My WARN experience- WARNing?

Hello!

I'm in the process of putting together some parts to add to my new-to-me tacoma, and one of the things I want is a winch.
I've got one I'm going to use for now, but I don't think it's the one I want long term. Looking at it the other day got me thinking about my worst winch experience- from WARN!

Today I'm browsing around the forums and seeing a LOT of people using WARN winches, so I guess I just got the shaft... because if my experience was typical, nobody would give them a dime.

Now- to start, I'm not big into off roading, rock climbing, or anything like that. I do happen to own 100+ acres of property on a mountainside, and I'm trying to develop that property into a place I can live.
So, a few years back I bought myself a nice big truck, with 4WD- and paid someone to mount a winch on it. After much debate I went with the WARN 92820 ZEON Platinum 12, to the tune of just north of $2k, including the kit to remotely mount the control box because on that truck the winch would be going in a tight spot where it can't be reached. Of course the fab guy mucked it up, put the control box back on the winch, and mounted it all in that tight spot.
I guess he decided it would be fun to always have it turned on, so the battery is dead every time you go to start the truck. But that isn't WARNs fault.

Naturally, I went back and DID IT MYSELF, relocating the controller to the front bumper. Not ideal, but I had other work to be doing.
I started using the winch immediately- not for recovery so much as just moving junk around. Loading and unloading things I can't lift myself, hoisting with the use of an overhead tree and snatch block, etc. That all went great!
Then, as April got near, the snow on my property was melting- and I thought I might take my truck up there to plow out the gate and see if I could get in and check on the equipment and storage I have up there.
Naturally, I got myself stuck- the laneway passes through a low area that is near a runoff stream- and has heavy woods on either side, preventing the sun from hitting it. The snow was deeper than I thought and the ground was mud under it.

Fair enough, right? time to use the winch! I never would have gone in there if I didn't have this winch and the confidence that it could get me back out.

So I switched the winch to free spool, wound it out maybe 30' (I'm not sure how much cable was left on the spool at this point) - and then pulled a tow strap out of the tool box to strap up to a nearby tree. Then I go to snug up the cable before the real pulling starts and.... clunk-error!
The winch WILL NOT re-engage the clutch.
I wind up having to hire a recovery service to haul me out- only about 15 feet before the truck could get out on its own.... but I had to coil up the 30' of winch wire and strap it to my hood to drive home.
I get home, drop the plow so I can access the winch, remove the unspooled cable, and pull the winch (and the controller I JUST relocated) and bring the whole thing to my "workbench" with the trucks second battery, and power it up- same problem.

So, I call WARN. After a half hour on hold, the call drops. I call again, and get through... they can't do anything for me- my only choice with the warranty is to bring it to an authorized service center, about 2.5 hours drive each way. Then they'll look at it and get back to me- so I can make the drive again to pick it up. Yeah, Right.

So I take the stupid thing apart, figure out how it works- and I don't see any problem.
Put it back together.... and it works fine again!
A fluke, maybe? No time to screw with it, back on the truck it goes... re-wind the cable.... re-install the plow, get back to work.
A week later, I need to move something up some ramps onto a trailer, and rather than strap and tug to it I figure I'll give the winch another shot- sure enough, same problem.
With the winch stuck in free spool I wind up dropping the plow and pulling the winch back out AGAIN.
This time, it goes right in the box it came out of... and gets thrown in the basement big pile of things I don't have time to deal with.

That was in 2019, and the truck has since gone to a shop for work and they totaled it- another rant for another day.

I have a "superwinch" trailer winch I think I'll be putting on my tacoma... but after that experience with WARN I figured I'd never, EVER, put up with their name again.
But I see them everywhere on these forums!

Did I just pull the short straw, or what?

 

I don't have a warn winch, but even the most reliable products out there do have a problem sometimes. Warn asked you to bring it to a service center so they could look at it, and instead you decided to "fix" it yourself, which clearly didn't work. I'm not surprised they didn't tell you how to fix it over the phone - not only would that be difficult for them to truly know what the problem is, but a winch is a potentially deadly tool and could be a huge liability risk if they instructed you how to fix it and you either hurt yourself or someone else because it was repaired incorrectly.

