Ironman Winch - Beware

Buy a warn winch, mines almost 18 years old and works everytime. Good luck with this.

 

Yes, this needs to be plugged in to "complete" the circuit.

https://ironman4x4america.com/recov...ents/monster-winch-replacement-wireless-plug/

It was also suggested that the control box be mounted in an area not exposed to weather or rain if you live in a rainy climate as it is not water proof. On a winch capable of working underwater.

 

Update.

After public shaming, FB messenger, and direct inquiries via the company website, the public shaming has worked.

Ironman has started the refund process for the second control box. I am satisfied with that, but I still have a few questions that had I thought about, I may have gone a different route.

This is a winch capable of working underwater. Do I really need that? Very cool feature, but if I'm underwater, I probably have bigger issues than "does my winch work?"

Control box. You would think that a control box on a winch capable of working under water would at least be wet location suitable. From what I was told today, it is not. It is recommended that it be mounted away from areas that will be wet in rainy climates or possibly while off road. Without going out and measuring, I think the cable is only about 2.5 feet long. You can't get very far from the winch or a wet engine compartment with that.

Wireless. I have to have the little cap plugged in for the circuit to be complete. And it's recommended to not leave that plugged in to avoid accidental activation of the winch. This seems like "cheaping out" on your wiring. How much would it really take to have complete circuit in this case? That's an actual question by the way, because I'm not the guy who can answer that. But my battery powered wireless speakers seem to work that way.

Overall, I like the winch, it seems very capable. But I won't go down this road again.

 

mine is behind my grill. You can see the wiring behind the light there

 

Mine is mounted drivers side of the winch. I don't have the infrastructure behind the grill to mount it. And I've had water over the hood, so the front end isn't safe by there recommendation.

 

interesting, I should move mine up under the hood maybe.

 

I took silicone to it and sealed it with a about a 3/4" wide bead.

Support tech said he would take my complaint about the length of the cables to thier product team. Maybe they should just seal the box. Might be cheaper.

 

i mean if they put a good seal on the inner side of the box it should hold its own. but who knows. I should buy the competition winch box smaller and then a winch control extension and run that into my cab at the same time.

 

That box is not sealed. At all. And really don't have a good location to move it to, even with longer cables.

1st pic is a sideview of the old box. 2nd is my solution to the same design.

 

I have seen a Smittybilt X20 (is that the "waterproof" one) fail when needed in a sketchy spot. On initial trail troubleshooting of wiggling the wires we broke the "seal" around the large gauge wires going into the control box, and water came out... I guess the seal worked... but the wrong way.

Maybe add some sealant to the Gland seals too

 

Thanks for the heads up. That's a probably a good idea. But it also means taking the control box back out again. If I have time before the next trip I'll try and get that done.