Thread: Tigerz II Winch stripdown

Last October I bought a TigerzII partly on recommendation of a few who rated this particular "cheap chinese winch", and partly on the fact I had been looking for a good 2nd hand Warn 10/12000 for about 6 months without any luck. With a trip to Bathurst Heads at the end of November I wanted a power winch on the 130.

The winch arrived and I didnt have time to strip it down before we left (I had intended to look at the lubrication)... so it was bolted on, cabling organised and away we went.

I cant recall all of its usage in the last 4 months but the retrievals would read something like:

2 x loaded 80 series towing 4.5m tinnie out of "bottomless" red clay
1 x puslux out of same mud
1 x loaded 130 with 4m tinnie trailer in same mud... self recovery
4 x boat/trailer retrieval from steep muddy/ sandy banks
1 x 130 recovery from bonnet deep mudhole
2 x large dead trees that got stihls disease assisting in fall away from powerlines

The winch although not fast performed as it should, my only gripe would be that it was very hard to uncoil the rope in freespool.

I had some time last week to pull it out and check how it looks inside.
Photos are at the end of this but a quick explanation follows.

# The difficulty in unspooling was due to my roo damaged front bar not a being dead flat mounting surface. A very slight twist putting extra strain on the spool. I spaced the mounting out with a small washer which has now made the unit freespool as it should.

# I have previusoly stripped Warn 10000 and 9000XP winches, what I like about the Tigerz is firstly it has realistic sealing of the gearbox / inner drum and motor. See pictures of double lipped rubber seals, with an inner seal for backup. The image that shows the dust/ mud layer with the seal line demonstrates that very little crud should get into the unit.

# I liked the look of the grease that was inside the GBox, obviously it may be "whoflungdung" variety but it appeared visually to be clean and stable. This is in stark contrast to another ebay 9000 winch that I stripped with a mate which had literally no grease in the GBox. The gears all looked fine in regards to eyeball wear. I imagine the quality of the gearset is where some $ are saved...

# The gear shift mechanism has two o-rings and a rubber dust seal, it appears to work well, but is probably going to be the point of entry for water etc into the gearcase.

# I like the braking mechanism on the Tigerz (no good picture) Rather than use a centripetal friction pad (WARN), it uses a non reversing cam with 3 rollers that force contact on a wearing surface on the inside of the drum. I cant imagine it would generate as much heat as friction material and may be why the Tigerz is supplied with spectra or whatever rope.

# I like the rope, it is just so much easier to use than wire.

# I like the sealing and internal appearance of the motor. The end float sealed bearing appears an appropriate size and quality and should be easy to replace if need be. The brushes are very sizeable and easily replaced when worn. The wiring appears to have very solid terminations. I am no electrical expert so comment away on the guts of it!

# Finally I like the solid state relays and wireless remote, initially I though it was a gimmick but I am yet to use the wired control, wireless rules!

# What I wasnt 100% happy with was the quality of the 4 cap head bolts that bolt the two cross members, and the actual cross members. They have the appearance of low grade hardware, in stark contrast to the supplied 8.8 mounting bolts and square nuts. At least they are easy to replace if need be.

that will do for now... photos. There will be two threads for images. Gearbox first.

Steve

I still need to get around to doing this to mine.

Also, some lowlife stole my wired remote. Tigerz never got back to my emails. Anyone know if the remotes from other brands are the same?