I get your experience didn't go as expected, but half the stuff you are complaining about is not Warn's fault in any way. That the fab guy screwed up has nothing to do with Warn, it just put you in a bad mood from the get go. The fact their service center is 2.5 hrs away from you and not right next door is also not Warn's fault, they can't have service locations on every corner. Did you look up where their service locations were before you bought the winch? Did you look into shipping it to them so you don't have to drive it yourself?

 

Sound like you were just unlucky.

I suspect the control pack solenoids or wiring though, there's not much to go wrong in the winch itself.

I keep meaning to pull my Warn m8000S off my truck and do much needed maintenance refresh or rebuild on it but I never can find the time and yet every time I need it my much abused and neglected Warn it still chooches just fine.

That said IIRC the Xeon series is their mid tier product not the tried and true designs they built their hell and back reputation for reliability on.

I know their VR series is made in China and not much better than HarborFails Badlands winches.

Sorry you had a bad time with yours. Got nothing but good things to say about my well worn Warn.

 

How much for the Winch you don`t want ??

If gas was not so expensive I would come pick it up I can make Bangor in about 12 hours.

I have had great luck with Warn Winches and Hubs.

 

Mine just keep on going, had to use it last weekend after getting a little too confident through puddles.

 

OOPS !

I worked in Florida years ago to many Snakes and leftover prehistoric monsters for me.

Though I did enjoy the State away from the Cities.

 

Not to insult your intelligence, but did you make sure that the lever was engaged all the way? I've occasionally had to turn the drum by hand in order for it to fully engage.

 

There is no lever, it's 100% remote controlled.

It makes a click sound and then throws an error- at which point all you can do is give up, remove the winch, and take it apart- put it back together again... it works once or twice and then gives up again.

it's currently back in its box, thinking about what it's done.
I'm considering mounting it to my backhoe, where it can be easily hit with a hammer when it misbehaves.

For my 'new' tacoma, I've gone with a harbor freight winch. it's already gotten me out of a situation when the electronically controlled 4wd didn't do its job. These computers are going to be the death of me.

 

Pic below is what he is talking about. If this lever is not fully in the locked position, the winch will not spool. Think of it as N and Drive/Reverse on your transmission. You have a N position so the spool is decoupled from the winch so you can manually drag the line where you want it. You then manually put it in Drive/Reverse via the lever when you want to engage the winch. That lever is how you put the winch in and out of gear (so to speak).

 

it sounds like his winch doesn’t have a lever at all. It’s wireless without a lever if I’m not mistaken.

if it works periodically, it might just be dirty solenoid contacts. Does it feel like the winch draws power when you engage it? I would also try changing remote batteries if you haven’t done so already. If you get a chance, can you post pictures?

 

I'd have to dig it out of the box for pictures- not gonna happen.

WARN 92820 ZEON Platinum

it doesn't have a lever, the whole thing is designed to be wireless. It failed to clutch in less than five uses, the remote is rechargeable and all that nonsense.

It's likely a sticky solenoid, but I paid more for this winch than I've paid for entire trucks in the past so I sort of expected it to not be a piece of junk out of the box.

It failed me once, the first time I needed it. shame on it- I got it working and let it fail me a second time... shame on me.

That was a more than a few years ago now, I've moved since then so I'm not sure I can find the practically new cable that came wound on this thing... it's somewhere. I know where the winch itself is because it's heavy and doesn't work- so I made a point of being grumpy when I moved it.

 

https://www.warn.com/zeon-12-platinum-winch-92820
Seems the clutch is disengaged via the remote. No freespool lever.

 

correct.

it's a dumb design. When it fails (and of course mine did immediately) you have no option but to abandon what you're doing, unwind the entire spool. if you were trying to winch your vehicle out, you're boned.

 

Right, I hated giving up my manual 4wd shift lever.

 

Absolutely insane they got rid of it.

If a 'mechanic' hadn't stolen my chevy, I might not have pulled the trigger on this 2013 tacoma- I was waiting for the right one, but it never showed up.

 

I’ve had multiple brand winches fail. That’s why I just purchased a Badlands Apex for the buggy. At least then when it fails I won’t be too extremely pissed off.

It was $634 out the door the 12S VR EVO Warn was just under $1,000.