WARN 9.5xp - Check Your Installation

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

I had my WARN 9.5xp not even 5 months and the one time that I put it under a real load, it failed. After a trip back to the installer, they opened the motor to find there was a tide mark where water had filled it and the rotor had rusted to the point of seizing. This is not supposed to happen to the WARN!!!

The reason; an incorrect installation by the authorized installer. I would have never known this, except that I took my WARN for a small swim about one month earlier. After that swim, I followed the recommended practice of running it out and in, which is supposed to help remove any small droplets that may have found their way into the chamber. However, I was never to know that the motor had flooded and water was trapped.

The problem was that the installers failed to follow this WARNING for "Feet Forward" mounting.



To make it plainly obvious, notice the location of the drain plugs and sealant in the image below. Since these instructions were not followed, the top, forward-facing drain plug was open and the bottom one was left sealed. It was like filling up a bath tub.



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[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

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The dealer had proposed to repair it, to which I agreed. In the meantime, I contacted WARN and they were very supportive of my situation and recommended I insist on a replacement motor. The dealer agreed, though not entirely enthusiastically. I let them know that WARN supported my position, which seemed to be the trump card.

So who is vulnerable... Anyone with a WARN 9.5xp in an ARB winch bar.

There may be other Winch bars that also require a "Feet Forward" mounting orientation, but that is left as an exercise for the reader.

So there may be other WARN 9.5xp Winches that have not been installed correctly. It got me wondering about how owners could check this for themselves, so I took a couple of pics of the winch with the correct drain hole open and closed.

This is the bottom drain hole that must be left unsealed. In fact, the sealant must be removed, since WARN seal this for "Feet Down" installations.



And the plug that should be sealed is shown below.



I reckon it will be difficult to observe this in a dusty old winch. A "twisty" may help to verify you can poke something into the bottom drain plug. But accessing it is likely to be a bitch.

LFaR.

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

A duplicate post... oops.

[KAKADAZ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close KAKADAZ]

Glad you could WARN us...(sorry)

Good to see you got some support on this and had it replaced....AS they should.

[8608 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close 8608]

good to see this is out there again. a lot of newbies out there on both sides of the counter.

we get this all year round up here. just had an extreme case through work. i'll see if i can get pics. the warn xd9000 had never seen a full rotation, let a lone the remote plugged in.

[Dusty74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dusty74]

I had the same issue with my new XP9.5 however mine was installed correctly. Only did one water crossing, side step deep, and ran the winch at the end of the day. Got stuck and tried to do winch recovery when it failed. Winch powered out, slowly died and that was it. Enough water had made it's way in to cause surface rust on the brushes causing them to seize. Winch was installed last November. ARB where good about it, considering it was installed properly. They stripped the motor and sat it in a wd40 bath for a few days. Mine didn't have a tide mark because the drain was open, but let in enough water to cause the rust. Before fitting the motor back on the winch a die grinder was used to open the recess to help water drain a little easier.
I bought the Warn due to all the great reports from previous owners, I suspect Warn has either changed the design slightly or compromised in build quality to maintain price. One thing is for sure, I'll pay a lot more attention to maintenance and will power the winch 3/4 out and back in before any major trips.

Cheers,
Dusty

[LiveFreeAndRoam Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LiveFreeAndRoam]

Hi Dusty,

That's a troubling story. I spent the extra dollars on the XP for its superior reliability, speed, 6hp motor, and resistance to water ingress. The WARN brand has an excellent reputation too. At least that is what the reviews led me to believe.

That's good advice about giving the winch a test run b4 big trips too. I'll add that to my pre-trip checklist.

LFaR.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Not much help to you guys however I had my Warn 'waterproofed' by Mal Leslie down here in MEL. He strips the winch/motor, fills the drain holes, epoxy seals it plus a few other things. So far so good. He also gave the advice of running the winch out every month or so to get it warm and ensure it is working correctly.

[sako Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sako]

Any chance you could provide Mals contact details? I'm wanting to get a winch in the coming months and am hoping to keep it as reliable as possible.

Thanks.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

He's not cheap but you get what you pay for.

S G Leslie & Sons Pty Ltd
Cnr Mologa Rd & Orthla Ave Heidelberg West
(03) 9459 2859

[ondaboat Coopers Pale Ale Find all posts View Profile Close ondaboat]

He's not cheap but you get what you pay for.

Don't worry D4D he owns a Sako, he knows what quality costs. (it's a gun thing)

[sako Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sako]

Lol...
unfortunately I do know what quality costs.

Will give Mal a call when I am ready to bite the bullet..

[BradR Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close BradR]

Thank you Live Free and Roam.
Your post has saved me lots of trouble. I recently had an XP9.5 installed on my 150 prado, after your post I decided to take alook at it. Yes it had been installed as you described. Just got home from having the problem fixed. Workshop was unaware this needed doing as its only on the XP series.
Thanks for the warning, Brad