Thread: Warn XD9000 motor grenade

It appears that the wiring on the armature has been chewed to bits as well.
How on earth did this happen?

Hauling a D2 out of deep sand on a tight beach exit. Had pulled him forward a bit then ran out of line so paid some out while slowly reversing with tension on the line.
Went to do another pull and there was a slight noise then nothing.

Looks to me like one of the brushes has picked up an edge on the commutator and ripped it apart. Motor must have still spun a bit after that to grind the bits up and bend the remains of the armature windings though. Didn't think I had, but perhaps I was a bit hasty and the motor hadn't stopped spinning when I hit retract again.
Still can't imagine how that would cause it...

Motor has probably done less than 10 real pulls since I rebuilt the winch about 5 years ago. I put new brushes in it at that time and checked the commutator was good. It still had slight undercut in the mica separators so I gave it a quick cleanup, some new bearings and put it back together.

I guess the next question is what to do about it. Clearly this motor is stuffed, so its either a new motor or a complete winch (either a new cheapie or a quality used one).
Any recommendation for a replacement motor?

Steve

This is where I will get a new motor when the time comes.

https://www.dbelectrical.com/motors/winch-motors/

Search - Winch motor | 4X4OFFROADCLINIC
You could try these guys.
This one seems to be quite popular
winch motor SUIT 12v 8.6hp AND 24V 10.7HP HIGH MOUNT M8724 LOW MOUNT WINCH | 4X4OFFROADCLINIC

Originally Posted by steveG

Anyone seen a similar failure to this? Commutator has grenaded or been chewed off by the brushes.



Steve

I had the same thing happen to an almost new Thomas EW8000 years ago Steve. Similar scenario, was winding the rope back in after rescuing another vehicle when it went dead. When I dismantled it I found the same thing had happened, some of the commutator segments were still there but loose. After much discussion with the manufacturer who absolutely denied there was any problems with their electric motors and apparently I was the only person who had this problem I got a new motor under warranty. Luckily I pulled the new one apart before fitting it and found the new motor had quite a few loose segments. Back on the phone to the manufacturer who did not believe me, so back it went in the post and eventually they admitted it was faulty and sent another one which turned out to be good. I did a little mod on it before fitting - bound and araldited the back end of the segments. No more problems. I know its a different brand but I have a feeling that the same brand of electric motor is used in the Warn.

Thanks Brian - very interesting.
Unfortunately no warranty on this one!!

I like the price of the ex-USA motors which are also available through ebay, but I'm hesitant after buying an alternator a few years ago and being disappointed in the quality.
The weight/freight kills any practical warranty if you do get a dud.

Thanks for the 4x4ORC link Fitzy - I'll check them out. They're in Melbourne which works better if there was an issue.

Steve

If you do a little bit of research you will find that the electric motors in the Warn winches are manufactured in China, This is why I went with a Dominator 1200lb unit from 4WD Supercheap.
Pretty much the same as the Warn but at a quarter of the cost and it came with synthetic rope as standard as well

Originally Posted by trout1105

If you do a little bit of research you will find that the electric motors in the Warn winches are manufactured in China, This is why I went with a Dominator 1200lb unit from 4WD Supercheap.
Pretty much the same as the Warn but at a quarter of the cost and it came with synthetic rope as standard as well

Yep. As the OP days, he's only done about ten pulls in five years. I'm tipping my Dominator 1200 is going to be able to manage that. And I got a cordless remote. All for under $400. I got this to replace a Warn that destroyed itself. It was half the cost of the parts needed to fix the Warn. Maybe it will let me down, maybe it won't.