Looking for a little input... Thought I could handle this, guess I got in over my head, I feel like I'm overlooking something stupid at this point lol.

Trying to get this winch back together after a full tare down and rebuilt, I cannot get the assembly to slide back together all the way... Can drop the drum down onto the gearbox, drop the brake and shaft down into the drum and it feels like it seats all the way. But the motor end will not go on all the way, like the brake and shaft is not going in all the way. There's about 1/4" gap between the motor housing and the rods that go between the sides... Just wondering if anyone has ever had this same thing happen and what did it end up being? I'm going to tear the gearbox back apart tomorrow and make sure I'm not missing something stupid...



Long story short, I got this winch for free! Was on the front of a wrecked Jeep, was actually jammed up into the grill... I managed to get it off, the solenoid box was destroyed but luckily the solenoid itself was intact. Didn't even look like the cable had ever been fully spooled out! The freespool lever was locked up solid and the remote was missing. I promptly ordered a new lever assembly and controller. The controller came in and I hooked it up to power and it worked perfect! So I sat it aside and now it's sat in my garage now for several months... Fast forward to 2 weekends ago when I cleaned out my garage lol I dug it back out and decided I'd rip it apart and rebuild it since I know the factory grease makes it hard for these things to freespool.









Also planned on a full repaint because the Florida sun had NOT been nice to it...






Fast forward to last weekend, I got everything prepped and painted, and I must say the parts turned out quite nice looking Even went ahead and ordered some new factory decals to stick on it. Should look brand new!





I applied some marine grease and began to reassemble today, which brings me to the first paragraph and the original point of this post and thread lol.

 

If I can recall, your problem may have something to do with the brushes. The are spring loaded and push inward thus preventing everything to go back together. I forget the trick I used to keep the brushes back when assembly time came.

It was something very easy but it has been a few years.

 

Ah okay! I did have the motor apart a little briefly but I put the cover back on before getting too far into it lol. Everything looked good so I didn't bother pulling the rotor out and cleaning the surface the brushes ride on or anything. But, I will start with that this afternoon. That does make since though; the motor rotor/stator could just be protruding too far to allow the assembly to slide back together.


Thanks!

 

Very nice score

 

Well I got it all together! I don't know if the shaft just wasn't sliding all the way into the bushing on the gearbox end plate or what yesterday, but I got it to slide together without any issues this afternoon!

I started by taking the end cap off the motor just to make sure everything was still fine in there, all looked well.





Once I put that end plate back on, I decided to assemble differently than I attempted to yesterday. Yesterday I laid the gearbox down, set the drum onto it, and slid the brake and rod down into it, then attempted to set the motor on top of that assembly. Today I took the drum/brake/rod assembly and butted it up to the motor end, stood it up on end, then slid the gearbox on. After a little wiggling and twisting, it dropped right together like it is suppose to

Now once my stickers come it it'll look like a brand new winch!





Even took the extra time today to pop the solenoid open and add a little RTV. The inside of the solenoid is still even spotless, which I was surprise to find despite it being the older style that's prone to leakage and corrosion!

 

Well I'm to the point now where I'm just waiting to order the winch mount (waiting on money from somewhere it's coming though). Also going to be ordering a hydraulic wire crimper so I can make my own 4 gauge wiring to hook everything up.

Picked up new hardware; nice to have contacts at the local Fastenal, cost me all of $7 for new nuts, washers, lock washers, etc






Stuck on some new stickers today so the winch looks practically brand new





Also a glimpse of the cable that I swear it couldn't have been used but a few times... And even then it was probably only spooled out 10-15 feet maybe.

Rolling it up REALLY makes me want to buy a synthetic line though, cable is such a PITA to handle... Maybe in the future...