I bought a used PW. The winch would power in and power out when I test drove it. Tonight I decided to pull the wire rope out and wind it in under pressure and spool it on correctly. I strung the rope out and the winch would not do anything.???? I tried my controller on my neighbors winch and it worked fine. I don't think it is the controler. I also checked the connection to the batterey. With the truck running I had 14.5 volts(not on the batt post, but on the winch cables themselves). So there I was with my wire rope strung down the street and I couldn't get it the winch to do anything. I quickly removed the rope from the drum and put the wire rope in the back of the truck before a neighbor could come out and ask " Winch broke?' Any ideas??? thanks Scott

 

Someone else posted a similar problem soem months ago - noticed after a new front bumber was installed. I recall it turned out to be a ground issue - wire not connected well at the bumber/winch area.

 

You'll probably have to take the cover off the solenoid box and measure voltages in there while activating the controller to see what's wrong. It's a pretty simple circuit.

 

Here's the schematic:

[IMG]local://upfiles/39019/990D8967C9444983AC0F9282A554F9CD.jpg[/IMG]

 

Thanks so much. I will do that this weekend. Scott

 

Ground issue... does it sound like the motor is kicking on at all? Some winches have the gear disconnect so you can unspool the cable by hand, and sometimes it is hard to re-engage the gears.

 

I did unspool the winch by hand---free spool-- I am sure the gears are locked because I can't turn the spool by hand unless I disengage the gears. I think it sounds like ground too, but I can only find one ground wire. It runs from the side of the winch motor to the neg post on the batt. I can't get the plastic cover off unless I lower the winch a little. I am wondering how the ground works/connects under the cover. I guess I will find out when I drop the winch and take it off. Unfortunately I have to go out of town until the weekend, so I have to sit and think about it instead of just doing it.

 

Can you get to the negative post on the winch? If so, grab a similar gauge wire and jump the connection to a good ground... quick troubleshoot method.

 

I tried that with a big screw driver and jumped it to the cast iron mount that holds the winch. Maybe I should try that with jumper cables?? Thanks for the ideas. Scott

 

Found it!! The winch is fixed. It was a ground issue, like many of you thought. Thanks for the input. My buddy has a tester that checks for power and for ground. There are smaller wires that run to the batt that run along the big cables for the winch. They are fastened in the same connector that mounts to the battery. The ground one was not making good contact right at the battery. The big cable was, but not the smaller wire. I took it out of the wire end and installed its own ring wire end so I can check it first if I have another problem. Thanks again for the help. Scott