a bit rusty from the old cable.

I will be putting on a new synthetic rope and want to address this rust before I do so.

Any recommendations on removing the rust, possibly re-painting?

tia

 

I sealed up evrey crack with RTV (i know thats not the right application but it worked) and then put a layer of GP grease over all the cracks and openings. I also packed the electrical lead "covers" with dielectric grease to keep corrosion off the electrical connections. It was worked pretty good so far. Just look at your winch and apply grease over evrey opening and vent hole. I figured if the winch needs to vent it will blow the dab of grease out of the hole. As for the drum, i didnt do anything for that.

 

If it's not out of control, some steel wool should do it.

 

Yea I just went ape shit w/ some Emory and a wire brush, repainted w/ engine enamel. Came out really good, but now I'm considering doing a total rebuild of the internals to get it in tip top shape